Concert for a Summer’s Night

Kelvingrove Art Gallery, 21/6/24

Scottish Ensemble, Jonathan Morton (director/violin)

Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery on the somewhat overcast solstice night of 21st June was the venue for the final performance of the Scottish Ensemble’s tour of their ‘Concert for a Summer’s Night’ programme, a pot-pourri of string ensemble goodies. The programme was introduced by the Ensemble’s Artistic Director and lead violinist, Jonathan Morton.  The musicians were dressed informally in matching whites and greys, setting a mood of genial conviviality which permeated the evening’s music-making. The magnificent organ of the Kelvingrove towered behind the performers’ platform, under a very high barrel-vaulted ceiling, providing acoustic and visual ambience that was awe-inspiring, a feature never absent from Scottish Ensemble performances. The musicians played from digital tablets rather than sheet music, an ever-growing trend with chamber groups.

A sextet of two each of violins, violas and cellos opened the concert with Jörg Widmann’s ‘180 beats per minute’.  The programme mentioned German techno (and indeed the piece is rhythmically driven and syncopated, evoking some pretty competitive dance moves), but I was captivated by the Hungarian influences.  The spectre of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No.1 haunted the quirky opening, while the contrapuntal playfulness suggested Bartók to my ear.  With thrilling abandon, it was a terrific appetiser.

English/Nigerian composer Tunde Jegede’s ‘Dancing in the Spirit’ started simply and meditatively as the other 8 musicians arrived slowly to the platform.  A rhythmic pulse emerged and a dancing 6/8 perpetuum mobile bowled along, fusing elements of African and European music, both classical and popular, with some ingenious emulation of the West African 21-stringed double-bridged-harp-lute known as the kora.  It was followed by Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Jabiru Dreaming’, evoking the sounds of the northern Australian wilderness.  Special sonic effects abounded, including sharp-attack staccato, glissando and pitch bending, harmonics and, most memorably, sul ponticello to emulate the sound of a didgeridoo.

Caroline Shaw’s ‘Valencia’ evokes not the place, but the structural beauty of a Valencia orange.  Pitch-bending and harmonics were in evidence here too, as was string crossing in the violins over syncopated cello pizzicato, but the radiance of parallel sixths in the harmony as the piece broadened out left the most lasting impression, that of sunshine in concentrated microcosm.  Guy Button’s arrangement of Icelandic group Sigur Rós’ song ‘Fljótavík’ was a surprise, in that it reminded me most of Donald Grant of the Elias Quartet’s arrangements of Scottish Gaelic tunes, Jonathan Morton’s solo violin shimmering over the accompanying ensemble.  It segued directly into the first movement of Mendelssohn’s gloriously romantic Violin Concerto, in an arrangement for string ensemble by Lynne Latham.  It works fabulously as a chamber piece, even more so with the consummate chamber artistry of the Scottish Ensemble.  Jonathan’s playing was lyrical and eloquent, but never dominant to the detriment of the chamber dialogue.  As can often happen with chamber arrangements, less can be more, and there were discoveries to be made by the attentive listener. The live acoustic of the venue also played an important role and added an extra depth to the ensemble sound. The drama of the cadenza, pre-coda and accelerated coda was thrillingly unforgettable.  In an evening of great music-making, the Mendelssohn was the runaway highlight for me.  Followed closely, it must be said, by the second movement from Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, which followed immediately and was truly exquisite in its wistful tenderness and gentleness.

Jonathan Morton on violin and principal violist Andrew Berridge were the eponymous ‘Innamorati’ in the movement from Ana Sokolović’s ‘Commedia dell’arte III’.  Melodic elements of the love duet had a Middle Eastern feel, while the chording was quite Italianate, harking back to Vivaldi and Corelli at times, a driving pulse keeping the drama alive.  Andrew Berridge’s viola then featured as the inauspicious owl in Jarmil Burghauser’s arrangement of ‘The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!’ from Janáček’s set of piano pieces ‘On an Overgrown Path’.  Rich and satisfying harmonies seemed about to resolve when the call of the owl interrupted from different parts of the performance space, as Mr Berridge wandered about.  A strangely ominous and unsettling piece.  Two short jazz-influenced pieces followed, ‘Smoke’, a movement from Jessie Montgomery’s quasi-improvisatory ‘Break Away’ and Swiss composer Frank Martin’s ‘Deuxième Étude’ from his ‘Studies for String Orchestra’, a lively pizzicato chase-like syncopated dance with hints of Bartók, immensely satisfying and played perfectly to the acoustic of the space. 

The final programmed piece was a new commission receiving its world premiere on the tour, David Fennessy’s ‘RAIN II’. A pair of repeated slowly rocking chords on violas, cellos and bass seemed to inhale and exhale as rising contrapuntal scale phrases on the violins seemed to reach hopefully into the unknown.  One by one, the violinists left (like Haydn’s ‘Farewell’ Symphony) until all that was left was the gentle breathing of the lower strings, fading out morendo.  Simple but magical. The violinists, with the composer, returned to the platform to acknowledge the applause.

There was an encore: an intriguing arrangement of Sufjan Stevens ‘Year of the Ox’ from his quirky album of electronic music based on the Chinese zodiac. ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit’.  Pacy, rhythmic, sprightly, syncopated and playful, it was suffused by a sense of joy. A perfect end to an evening of great music-making.