Barony Hall, Cumnock | Cumnock Town Hall
One of the truly local successes of James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst festival has been its very own Festival Chorus. Populated by singers from the wider Ayrshire diaspora – including much of the Tryst management and MacMillan himself on Saturday – it has played an integral part in defining the home-grown element of the event, not least its willingness to address challenging contemporary repertoire over the years.
The beauty of American composer Taylor Scott Davis’ Magnificat, however, of which this was the Scottish premiere, is the extent to which this half-hour-long work lends itself to such enthusiastic amateur outfits. Written to a predominantly singable formula – the soft-centred comfort blanket of Rutter-like lyricism and golden harmonies never far away – and illuminated by a filmic orchestral glow courtesy here of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, this left ample freedom for conductor Eamonn Dougan to elicit the unpretentious expressiveness behind the notes. For the listener, it was a sincere and comforting ride.
If eclecticism was in full view, so was the Texan-based composer’s craftsmanship in knitting together a stream of recognisable influences. Where the energised sparkle of the opening spoke freely of John Adams, such was the sweep of ongoing references – fleeting echoes of so many Hollywood soundtracks – that the magpie-like mind of John Williams seemed a permanent resonance.
Scott Davis, the Texan-based composer, was himself in Cumnock to witness the performance, members of his Texan choir also making the trip to swell the vocal masses. Thus the red-ripe confidence greeting the opening Magnificat anima mea, the silken underpinning of ravishing solos by soprano (and former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist) Catriona Hewitson, the subdued acquiescence of the Et misericordia, and the ultimate euphoria of the Gloria.
This wasn’t a long concert – most of the Cumnock programmes come in at around an hour apiece – but it was a fulfilling one, opening with a deliciously light-fingered, joyously articulated account by SSO players of Dvorak’s Serenade for Wind Instruments (the added cello and double bass essential, but so like cuckoos in the nest) under MacMillan’s direction. A brief a cappella choral performance of MacMillan’s own wholesome six-part communion motet Benedicimus Deum caeli (from the Strathclyde Motets) followed, deftly conducted by chorus director Andrew McTaggart.
All of this took place in the Barony Hall, the central auditorium within Cumnock’s Robert Burns Academy, which worked really well acoustically, save for a vigorous air-conditioning system that gave intermittent life to a rack of tubular bells at points when they weren’t prescribed.
Earlier, Saturday’s afternoon concert was in a rather chilly Cumnock Town Hall, so thankfully we had an hours’ worth of Richard Strauss to warm the cockles and counter the remnants of Storm Amy outside. This featured the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland Camerata, a kind of elite squad at the apex of the NYOS family, performing ex-Berlin Philharmonic oboist Nigel Shore’s classy wind ensemble distillation of Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier under the baton of British-based Australian conductor Matthew Coorey.
Word is that some last-minute call-offs had required emergency changes to the ensemble line-up, which may have accounted for the unevenness, even some nervousness, in the score’s adrenalin-fuelled opening flourish and other key tutti points. Yet there were plentiful moments where character and skill took hold, such as those deliciously flighty figurations from the flutes, or the oboe’s plaintive lyrical poignance.
Coorey’s taut direction brought alertness and cohesion to a monumental task. Yes, there were instances that tested the young musicians, but there was seldom a moment where Strauss’ calorific masterpiece didn’t feel like a meal you simply didn’t want to end.
Ken Walton
[Photo credit: Stuart Armitt]