Finishing Up in Glasgow, Museums and Live Music

My time in Glasgow is coming to an end and I have tried to fit a lot of different things into the past week. I went to the Riverside Museum which just opened this year and sits on the bank of the Clyde River across from the old shipyards.  It is the Museum of Transport for Glasgow and has exhibits of boats, trains, cars, bikes, busses, and trams going as far back as the late 19th century.  They showed the development of the tram system in Glasgow, which started out as small horse drawn carriages and evolved into a double decker system which was removed in the 1960's to make way for more busses.  Since Glasgow was an industrial town they had a couple of trains that were built here and shipped off to various places in the world including South Africa.  There were also models of some of the enormous ships (Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary 2) that came out of Glasgow in the early part of this century.  The exhibits showed some of the building process and the enormous amount of man hours it took for each structure.  One part of the museum had a street built to look like it would have in 1920 with shops, restaurants, and pubs and even a stop for the Glasgow Underground, which is a small system but the third oldest in the world (after London and Budapest).  There were also cars, bikes, and motorcycles from the earliest inventions all the way to the present.  I thought it was a really interesting museum because of all the history that comes along with transportation and because my time here will include journeys almost all of these forms of transport.  If it wasn't for the technological advances in transportation, we wouldn't be able to travel and see the amazing things this world has to offer.

I returned to the Gallery of Modern Art as well last week, slightly disappointed that there weren't as many new exhibits from my last visit but greatly excited by one of the new ones entitled Atelier Public.  This exhibit is a do-it-yourself for museum visitors and is a few rooms with white walls and work space with all sorts of craft materials.  The idea is that visitors, and some artists-in-residence, will create the exhibit themselves as if it were a working artist studio.  No paint and canvas but crafty materials like colored paper and stickers, blocks, clay, cotton balls, and various other colorful tools to create all sorts of works to be stuck on the wall or some of the display tables.  Many people used words in their creations and only a few were politically charged but many were very funny.  I played with some clay and blocks and left my mark in a few random small designs. I had a great time creating and watching what others did.  It really felt like being a child again and gives the visitors to the museum the spirit of creativity.  Just because it is an art museum doesn't mean it has to be old or elitist or removed from the interests of the general public.

Now of course in my last week here I had to see some good live music and certainly saw some varied performances.  Last Wednesday I went to a gig at a pub to see a bunch of local singer-songwriters playing for charity.  Many of the musicians play at another pub on a weekly Monday Open Mic Night which I have gone to a couple of times.  It is a great community of supportive musicians that play guitar and sing (some play keyboard or other instruments) and do covers as well as a wide variety of original songs.  Most of them have very good voices and musical skills and lyrics ranging from the humorous to the melancholy.  I saw one of the bands a couple of weeks ago at their own gig and they did a selection of songs in Gaelic, which is the native language for people in the north of Scotland.  It is a very difficult language to wrap your ears around but makes for some beautiful melodies and interesting music.  Everyone at the gig seemed to be having a great time with the music and enjoying the company of the people around them.  They all support local music for their own enjoyment and love so it is a comforting and fun atmosphere.

In the classical realm of music, I saw my final Scottish Chamber Orchestra Concert on Friday and was still just as impressed with the precision, delicacy, and expressiveness of the ensemble as I was when I first saw them.  The program was entitled Northern Landscapes and featured music by composers from Finland, Iceland, and Norway.  The first piece was a Sibelius suite to accompany a Finnish historical drama entitled King Christian.  The music is very descriptive in its moods that include distraught, playful, triumphant, and serene depictions of nature.  There was a movement for just strings in which they displayed their beautiful and balanced tone, a dance-like section for the woodwinds to show their rhythmic unity and playfulness, and several brass fanfares for the bravery and excitement of Finnish Nationalism. The next piece was by composer Haflidi Hallgrimsson, who gave a talk before the concert about this newly composed Violin Concerto.  He spoke of an early love for violin music that he gained from listening to the one radio station in his native town in Iceland and how he went on to play cello and was principal cellist for this Scottish Chamber Orchestra for many years before focusing on composing.  This Concerto was written for violinist Jennifer Pike and was commission by the Iceland Symphony which couldn't program it for another year so they gave permission to the SCO to premiere it.  Despite the composers's endearing personality and the violinist's beautiful tone and precision, I had a difficult time engaging with the music and did not find much of it very enjoyable.  The piece includes many small musical motives that build and grow but not in the typical Beethoven way with long strings of development and variety.  It begins and ends with the calm and simple solo violin with many rises and falls throughout.  There were many parts where the soloist played with individuals or sections in the orchestra and these changes in texture were interesting to hear and watch.  The violinist was very expressive and had some beautiful lines and virtuostic passages executed with great control.  The final piece on the program was Grieg's Symphony in C minor, a standard Romantic symphony written while the composer was still young.  The first and last movements are dramatic and exciting with some great melodies and fun harmonic twists.  The second is a beautiful Adagio followed by a fun scherzo.  Though it wasn't innovative or new it was still enjoyable to listen to and easy to follow; and the musicians seemed to have a fun time playing it!  This concert was conducted by Enrique Mazzola who was expressive and clear and allowed the musicians to play both musically and strictly together, an impressive feat.

A Weekend of Amazing Pianists

This weekend was part of a two week series of concerts in Glasgow focused on the piano.  I saw four concerts with famous pianists using the instrument in various settings.  Friday night, Leon Fleisher conducted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto and Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.  I saw Fleisher conduct the Vanderbilt orchestra the past two years and was excited to see him work with a professional ensemble.  Of course the SCO sounds amazing on pieces of the classical period and seem quite comfortable accompanying a soloist and in all the individual orchestral solos.  Fleisher is pretty hands off with them, beautifully showing them individual phrases and not beating the pulse with dramatic gestures.  The Mozart had especially eloquent phrasing throughout, every 2 or 4 bars was a gem of lyricism and expression.  The Beethoven Concerto was played by Nicholos Angelich, who was a student of Fleisher at some point.  His playing was sweet and lyrical but often too fast and light that some clarity was lost.  Fleisher's conducting gave perfect balance to the concert and every movement had the right about of playfulness, drama, and enthusiasm.  For an encore, Angelich and Fleisher played a piano duo version of a Dvorak Slavonic Dance; it was fun to watch them together and they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Saturday afternoon was the most unique event of the weekend in a venue called the Old Fruitmarket, located in the same building as the Grand Hall where most concerts take place.  The Old Fruitmarket looked like just that, open floor with market stalls around, with a small stage in the front.  The concert was the German silent movie "Pandora's Box" accompanied by pianist Neil Brand playing an original score.  The plot of the movie was confusing and I didn't try hard to follow it but there was a seductive woman who's outgoing nature causes problems for her and others.  The pianist was quite amazing though and he did not stop playing for all two hours and five minutes of the movie!  The notes for the concert say that he was playing a score that he wrote but it sounded like there was an element of improvisation in the performance as he played without music and was watching the movie closely at times.  The music was not the 1920's jazz I expected in this kind of movie but mixed ideas of that style with more modern jazz and musical-theatre elements.  It kept right along with the action of the movie which was really impressive and when I was drawn into a particular scene, it was neat to see the effect the music had if I stopped paying attention to it.

Saturday evening was a solo recital by pianist, Mitsuko Uchida.  It is rare these days to hear a solo recital by someone so famous that they mostly perform concerti so I feel lucky that I got to hear one of the true masters in an intimate setting.  The concert was at the Grand Hall and the lone piano on the stage was a beautifully personal setting amidst a welcoming audience.  The program began with Schumann's Waldszenen and I was immediately drawn in by her singing melodies and emotionally charged phrasing.  Every rise and fall in the music was perfectly timed and her sound was constant and  smooth through changes in character.  Next on the program was a set of Chopin Nocturnes and the Polonaise-Fantasie which she played with equal grace and beauty.  The rubato and lyrical timing timing gave way to moments of utter timelessness where each note had its own rich quality and led appropriately to the next.  Every phrase was well thought out with the melodic line balanced clearly on top.  The second half of the program was Six Short Pieces by Schoenberg which went by quite fast but had great contrasts in character.  She went directly from these pieces into Schubert's Sonata in C Minor which worked smoothly but was a little jarring at first.  Again, the melodic line was beautifully phrased throughout and the virtuostic passage work was exciting and powerful.  Uchida is tall and skinny but has a commanding presence and really takes control of the music and captures the audiences attention from the beginning.  Everyone loved her and, though there was no standing, applauded enough to get a nice encore of a Mozart slow movement.  It was a thoroughly satisfying concert of great piano repertoire by a renowned pianist.

The final event of the weekend for me was a lecture by Alfred Brendel entitled "The Character in Music."  Though Brendel retired from performing just a few years ago he now spends his time giving talks and teaching as well as mentoring young pianists.  One of the greatest pianist of the century he is also a poet and quite an eloquent speaker, even in English which is not his first language.  Known for his playing of Beethoven Sonatas, among other things, this lecture focused on different characters in the pieces, how they can be highly specific and contrasting, and how they relate to form.  He used musical examples throughout and though it was only ever a short section of piece, it was still amazing to see his passion and precision in every note he played.  The beginning of the talk focused on form and motivic development, showing how Beethoven can create a whole piece with material from the first couple bars.  He went on to show very specific moods, characters, and images associated with parts of each sonata.  From the playful to the somber, from pastoral to deeply human, his ability to communicate the feelings both verbally and musically was quite amazing.  Although it is often hard to find a real connection between character and structure, he concluded the talk by saying that we should try to find a place where the two meet so that the technical elements and psychological elements bring out the piece's meaning.  It is all a very personal matter and Brendel really showed us that each performer and each listener can have differing opinions as long as they decide on something clear that they want to say.

London, Oxford, Mahler 8

So this weekend marks my first time visiting London and though I was prepared to be overwhelmed with things to do, it was still amazing how much is contained in that city.  Just walking up and down streets and looking around, the city really does look like one would expect.  The red busses, black taxis, lots of people, fancy stories, beautiful apartment buildings, it all adds up to what I thought London would be like, and yet I still feel like I hardly know the place.  But let's start from the beginning.  I met my host on Friday evening when I arrived and he took me around SoHo, Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown, and the West End.  Seeing the big billboards, neon signs, and theaters really reminded me of New York except smaller and flatter.  At the time there were tons of people shuffling into shows and crowds drinking in and around bars.  It was a quite lively and exciting introduction to London.

The next day I started at the Natural History Museum, and though I wouldn't normally visit such a place on a short trip to a new city, there was one exhibit that was highly recommended.  The Veolia Wildlife Photographer of Year is an exhibit that highlights photographs from an international competition of wildlife photography.  With many categories ranging from young people to professional and animal behavior to geological landscape, there were so many beautiful pictures it was hard to take it all in.  There were stunning mountain scenes, the northern lights, closeups of animals, and the winning set of pictures from the BP oil spill last year.  Some of the aerial shots over the gulf of Mexico show colorful designs in the oil floating on the water which is sad and yet beautiful.  But overall they were inspiring and beautiful pictures of our natural world in the heart of one of the busiest cities.  After this exhibit I took a traditional London walking tour from Wellington Arch through Green Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, and the Parliament.  Though it felt a bit touristy, it was good for me to see some of these main sites all at once and get some historical tidbits along the way.  It was somewhat surreal to see all of these famous spots in person when I have seen them so many times in pictures and movies.

Saturday evening, I headed up to Oxford to visit my friend Yoni, who I had not seen in a couple of years. He is doing a one year masters there and I was greatly looking forward to reconnecting with him and to getting a tour of Oxford from a real student.  Though I wouldn't really think of spending time in Oxford as a tourist, there were many visitors there and you can tell that it is a place for tourism.  Luckily I was with a student who could get me in for free to many buildings that visitors have to pay for!  It was certainly amazing seeing this place, probably the most famous college in the world, and thinking about all the history that has happened there for almost a thousand years.  It was great to learn about the college system and how the students are divided among 35 colleges that each has its own building and community.  Yoni goes to Brasenose which is right in the center by the Radcliffe Camera.  It is also near the famous Sheldonian Theatre with the fence mounted with carved heads.  We walked around to see some of the big colleges, through Christ Church Meadow, and around Magdalene College.  There is a beautiful deer park, with lots of deer, an ornate chapel, and classic looking courtyards where you can imagine a tradition of studying taking place for hundreds of years.  It was peaceful and awe-inspiring.  Yoni has been involved in the rowing team which is a big deal at Oxford for all the students and so while hanging out at a bar with some of his friends, I got to hear all sorts of rowing discussions.  Although I didn't understand most of it, I still appreciated their enthusiasm and thought it was cool how into it everyone seems to be there.  We had our afternoon cream tea which is tea, scone (biscuit), clotted cream, and jam; it was quite delicious.  I also got to eat dinner in the Brasenose Hall which was quite grand and Harry Potter like, though not nearly as big!

I returned to London Monday morning to do my personal walking tour through some of the older parts of the city Eastward toward the Tate Modern museum.  From Buckingham Palace I walked toward Trafalgar Square and got a closer look at St. Martin in the Fields, a famous church known as a music venue.  I went to Covent Garden, which I knew for the opera house but is also a very popular shopping destination.  In addition the the high-class stores inside the galleries, there was also an antique market of the kind you would see on TV.  English people wander up and down the aisles looking closely at jewelry with a magnifying glass and discussing the merits of various items.  From there I walked toward St. Paul's Cathedral making sure to look for Sweeny Todd on Fleet Street.  There was quite a large camp of Occupy London protestors outside the church although I think their size has diminished a bit in the last few weeks.  The Cathedral itself was spectacular on the inside, in beautiful condition with all the ornate decoration I would expect to find.  I walked through a bit more of the financial district to get to London Bridge so that I could cross over the Thames.  I knew I wasn't going to have time to make it to the Tower of London but I could get a great view of the famous Tower Bridge while crossing on the less famous but still standing London Bridge.  Once I was south of the river, I made my way to the Tate Modern museum while stopping to get a good view of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.  I am not sure if it is original in many ways but it does look exactly as I saw in pictures and they do still have plays going on in the open air.  The Tate museum was recommended to me by several people which is why I chose it as the one art museum I would see in London, and because I love modern art.  Completed in 2000, the museum is so popular that they are already planning an addition for the next couple years.  It is a massive building that used to be an electrical powerhouse and still retains the industrial look with one section completely open from the ground up to the fifth floor.  One exhibit I went to was called "Energy and Process" and focused on Italian Arte Provera and American Post-Minimalism as well as other fairly recent movements.  These works used a variety of materials and took on many different forms but all share opinions about the modern world and about the history of art in relation to contemporary fashions.  The other exhibit I spent a lot of time in was called "Poetry and Dream" and it focused on Surrealism and later artists which used similar ideas.  The surrealists focused a lot on dreams which is why their work often uses free association of objects, unspecific forms, the use of chance, and bizarre symbolism.  It was great to see some classic examples from Dali and Man Ray as well as a wide range of works that continue the tradition into the present day.

Monday night was the culmination of my trip to London in a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony at  Royal Albert Hall.  The hall was round and looked like the old style opera houses though it is more of a concert venue that theatre.  I sat on the ground level and there were rows and rows of seats and boxes going up all around me.  The giant organ held its prominent position in the front of the room and the numerous acoustical features provided color and some modern flair to the otherwise classic looking venue.  Nicknamed "The Symphony of A Thousand" the ensemble for this looked like it could have almost made that number.  It was simply amazing to see two enormous choirs rising from the orchestra almost to the top of the room as well as a children's choir and a massive orchestra.  When the piece first started, with organ and choir, I got the chills and was immediately taken away with the sound of all those people singing.  England is known for its great choral tradition and this collection of choirs did not let me down at all.  The intonation and tone were strong throughout and their dynamic contrasts gave the piece waves of excitement alternating with calm and mysterious.  The piece is not divided into movements like a traditional symphony, rather it has two distinct parts with different stories that all tie into the Christian ideas about redemption and love.  The first part is based on a Christian hymn and is quite energetic and powerful with beautiful lyrical sections as well.  This part of the piece was easier to follow and generally more exciting than the second half, which is a concert version of the last scene of Goethe's Faust.  It begins softly and with lots of mystery as the story of Faust's ascension unfolds.  The music keeps up the drama of the situation eventually moving into prayer for Faust's soul and the love of the Virgin Mary.  Though some of this symbolism and intensity of plot was lost on me, the general idea came across and by the end I could really feel the power of emotion in love and redemption out of the lower and mysterious sounds to the glorious full major harmonies.  The performers were Barts Choir, Wimbeldon Choral Society, and Berkshire Young Voices accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Ivor Setterfield.  Since the choir was the center of the piece, the orchestra was often just supportive and adding color, though the brass fanfares and chorales were always exciting and easy to hear.  The soloists were all good though no one really shined compared to the sheer force of the rest of the ensemble, though it was quite amazing when I could pick out the voice of the solo soprano over everything else.  Witnessing this piece was certainly an experience I will not forget.

My last day in London I had a couple hours to spare before getting to the train station and so I took my hosts recommendation and went north to Camden Town and Camden Lock Market.  Though I had never heard of it, I found that this enormous marketplace is quite the tourist attraction.  Located along a canal and in an old stables, the are countless stalls and stores selling clothes, jewelry, furniture, books, art, food, and almost anything you could imagine.  Much of it reminded me of things you wind along Venice Beach in LA or in the East Village in NYC but it still had its unique British charms and was a fun way to wander about for my last bit in London.  There were plenty of colorful people and an amazing variety of styles among the clothes and decorations.  The canal was also cool to see because it was the only one around and I could imagine how big of a deal it was when it was built about two hundred years ago.  From Camden, I wandered through Regents Park and some gardens to get back to the train station and head up to Glasgow.  I know there is so much more to see in London but I feel satisfied with the amount that I saw already and certainly love the life of the city enough to return in the future.

Two Amazing Soloists and British Theatre

So it has been two weeks since I last posted but I will share about three performances I have seen in that time.  The first was Robert Levin conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.  Levin is a pianist, theorist, and scholar who is one of the world's leading experts in Beethoven and the Viennese classics.  I have used his editions of Mozart sonatas and learned a lot about him so it was really great to finally see him live.  The program consisted of a Mozart Divertimento, Beethoven 3rd Piano Concerto, and Schubert's 3rd symphony, and this orchestra is particularly gifted for pieces of this era.   Levin is a pianist and scholar first so his conducting was a bit awkward and silly looking but the orchestra played well with him and these pieces were not originally conducted anyway so it isn't even necessary to have a conductor in the way that larger works from the 20th century need it.  Their Mozart playing is exquisite and well balanced with good taste and a wide range of expression.  Each phrase was a gem and they all fit together so well.  The slow movement was especially beautiful in its lyricism and serenity.  The next piece on the program was the Beethoven piano concerto with Levin playing and conducting.  The piano was in the middle of the orchestra and he sat facing the audience so he could be more a part of the ensemble.   Even though we couldn't see his hands like is now expected, this is the way Beethoven's ensembles probably would have sat so that the pianist has a close relationship with the whole group.  During the orchestra's opening, Levin conducted from his seat but didn't use any big gestures as he was also playing along with one hand on the piano.  His solo playing was quite dramatic and explosive with beautiful singing lines and lots of rapid passage work.  This playing is unlike the refined work of most soloists today who seek perfection and clarity; it is probably more along the lines of Beethoven's playing which was more about the passion and expression than getting every single note.  The amazing part came when Levin improvised the entire cadenza, something that would have been common in the time but is very rare to hear nowadays.  It was full of fire and passion and his creativity in using the themes was fresh and exciting.  I thoroughly enjoyed his interpretations of all the pieces on the program and felt that he breathed new life into pieces that can be thought of as old and stuck in a particular interpretation.  Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert have been part of the standard canon for so long that they can be shoved in a box and played without the enthusiasm that they deserve.

Since I am in Britain I have been wanting to see a proper theatrical production and last week I saw A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the Citizens Theatre.  Written by Peter Nichols in 1967, the play was originally rejected from West End playhouses in London and received its first premier in Glasgow in the same theatre I saw it.  After its success here it did get produced on West End and Broadway and has won many awards.  The play is about a couple whose ten year old daughter, Joe, has been confined to a wheel chair her whole life and is basically a vegetable who cannot talk or respond to anything and experiences epileptic seizures.  Over the course of one day we get to see their general attitude about the child and how things change that evening when they have some friends over.  Though it is a sad situation the play is quite humorous and honest about what it is like for parents to live with a child who cannot communicate.  The mother is hopeful that there will be improvements and holds on to the possibility of a better life for the girl.  The father is running out of patience with both the daughter and his wife and towards the end there is a breaking point for him.  Each of them spends a good deal of time talking to the audience about their experience and is often more honest to the spectators than to each other.  In the second act we see the girls grandmother who often takes care of her and some friends of the parents who come over to help lighten the mood.  They all take turns talking to the audience: one wants to help by sending to girl to a special school, one is freaked out by her and brags about her perfect children.  It is sad to see how such a medical condition takes a toll on a family and on individuals but it is interesting to see the way people handle it.  I could sympathize with the characters but really don't know how I would actually feel if I were put into that situation.  The father is very good with comic relief, joking about Joe as his main coping mechanism.  I really liked the production and was very drawn into the characters and their stories.  It definitely is a play that makes you think about life and feel compassion for individuals living in tough situations.  The interaction with the audience was quite fun and there were even a few moments where the actors were actually laughing and almost broke character.  I was especially impressed with the girl who played Joe because she had to act immobile and unresponsive in a wheelchair as well as have seizures; she was very believable.

Finally for this post, is another concert I saw of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in the large Royal Concert Hall.  The program began with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture which he sketched on  his travels in the Outer Hebrides here in Scotland.  I have not visited this area yet but will try to before I leave if it is not too cold.  These isles and mountainous areas are beautiful and lush with cliffs and mysterious caves.  Though I only know it from pictures the music does a great job describing this landscape with mystery and awe.  The next piece on the program was Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with soloist Vadim Gluzman.  This is one of the most famous concertos in the repertoire and was my first tim hearing the whole thing.  The first movement has great tunes, the second is lush and beautiful, and the third is energetic.  The soloist for this was one of the best I have ever seen and I could not focus on anything but him for the whole piece, which I guess is the point.  His technique was flawless and the sound flowed effortless out of the instrument.  He moved in appropriate ways and his face displayed the emotions that music was giving.  The violin he was playing was a 17th century Stradivarius that has been played by some of the best players in history and is the same instrument that premiered the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, among others.  This kind of history is unique and just being in the presence of this instrument was awe-inspring.  Its sound projected clearly over the orchestra with rich colors and vibrancy even in the soft passages.  I was impressed with the whole effect of the entire work.  The final piece on the program was Dvorak's 6th Symphony, a piece that is very rarely played and when I listened to it, I wondered why.  The first movement has great melodies with lots of swells to excitement and back to calmness.  The second movement is soothing and lyrical and develops a lot of great material.  The third was fast and furious and flowed into a grand finale with all of the contrasts and excitement you expect.  It sounded like typical Dvorak and was a great display of the orchestra's talents.  The conductor, Thomas Hanus, gave so much of himself in the performance it was quite impressive and fun to watch.  Never distracting, but always passionate with clear expression, he gave the orchestra a lot to go on.  I thoroughly enjoyed the entire concert.

Mozart, Sonic Youth, and lots in between!

Wow, I had a weekend full of live music from Mozart all the way to brand new works and lots in between!  Friday night was a Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert consisting of film music by three different composers and a newly commissioned work.  This new work was by Australian composer Gordon Kerry and was a flute concerto called Captain Flinders’ Musick.  Captain Matthew Flinders was the first European to circumnavigate Australia at the end of the 18^th Century; he met indigenous tribes and charted the entire island.  His story is also a sad one in that he had recently married before his journey and his wife was unexpectedly forbidden from joining him.  On his way back to Britain he was captured and put in prison for six years before returning to London where he lived the rest of his life in poverty.  In the pre-concert talk, Kerry talked a lot about the sound of Australian music that composers use to emulate the landscape.  It is mostly flat with trees, animal, and geological feaures sticking out at random places.  Thus, the music has drones and sustained sounds  with random flurries of sound throughout; it is atmospheric sparks visualization.  Since Captain Flinders was also a flute player the piece has quotes from several late-classical flute pieces and other moments of pure tonal harmony amidst this Australian sound.  The flute player, Alison Mitchell, is the principal flute for this orchestra and has a beautiful sweet sound that was always present but never overbearing.  It is not a terribly virtuostic concerto but there some beautiful clear melodies, angular lines, and free cadenza passages that were all executed tastefully.  I thought the piece was sweet to listen to and evoked the moods of the story of Flinders: adventure, longing, hope.

The other pieces on the program were from scores by Takemitsu, Saint-Saens, and Shostakovich.  The Takemitsu did not sound at all like the music I associate with him.  There were selections from three films from throughout his career Jose Torres, Black Rain, and The Face of Another.  The music included jazzy dance music, a tango, reflective and dramatic music about the bombing of Hiroshima, and concluded with a fun almost-Viennese waltz.  The Saint-Saens piece was from a very early silent horror film called The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908) and was towards the end of his life.  There wasn’t much special about this music but you could tell that it clearly followed a story.  It was more amazing to realize that Saint-Saens lived to the time of silent movies and was able to write such a descriptive score with no previous works to base it on.  Finally, the headlining piece for the concert was the Shostakovich’s music from the film New Babylon, a political satire that takes place in the French Commune of 1871.  The story shows the vast differences in life between the decadent bourgeoisie and the simple working-class and the music communicates these differences quite literally.  Most of the music sounds like it was taken directly from Parisian nightlife with can-cans, waltzes, and polkas all containing the sarcastic Shostakovich twist.  There are also swells in emotion and simpler tuneful parts that accompany the feeling of daily life of the working class. 

This was a fun concert and most of the music was easy to listen to and follow yet all very descriptive and rapidly changing.  I thought the conductor, Olari Elts, did a good job and stayed tastefully out of the way since much of the music is explicit in its emotion and musicality and can really speak for itself. 

Saturday night was my first time seeing the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and my first time in the Main Auditorium of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.  The conductor, Peter Oundjian, is the music director designate for the RSNO and this was his first concert with them as the former director is in his final season.  Oundjian is a British conductor who started as violinist and played with Tokyo String Quartet for over ten seasons.  He developed focal dystonia and, like Leon Fleisher, began a conducting career. His gestures were expressive but not over the top and in the pre-concert talk the principal trombone player mentioned that they can really tell he was a professional musician before becoming a conductor.  I could see it in the way he related to the musicians and in the directions he gave them without dictating every single note.

The program began with Benedictus by Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie.  It was a beautiful yet solemn religious piece with sweet harmonies throughout.  There were some swells in dynamic and movement but it maintained its peaceful, prayer-like mood.  The next piece was Bohuslav Martinu’s Symphony No. 6 Fantasies Symphoniques.  I have to admit that I had a difficult time following this one and zoned out during parts.  It wasn’t very attention grabbing to me although I did enjoy the overall sounds of the orchestra.  There were lots of contrasts in dynamics and effects in the strings that were interesting and gave the “fantastical” sound.  This hall is much bigger and less acoustically clear so not as many things jumped out at me.

The main piece on this program was the Mozart Requiem, one of the most mysterious and famous in the entire repertoire and this was my first time hearing it live.  They reduced the size of the orchestra for this and brought on a massive chorus and four soloists.  The soprano that was scheduled was sick and they had a replacement who was good but not as strong and confident when her voice was supposed to be on top of the others. (This is the second replacement soloist I’ve seen since I’ve been here.)  The choir was wonderfully powerful with a huge range of dynamics and really carried the piece, as they are supposed to.  The orchestra was a great support for the choir, always audible but never covering them up.  The piece had all of the powerful fearful moods like the Dies Irae and the more mournful and reflective ones like the Lacrimosa.  It wasn’t the sound of perfection and unity that I had hoped for before the concert but I certainly enjoyed it and felt the strong tradition that goes along with this piece.  It is a religious piece as its purpose dictates and its place in the classical repertory has also become sacred for its musical value.  During the pre-concert talk the trombonist demonstrated several different trombones and mentioned that three trombones were always used in church to play along with the three lower voices of the choir so it was fun to pay attention to that aspect. 

This weekend the city was also presenting the first of two two-day festivals dedicated to Phillip Glass in his 75^th year.  There were several concerts going on at various venues and I chose two free concerts by a group called Bang on a Can All-Stars which is part of a new music organization based in New York.  The first of these concerts was at a venue right around the corner from my flat called the Tramway.  Formerly a hub for trams, it was converted to the Transit Museum in the 1960’s and then into a multi-purpose art space that includes visual exhibits, theatre, a garden, and houses the Scottish Ballet school.  The second concert of I saw was in a small exhibition room at the Royal Concert Hall.  The ensemble consisted of percussion (drum set, mallets, auxiliary), double bass, cello, electric guitar, piano, and clarinets. 

The first concert had music by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and Evan Ziporyn (who was the clarinetist/leader of the group).  The program notes and titles gave good images to think about during these pieces and though they all had very different feels though their construction used similar layering techniques.  One or two instruments would start a beat and then the others would build on top.  It wasn’t true minimalism and it wasn’t straight rhythmic jamming but there wasn’t much sense melody or harmony in the traditional way.  I really enjoyed the music because you could relax and take it all on without having to focus as much and the structure or content.  For one of the pieces the performers had to wear ear-pieces with a click track because there were two different tempi going on at the same time.  The pianist and marimba player had constant even notes in one hand and played other patterns with the other hand that were a different tempo.  It didn’t sound chaotic at all and the rhythms blended together nicely so you almost couldn’t notice but it was really amazing to know that were doing this.

The second concert I saw by this group had some similar music.  Unfortunately there was no program so I don’t remember the composers names except that one is part of the band The Dirty Projectors and one is part of Sonic Youth.  This group has great relationships to the music world in New York and though they present concerts at traditional classical music venues there work extends far beyond that into rock and roll, electronic, and completely experimental.  This is very important to the music world as a whole because no one genre needs to be exclusive and it is good for people stuck in the classical music world to be open to new styles.  This concert did feature one Phillip Glass piece called Two Pages which is one of his early works and the only true minimalist piece I have ever heard live.  All six musicians played in unison one line of five notes that would build by adding smaller lines from within the original line.  For example they would play 1-2-3-4-5 1-2-3-4-5 1-2-3-4-5 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4-5 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4-5 1-2-3-4 1-2-3...  The piece completely undoes your sense of time by repeating the same simple line seemingly infinite times and destroying any sense of expectation.  It was really easy for me to zone out and just keep hearing the repetition without always noticing the changes in the pattern.  It was somewhat tiring by the end and there was a sense of relief when it stopped and yet there was also the feeling that something was missing from the room.  We learn about minimalism in music history class and I have listened to small excerpts but I was really glad to finally experience the complete timelessness and anti-classical mindset that Phillip Glass was going for. 

So yes, I saw a lot of music during the weekend and concluded it all with jazz at Glasgow’s favorite vegan bar and live music venue, The 78.  It was a good time and the jazz was top notch!

Edinburgh and Lothians

Friday morning I took the train to Edinburgh and met up with Ron and Rebecca Lascoe at their castle hotel in Bonnyrigg.  As they are like my second set of parents it was really nice to see them and have some familiar faces and voices.  They had rented a car and we drove around much of the countryside in the area known as The Borders, it borders with England.  Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel of DaVinci Code fame.  This little gem of a church has become quite famous over the years especially since the DaVinci Code movie.  Although it is undergoing quite a bit of renovation the stone work throughout was quite beautiful with a lot of intricately carved figures and designs, as well as one of only two carvings in the world of an angel playing bagpipes!  From there we drove through the town of Peebles and walked around a bit.  It is a quaint little town with some shops and a river with great country views.  Lots of sheep grazing and beautiful rolling hills.  Afterward, we journeyed to Melrose where we toured the ruins of the Melrose Abbey.  Once one of the richest Abbeys in Scotland, its location on the border made it prone to attacks from English kings.  The ruins were still beautiful with the mysterious air of broken down buildings.  We drove along from their through more beautiful countryside, passing by a castle and some windy cobblestone roads through to England before heading back up to Edinburgh.  We stopped briefly at the fishing town of St. Abbs which is located right on the coast of the North Sea.  It was cold and windy but interesting to see the harbor looking out to the sea and imagining all the fisherman leaving early in the morning for their daily work.  The views were spectacular and I really got the feeling of being on an island, something that you don't get when you're in the midst of a large city.

I left the Lascoes in Edinburgh and stayed with a MBA student from India for the weekend.  Since he has never been to America and I have never been to India we had a great cultural exchange learning about each other's countries and we made good conversation late into the night.  I was also the first Jew he met and we talked about religion for a while.  He grew up in a religion called Jainism, which I have read about in a book before and didn't believe was real because of all of their extreme customs.  He doesn't practice most of their traditions but generally it is a religion based on non-violence toward living things, which some followers take to the most extreme measures imaginable (i.e. self inflicted pain, long term fasting, covering their mouths and not wearing shoes to reduce harm to tiny organisms).  Saturday night he cooked traditional Indian lentil stew (Dal) and rice and he reminded me that in India they don't use utensils so we ate with our hands! It was a fun cultural experience and overall a very refreshing interaction for me.

Saturday and Sunday during the day I did a lot of walking around Edinburgh's new and old town.  There is a company that offers free walking tours so I took one and got the full taste of Edinburgh's cultural history as well as general Scottish history.  There are a lot of sordid stories of murder and crime as well as the occasional pleasant story about a dog.  We learned about the real life Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde that Robert Louis Stevenson based his story on and saw the remaining homes of the city's prominent figures.  After the walking tour I went to Edinburgh castle which is one of Scotland's most popular tourist sites, and even towards the end of tourist season was quite busy.  Here, I continued to learn about Scottish history which mainly consists of frequent battles with the English and land constantly changing hands.  There were religious and cultural differences that divided the two countries and a lot of violence that ensued as a result.  Looking at the royal lines and reading their various stories is a bit overwhelming considering all the back and forth that went on throughout history.  The castle also has a lot of military objects from ancient all the way to present day and the Scottish crown jewels with a long exhibit leading up to it.  Since the city is built on hills there were so many great views and I couldn't resist taking numerous pictures of all the beautiful landscape and cityscape.  The architecture throughout the city is quite beautiful and mostly well kept which is why it such a popular tourist city.  However I was exhausted by the number of kitchy Scottish shops and constant crowds along the Royal Mile.  Overall I enjoyed Edinburgh a lot but was actually glad when arrived back in Glasgow.  In felt someonewhat more comfortable and for the first time that I belong here since I was returning from somewhere else.  There is so much to see in Edinburgh though, I may have to go back later.

Some avant-garde theatre and more BBC orchestra

Last Wednesday I saw an ad online for a theatre/dance performance of a work in progress and, being in the mood for new things, went with my flatmate to see what it was about.  The group is called Dudendance and they create theatre and film works based in Northern Scotland in a heavily wooded area.  They run theatre camps for children and most recently have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.  The piece I saw is called "This Side of Paradise" and it is a project that extends from another series they did called "Into the Wild" in a forest that was being cut down.   They are waiting to hear back from some grant organizations and the piece I saw was only about 30 minutes of performance which will hopefully continue.  It took place in a small room at a venue in the city centre called The Arches; there were about 15 people in the audience.

The work explores some ideas in 1940's film-noir, mainly the animal instincts that exist in all people; we need food and we need each other and we need to survive.  "This Side of Paradise" had four characters spending much of the time rolling around on the floor with white pillow stuffing all around and inside their shirts.  And when I say rolling, it was more like slow crawling and reaching.  They had voice overs from 1940's films and the actors were lip-syncing with them; there was one couple who are on the run from the law, a girl trying to be an actress, and a man who's character I couldn't figure out.  There was some interesting slow-motion fighting with background music and the piece ended with a bit of video from one of their other recent projects.  Overall it was hard to figure out what was going on but I did enjoy it and felt drawn to the characters as they went through their small scenes of fright and un-knowing.  At they end they told us we could talk to some of them if we waited in the bar area so I went up and started talking to two of the actors.  They are one or two years out of high school and one is in college for theatre.  I asked them about the general idea for this and they didn't have many good responses but they did enjoy doing it and have plans for a full length show using this material.  Basically, the idea is to show pure human instinct and needs, which I think came across well and could make an interesting full length show.

Thursday was another concert of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  This season, they are paying special attention to music written 100 years ago, in 1911, and this concert had two pieces from that year. The first was "Two English Idylls" by George Butterworth.  I thought the orchestra did a fantastic job with the pastoral quality of these pieces and really put me in the English country-side.  The pieces included some folk songs throughout and were really pleasant to listen to.  The first was calm and happy while the second had more of a melancholy feel.  Though only a brief 12 minutes, this was the most enjoyable piece on the program for me.

The second piece was supposed to be Nielson's Violin Concerto written in 1911, which I was excited to hear, cause I'm not familiar with it.  However, the soloists was sick and at the last minute they brought in Akiko Suwanai who flew in just hours before the concert from Paris to play the Sibelius Concerto (written a few years before 1911).  A tall and sleek-looking Japanese woman, she had great stage presence and enthusiasm.  Her sound was loud and forceful and often too harsh for my taste, especially in the lyrical sections.  I hate to be so critical because it was a last minute performance, but I thought she was just too rough throughout.  It was an impressive sound, but even in the slow movement I didn't feel relaxed or at ease.  Her double stops, high-notes, and other technical feats were nearly perfect and strong, making that part of it impressive to listen to.  The last movement had the feel of a demented jig and was fun to listen to but, probably because of the limited rehearsal time, it just didn't feel quite together.

The final piece on the program was Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, which is one of my absolute favorites.  The conductor, Andrew Manze, gave a pre-concert talk about this piece, focusing on the tradition of composers using the countryside for inspiration and the nature of Beethoven's music transforming the classical into the Romantic.  Beethoven was particularly fond of nature and took many walks through country which you can hear clearly in the piece: walks along streams, bird songs, thunderstorms, and peasant dancing.  As I was so excited for this piece, I was a little let down by the conductors interpretation and leniency.  I thought he gave the orchestra too many specific gestures and dramatic tempo and dynamic shifts that took away from the natural beauty of Beethoven's writing.  I was happy with the solos in the woodwind section because last time I saw this orchestra, that was the section that sounded less impressive to me.  Overall, it was enjoyable but not my favorite concert performance.