The final straight

An inside view from Andy:

Well, we've had 29 events so far, and have 9 more to go over the next 4 days - if you've not managed to catch anything yet, then don't miss your chance!  It's been pretty tiring, but there have been some amazing concerts, with more still to come.  

I've just finished a wind quintet concert with my Daniel's Beard colleagues, which was great fun.  Wind quintet repertoire can be a bit annoying sometimes, as composers often didn't really know what to do and basically tried to write a string quartet for the wrong instruments, but there are a few crackers out there...Samuel Barber'sSummer Music being one of them.  One of the audience said afterwards "I don't normally like the Ibert piece, but today I loved it!", which is a great compliment to have!  The Beardy Winds have a rest this evening as Alastair (on violin), Tom (cello) and Aaron (piano) perform a really interesting programme - Schnittke (think Shostakovich with less hair) and Brahms.  The Schnittke is dedicated to the doctor who resuscitated him not once, not twice but on three seperate occasions, and Brahms is one of the greatest piano trios out there.

Next for us will then be a concert on Thursday, where we're going to give the UK premiere of a piece by a German composer who isn't particularly well known here - Volker David Kirchner.  Now, this may be a bad plan - will people turn up to hear something by a composer that they've never heard of? It's hard to tell! Hopefully - if they don't like it, then it's only 12 minutes of their lives that they won't get back, after all.  On the other hand though, it really is a great piece, and of all the obscure, unknown repertoire which we've introduced over the last few years, there hasn't been a duff piece in there yet, so I'm hoping that people will trust us a bit and take a wee risk on it!  The second piece in the programme is by an old friend of mine, John Stringer.  He wrote it for us to perform at the Sound Festival in Aberdeen last year.  It's about 8 minutes long, and is really atmospheric, so it should work well in Cottier's.  The Piano Quartet by Richard Strauss is surprisingly uncommon in concert programmes. Given that he was the most performed living composer in the world at one point (whilst he was alive, obviously!), it's odd that it isn't more familiar, especially as it's such a fine piece.  Really lyrical, all the swoops and grand gestures that you would associate with Strauss, yet still with the strong classical and early romantic influence that his father exerted on him.

That's the last Daniel's Beard gig, but I'll be involved in the WEF Winds on Friday - Mozart's Serenade for 13 Winds.  It's a stunning piece, one of the greats for wind players.  The chance to play it with a lineup of players from all of the orchestras and several different chamber groups is very exciting, especially since we'll be conductor-free...  Then there may be a sneaky pint of ale to sip whilst listening to the Bagels, and then a chance to sleep!

An adventurer's review

We had a visit from adventurer Anna Hughes over our opening weekend - she's on a round-Britain sail at the moment, and hopped off the yacht to soak up a little culture.  In between writing her own blog and chapters of a new book (about her first round-Britain-trip - pedal powered this time) she sent us a wee review of her visit....

On a surprise trip to Glasgow I was delighted to be able to catch some of the Cottier Chamber Project, part of the West End Festival. I was there as a guest of my brother-in-law, Lenny Sayers, one of the composers featured in the festival, and Andy Saunders, the Artistic Director. So I got a brief glimpse into the organisation of the festival, the behind-the-scenes preparations, the rehearsals, the boxes of CDs hidden behind the couch. Almost as soon as I’d arrived we were whisked off to Òran Mór, the nightclub-in-a-crypt of a former church, where the PaCoRa Trio and Salsa Celtica would be performing a night of jazz, folk and celtic fusion. The Czech trio were up first and delivered a fantastic mix of furious Eastern European folk melodies and jazz bass lines, the violinist deftly alternating between incredible dexterity and strong rhythmic thrusts on the strings with the heel of his bow. The double bassist danced, and didn’t stop smiling for the entire set. The cimbalom, part-guitar, part-piano, finished off this fabulous, energetic trio, the audience warming up gradually and slowly creeping onto the dance floor.

Any shyness had disappeared by the time Salsa Celtica came on; the dance floor was packed with couples salsa-ing and jiving. A front line of pipes, banjo and fiddle performed traditional Scottish style melodies, with a powerful salsa back line of trombone, saxophones and rhythm section, including two congo drums and Brazilian vocals. By and large the two contrasting styles worked well together, the strident celtic melodies sitting comfortably on top of the underlying salsa rhythms. What was the most captivating was the incredible energy of the music and the musicians, the hip-swaying of the violinist soon replicated throughout the room.

The next day, Cottier’s Theatre (another converted church, done very tastefully) was the setting for a family concert featuring compositions by Lenny Sayers and performed by chamber group Daniel’s Beard, named after the rather impressive facial hair of Daniel Cottier whose portrait hangs in the bar. The pieces were delightful, the text of the nonsense poems delivered engagingly by Lenny himself, from the charming story of the Quangle Wangle’s Hat, upon which hundreds of animals take residence, to the beautifully lyrical accompaniment to The Owl and the Pussycat, where the children were invited to help tell the tale by waving a blue cloth for the sea. The audience participation continued in Stomp Like a Dinosaur — we all helped sing the chorus, then hid Lenny from the Tyrannosaurus Rex as it chased him round the hall.

In the programme notes we were told that Lenny has “developed a strong relationship with Daniel’s Beard,” a statement that appeared to be literally true when he emerged for the final poem dressed in a silly hat and a very bushy beard. ‘How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear’ completed a charmingly entertaining first half.

The concert was wrapped up with Peter and the Wolf — a wonderful rendition of the piece with Glaswegian transcript, ably read by Kaye Adams. The audience was captivated by each part of the tale, from the plucky ducky of the viola to the tweeting birdie of the violin, the stomping Grandfather cello to the clarinetist’s cat, the big bad French Horn wolf and finally Peter, our hero, who is No Feart o’ the wolf. Liz Lochhead’s translation was witty and fresh, and the performance as a whole thoroughly enjoyable.

All in all, a lovely concert and a very entertaining weekend.




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Guest blogger drops in...the 'bulletproof cellist' returns with a new line up!

Last year, we invited the winners of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Dunbar-Gerber Prize to perform.  The Csengele Quartet turned in a cracking performance (here's what Michael Tumelty had to say about it in The Herald!).  We've repeated it with this year's winners - the Jatsszuk Ensemble - which features a familiar face from last year's group in cellist David Munn.  Here are his thoughts on making a return visit with a different group:

The story never changes, just the names and faces…

A busy first week in June is becoming something of a habit for me.  This time last year, I was sitting in sunny Aldeburgh being coached by Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio on a piece that we, the Csengele Quartet, were due to perform the following week in Glasgow.  The piece: Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major.  The performance: Cottier’s Chamber Project 2012.

Twelve months on, I find myself preparing for the same concert series, but with a different group of musicians and a very different programme.

The RCS Játsszuk Ensemble, a group committed to performing lesser-known chamber works, is made up of current RCS students with a distinct Hungarian feel (in fact, I am the only non-Hungarian in the group!)  We have devised a programme of “Opus 1’s”, that is, the first pieces that the respective composers attributed a number to as they embarked on a professional career.

We open the concert with Frank Spedding’s Piano Quartet op. 1 (of course), written in 1951, when he was a student at the Royal College of Music in London.  Despite the sound-world being unmistakably in the 20th century, the piece conveys a distinct romantic feeling and a broad range of tone colours.

This is followed by Miklós Rózsa’s Trio Serenade op.1 (1927) for violin, viola and ‘cello.  This work displays very early signs of the composer’s subsequent career in film music, as there is real drama throughout.  In preparing this rather obscure work, we have continually viewed it ‘through the lens’ of film music, imagining what the camera might be focusing on at any given moment.

The concert concludes with Josef Suk’s über-romantic Piano Quartet (you have hopefully worked out the opus number by now).  The piece was the result of an assignment from his teacher, Antonìn Dvorák, who was so taken with the finished product that he selected it for the graduation awards concert that year.

So the personnel have changed, the programme has changed, but the excitement of performing at the Cottiers Chamber Project is just the same as last year.  As are the stressful rehearsals…

Kapten Trio - new concepts

It's been four whole days since I've blogged and I'm having major withdrawal symptoms. So I'm back with a bang and delighted to be focusing on the energetic and youthful  Kapten Trio.

Offspring of the Royal Conservatorie of Scotland, Kapten Trio are individually acclaimed prize winners but together they create wondrous, unique musical performances.

Unfortunately I have been unable to find excerpts of either Rory Boyle's 'Phaeton's Dancing Lesson' or Helena Tulve's 'Lumineux/Opaque'. How mysterious. I do however know that Lumineux/Opaque includes the professional musicians playing the ever accessible wine glass. There's hope for us all!

So onto something that I have managed to uncover from the depths of the internet, Dmitri Schostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 Op.67. This is quite a fun piece and has a slightly Russian sound. The pizzicato contrasts with the fuller sounds of the piano. The notes are short and sharp and has giving the piece an almost spiky feel to it. I feel as though the piece represents a frantic dance of spinning movements. Notes and sequences which I would perhaps associate with folk music are prolific throughout this piece, whether played in the upbeat and quick paced movements or the slower eerily ghostly whispers. There was a great deal of substance and character to this piece. It is recognisably unique and definitely differs to much of what I have previously heard.

All in all I reckon that this performance will be unusual, fun and full of variety. I am intrigued to hear the first two pieces, particularly Tulve's wine glass creation!

Kapten Trio will perform on the 9th of June at Cottier's Theatre. To purchase tickets click here or visit the Cottier Theatre Box Office.

Cultural contrasts with Daniel's Beard and Katrina Nimmo

Another day, another concert with Daniel's Beard, accompanied by the wonderful soprano Katrina Nimmo. Variety and contrast appears to be the theme with this programme. There is beauty in every piece despite the assortment of sounds, this is a truly expressive programme.

The performance will begin with Schubert's 'Auf Dem Strom'. My initial reaction to this piece was an awareness of a rolling sound, rising and falling in equal measure. This may result from the culmination of voice, piano and horn being played with a lightness to produce quite a holistic and integrated sound. I was particularly fond of the breaks between the vocal and instrumental parts allowing for the appreciation of each sound individually and as an entirety. However, the harmonising between the vocalist and instruments at points brought a richness and clarity to the overall sound. Singing in a foreign language must be quite an accomplishment, particularly due to the different linguistic sounds and mouth shapes which are not necessarily used or even in existence in the performers mother tongue. I suppose that it makes more sense to sing a piece in the language which the composer intended due to rhythm, sound and translation.

A selection of Beethoven's Schottische Lieder is a beautiful and relevant addition to this programme. The sweet sounds of Scottish song raise a sense of patriotism in many of us and I'm not talking bagpipes here. I am astounded and puzzled to find that Beethoven produced over 30 Scottish songs, some set to the words of great poets including Burns, Sir Walter Scott and a few women including poet and playwright Joanna Baillie. All of the elements which I would associate with traditional, Scottish folk music are translated into a more sophisticated production. Perhaps it relates to the quality of the vocalist and addition of the elegant  swirl of piano but this seems to be quite a dressed up depiction of Scotland. I heard great beauty in these excerpts and would be moved to witness this performance in the settings of Cottiers Theatre.

Horn Trio Op. 40 by Brahms begun with the familiar soft lilt that were characteristic in some of Beethoven's Schottische Lieder excerpts. Yet the tone of this was far from similar to the previous piece. The second part of the Horn Trio has a wonderfully choppy character which is brimming with energy and contrasted with the interspersed long and slender notes from the violin. Moving into a much lazier speed with a despairing tone, it strikes me how much contrast exists in this diverse program. Within this piece, the highlight for me was the final segment. The violin and horn seem to speak to one another as if answering questions.

I reckon that there will be rather a lot of emotion in this performance as I felt compelled to listen closely and that was in the confines of my home. I am particularly excited by Beethoven's Schottische Lieder and the Horn Trio with it's sparks of electricity and smooth counter balance.

Daniel's Beard and Katrina Nimmo will perform on the 7th of June at the Cottier's Theatre. To purchase tickets click here or visit the Cottier Theatre Box Office.

The perfect pairing

Jean Johnson and Steven Osborne unite for the Cottier Theatre evening performance with a repertoire of Brahms and Schumann. As a member of Daniel's Beard, Jean will have her work cut out for the duration of the Chamber Project. Her husband, Steven Osborne, is one of the world's leading piano soloists and has recently won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumental Award. What a great partnership! I'm sure they'll be completely in tune (hee hee) with each other when it comes to performing.

I am intrigued to hear another piece of Brahms' work, this time Sonata No.1 Op. 120/1. The clarinet provides a soft lilt against the piano throughout this piece with a  delicate tone that prevails with a subtle contrast to the piano which offers a slightly heavier, weightier sound. I found this to be a pretty piece which seemed to lean in the favour of the clarinet, exhibiting the soft voice of the wind instrument. However, in Brahms' Sonata No.2 I found that the piano took centre stage, what beautiful sounds prevailed.

Schumann's piece had a different feel to it as I detected a slightly darker undertone  at the beginning of the piece, for some bizarre reason it reminded me of a slowly flowing river, there was no urgency to the music. The piece continued in much the same way, tranquil and soft. Schumann is the first female composer whom I have encountered so far, a feminine tenderness runs through the piece, though there are quite obvious similarities between this piece and Brahms' Sonata.

Combining the clarinet and piano is like tea and cake - they just work well together. The gentle and almost effortless sound which was produced had a graceful  and refined air, I was captivated.

Jean Johnson and Steven Osborne will perform at Cottier's Theatre on the 6th of June. To purchase tickets click here or visit the Cottier Theatre Box Office.

Concerto Caledonia and Rachel Podger

The choice of repertoire for Concerto Caledonia and Rachel Podger's concert on the 6th of June is outstandingly angelic and beautiful. Light and delicate harmonies swayed me into a state of serenity, such a great start to my day! I am very much aware that this concert will be packed to the rafters with professionals and fans, who will take this opportunity to witness the talents of these unique artists.

I have already looked into Concerto Caledonia who specialise in resurrecting early and traditional music which has often been forgotten or lost to the pages of history. Rachel Podger, who will be accompanying the ensemble, is regarded as a bit of a genius when it comes to Baroque music. She is known for her interpretation of the music and her unique creative vision. Having fronted numerous prestigious chamber ensembles and orchestras she continues to be involved with various and projects and teaches, that's one busy lady!

I have definitely heard of Henry Purcell but wouldn't have been able to match his music and name. Images show that he wore quite distinguished wigs so Such magnificent composition is not to be forgotten though, I particularly enjoyed listening to all three of the pieces which will be performed - the Suite from 'Dioclesian', the Suite from 'The Fairy Queen' and Fantazias. There is a  ethereal feel to these pieces, they seem to be stereotypical of Baroque music. The music had a great deal of character which ties in with Purcells career which included writing music for plays.

Locke's The Tempest, is packed to the brim with dramatic flourishes and crescendos. The tempo seems perfect for dancing to and my imagination drifts into a daydream full of Lords and Ladies joining in dance. There was more joviality to this piece than the others. The Consort of Four Parts was a little more reserved and seemed to be a piece designed simply for listening purposes. This was an attractive piece but didn't have the excitement or energy of The Tempest.

Last but not least was the energetic and upbeat Bizarrie all'Umor Scozzese from Nicola Matteis. This had a colourfulness  and gaiety to it and was more of a youthful piece of music than the others. I struggled to find the track, it must be characteristic of Concerto Caledonia's repertoire. Good job it's being played during the Cottier Chamber Project as I found it to be a fun and merry choice.

Concerto Caledonia and Rachel Podger will be performing at Cottier's Theatre on the 6th of June. To purchase tickets click here or visit the Cottier Theatre Box Office.

Photo of Concerto Caledonia by Alex Woodward