VoxCarnyx

City Halls, Glasgow

Attendees at the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Summer Concert must have wondered what on earth was going on. No sooner had the orchestra’s young musicians taken the stage and duly tuned than they were up and off again, filing into the wings. Was this a latter day Hoffnung concert? What was the joke? A ripple of quiet bemusement swept around the audience.

Then a lone cellist positioned himself centre stage, the wind and brass reappeared en masse in the choir gallery, the former struck up a winsome melody while a distant ambulant solo violin added its conversational response. Bit by bit the strings returned to the stage, striking up incrementally as if Haydn’s Farewell Symphony had shifted into reverse. 

What we were experiencing was Andrea Tarrodi’s imaginative new concerto for piano trio and orchestra, Moorlands and beyond…, commissioned jointly by the Amatis Trio and NYOS, and premiered in the weekend’s concerts in Edinburgh (Friday) and Glasgow. For an organisation that has undergone something of a restructuring and repositioning in recent years, this was as firm a statement of self-belief and purpose as you’d hope to witness.

It wasn’t just the daringness of the project that struck such a positive chord, as the persuasive attitude and virile sound emanating from this orchestra. Under conductor Teresa Riveiro Böhm (an erstwhile Leverhulme Conducting Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Saturday’s performances – there was also music by Grieg and Stravinsky – were remarkable for their arresting spirit and glowing confidence.   

Tarrodi’s haunting score asks for nothing less. As a luscious soundscape expanded from an earlier piece, Moorlands for piano trio, and inspired by the bleak Highlands landscape the Swedish composer encountered during a Scottish road trip, it is deceptively challenging. While its motivic material may be essentially simple, the textures are picturesque, idyllic and at times mystical, a complexity of impressionist brushstrokes richly captured and, in this instance, enchantingly portrayed.

The Amatis Trio played a more integrated than prominent role, a deliberate ploy on Tarrodi’s part, yet there were star-studded moments where their cool virtuosity offered opportunity for them to emerge out of the melting pot. All in all, though, this was an impressive team effort.

Grieg’s Norwegian Dances – originally written as piano duets – offered an immediate upswing in Scandinavian tempo, grasped enthusiastically by the a rustically-charged NYOS. It wasn’t just their fiery energy that dazzled, but the supple, sometimes mischievous nuances and exquisite solo contributions encouraged by Böhm’s demonstrative lead. 

The most impressive achievement came in the second half with Stravinsky’s 1947 version of Petrushka, a performance resplendent in musical characterisation, intoxicating rhythmic precision and pyrotechnic virtuosity. Even if the balance at times seemed miscalculated, there was always a palpable sense of conviction and joy to ensure this performance maintained its compulsive charm and effusive elan. 

Ken Walton 

(Photo: Alison Laredo)