VoxCarnyx

City Halls, Glasgow

The double bass, as demonstrated by two of Scotland’s leading orchestral practitioners, appears to be in season at the moment. Less than month ago, Peter Eotvos’ theatrical concerto gained its UK premiere with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in the hands of former SCO, now RSNO, principal bassist Nikita Naumov. Last week it was the turn of BBC SSO principal Kai Kim, performing Estonian composer Eduard Tubin’s Concerto for Double Bass in an SSO matinee concert conducted by present-day Estonian Anu Tali.

A work dating from Tubin’s self-imposed exile to Sweden in the 1940s – precipitated by his native country’s Soviet reoccupation – it bears something of the austere abstraction that crept into his music as he distanced himself from earlier fascination with the folk tunes of his homeland. There’s a darkness, too, which stamps its immediate presence in the opening bars, demonic, gaunt, to some extent foreboding. But soon enough, it is the freneticism of this concerto – a restlessness that seems deliberately cold, to some extent frustrating in its refusal to completely settle – that dominates, taking time to reach its boiling point, and when it does signing off with a somewhat glib “that’s all folks”. 

In Thursday’s performance Kim exhibited solid command of the solo role, making the most of the bass’s trenchant lower register, instigating a pulsating rhythmic thrust as the tempo picked up and a jazzier persona emerged. The impish whimsy of a central movement soaked in Shostakovich-like ironic mockery, and a dizzying climactic cadenza, paved the way to a riotous finale, screaming blue murder at its height. Kim powered his way purposefully through its twists and turns.

Less convincing was Tali’s exploitation of Tubin’s orchestral colourings, slightly bland in part, missing many of the detailed interactions with the soloist, but at least matching in spirit those moments where a prolonged head of steam took hold. I couldn’t help thinking there was more to this music than the occasion presented. 

Similar issues arose in the two pieces surrounding the Tubin concerto. Tali opened with the 1991 strings and percussion version by Arvo Pärt of his own Fratres, a ruminative, incantation the appeal of which is its hypnotic repetitiveness, underpinning drone, punctuating percussion and patient swell. While it played to the letter of the score, neat and disciplined, that aura of timeless wonderment that is its transporting soul largely eluded it. 

The spirit of Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony was more convincingly captured, especially where Tali applied ample exuberant charm to the Scherzo and directional force to the ultimately triumphant Finale. But where there was such eventual confidence and gutsiness, there was – especially in the opening movement – a rigidness in Tali’s direction that seemed to constrain the orchestral response. Nervous openings were a tell-tale sign, as were lost instrumental subtleties and a tendency to allow the brass a tad too much freedom.

Thursday also saw the launch of the SSO’s new season brochure outlining the riches of a 2025-26 90th anniversary season that opens with a new work – for Laura, after Bach – by SSO chief conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, written in memory of former SSO leader Laura Samuel who died earlier this year; and in March next year promises a momentous Mahler 2 under conductor emeritus Sir Donald Runnicles. Full details at www.bbc.co.uk/bbcsso.

Ken Walton