Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Time and Tides with Pekka Kuusisto

City Halls, Glasgow - 15/03/24

SCO | Pekka Kuusisto, violin/director | Ruby Hughes, soprano | Aidan O’Rourke, fiddle | Dolphin Boy, DJ

Glasgow’s City Halls on the “pure Baltic” night of 15th March was the venue for the second of two performances of an eclectic Baltic/British fusion programme, ‘Time and Tides’, featuring free-spirited, charismatic Finnish violinist, conductor and composer Pekka Kuusisto, playing and directing the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, joined by innovative former BBC New Generation Artist, soprano Ruby Hughes, and gifted Scottish fiddler Aidan O’Rourke.  ‘Time and Tides’, by English composer Anna Clyne, is a 2023 setting of 4 folk songs from England, Finland, Scotland and America, in the form of a violin concerto, and it received its UK première (deuxième?) just before the interval.  It was immediately preceded by fiddle duo Pekka and Aiden in a free quasi-improvised medley of folk tunes (the programme said that these would be from Scotland, Finland, Sweden and wherever else the mood took them).  The concert opened with Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s 1997 neo-classical piece for strings, ‘Lighthouse’, celebrating the genius of Bach which continues to shine into our own age and beyond.  Another UK ‘premiere’, Helen Grime’s 2021 ‘It Will Be Spring Soon’, brought the soprano for whom it was written, string orchestra and violin soloist together, in a setting of three poems around the theme of nature reawakening.  The concert concluded with Einojuhani Rautavaara’s 1972 masterpiece, ‘Cantus Arcticus’, featuring recordings of bird colonies in a 3-movement symphonic suite.  Dolphin Boy, aka Andy Levy, was the DJ.  Attendance was far from full, but also far from embarrassing.

Pekka, in his inimitable witty way, introduced the first half.  The Tüür piece, he said, was to him more evocative of Baltic coastal seascapes than Bach’s spiritualism and I have to agree.  The densely-textured opening gave way to a series of dance-like episodes interspersed with dreamier passages.  The sound world reminded me of Tippett’s string writing, whilst the playing by the SCO strings was as tautly expressive as ever.  I found myself musing: do string-playing conductors enjoy a special rapport with orchestral string players?  Whatever the answer, the opening piece was excellent.

The stage was vacated and, to my surprise, a trolley was wheeled out with a wooden box, which was set down and opened to become a keyboard instrument, a portable harmonium as I soon discovered.  Pekka and Aidan arrived with their instruments, but Pekka deposited his Strad on a chair and sat at the harmonium.  Pekka, who in his opening remarks had described himself as a ‘fanboy’ of Aidan, accompanied him sensitively through a rowing air from Skye, which segued smoothly into a waltz, both from a 1780 collection.  Aidan then introduced the next piece, a violin duet arrangement of a reel medley including one from St Kilda, all 18th century, followed by a song-like melody with exquisite harmonies with both players double-stopping, including a part where Pekka strummed his Strad like a guitar.  Three violinists from the SCO came to the stage for the last piece of the set, a waltz-like Finnish tune.  The harmonies were even richer than before and the applause was fulsome.

Delicious harmonies were also a feature of the Clyne, scored for strings, winds, two each of trumpets and horns, some percussion with vibraphone, and timpani.  Each of the four folk song melodies was introduced and then developed with Clyne’s mastery of orchestral colour and drama.  A fusion of the four with an original theme furnished the material for the fifth and final movement, titled ‘Farewell’.  In the first, ‘My True Lover’s Farewell’, Pekka played and whistled the theme before it underwent a set of variations with some interesting colour from the vibraphone.  The Finnish minor-key song, ‘Who Can Sail Without Wind?’, arrived sotto voce on solo violin over a walking cello pizzicato bass, but there were a series of wild solo departures, the last reminiscent of the craziness of the finale of Barber’s Violin Concerto, ending quietly after a monstrous march.  ‘My Fair Young Love’ from Scotland featured a lovely air with a Scotch snap, after an atmospheric timpani and vibraphone introduction, a captivating dreamscape concluding with the theme restated simply in octaves.  ‘The Golden Willow Tree’ from America had an unexpected Middle-Eastern feel, piccolo and oboe delivering a captivating colour at the beginning, with the soloist strumming pizzicato.  Dream and dance alternated, and the monster trudge from timpani made a reappearance.  In the finale, the lovely original theme was whistled and played by Pekka, then hummed by the SCO players over emulation of the pipes, before a magical ending.  This is the third Clyne piece I’ve heard in a year and a half, and it is another delicious, approachable masterpiece.  She came to the stage from the audience to acknowledge the enthusiastic applause.

Helen Grime’s piece is a setting for soprano, solo violin and strings of three diverse poems.  In the first, ‘Coming’ by Philip Larkin, it was immediately clear that the writing had been closely and sensitively matched to Ruby Hughes’ dynamic, tonal and expressive range, which were phenomenal.  In introductory remarks, Pekka said that he was not the violinist for whom the piece was written, but would try his best.  Of course, his best was truly excellent.  Imitations of birdsong, subtle pizzicato and a dancelike episode gave added charm to the setting.  ‘Little clown, my heart’ by Sandra Cisneros was no less charming, but also frisky and playful, with scampering pizzicato and a vocal line that leapt about all over the range of Ruby’s tessitura.  Pekka conducting with the scroll of his instrument while playing was a joyous sight.  Finally, ‘Once, I’ by Jane Hirschfield was a more meditative introspective setting, the outward calm of the vocal line weaving around a contrasting inner turmoil expressed in the string writing, coming to a sudden halt.  Magical writing and performance, very well received by the Glasgow audience.  Helen Grime came to the stage to join the soloists and acknowledge the applause.

Rautavaara’s 3-movement ‘Cantus Arcticus’ has been a frequent inclusion in Radio 3 programming for many years but this was my first time attending a live performance of it.  The DJ sat at a corner of the choir balcony and the two speakers at the front edges of the stage provided the concertante track of ‘choral’ birdsong.  The first movement, entitled ‘The bog’, starts with two flutes, joined by the birdsong from a large colony of marsh birds from the north of Finland.  String chording joins to evoke a peaceful, if desolate, scene.  The magical and hauntingly atmospheric second movement, ‘Melancholy’, features a slowed-down duet of shore larks serenading each other over radiant string harmonies.  Ever-calling whooper ‘Swans Migrating’ – approaching, flying overhead and then receding – provide the avian soundtrack for the finale, the orchestral parts gelling to a huge climax, that always reminds me of Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia, before fading to a final tap on the gong.  The writing for horns and celeste is particularly stunning.  The playing was superb.

Another night of spellbinding music-making from the SCO with kindred spirits and birds-of-a-feather, Pekka, Ruby and the two featured composers.  Superb.