Delius : Walk to the Paradise Garden
Walton : Viola Concerto (Isabelle van Keulen)
Adams : Shaker Loops
Copland : Appalachian Spring Suite
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Joseph Swensen
Second concert of the New Year, and I'm going to take up a habit I had years ago, of reviewing the concerts and other shows I attend, insofar as possible. Even if no one reads it, it's a good mental exercise!
This, at any rate, was very much my cup of tea, in terms of programme. That may seem self evident - why buy a ticket otherwise - but it's not usually that simple. I normally pick concerts because there's one piece of music, or a particular artist, I want to hear/see. It's not that often that the entire programme is to my taste. Hearing the pieces, end-to-end like this, it was surprisingly low key, though hardly lacking in intensity. The Delius, lush and lovely, made a good contrast to the more incisive Walton, the one piece with which I was not familiar. Van Keulen was extremely invested in this performance, almost, at times, looking as if she wanted to conduct it herself. Twenty-four hours (and another concert) later, I can't say the Walton has stuck in my memory especially, but I won't shun a repeat performance at some time.
I still think "Shaker Loops" is a bit too long, but the bit that drags a little for me is in the middle, and when the cello got started on the final section, I forgot all my reservations and just let the pulse carry me away. After that, the Copland seemed to take a minute or two to stabilise, but eventually that unmistakeable "out-of-doors" feel of Copland's music came through, like the faintest of cool breezes. Swenson was enjoying himself on the podium, as if Martha Graham had written a little discreet choreography just for him, and the stillness, as the music declines into a limpid sunset, had something very nearly magical about it.
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