Tag Archives: Lisa Robertson

RSNO / Hoving

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Perth Concert Hall

As readers of VoxCarnyx know, the first Scottish performances of Anna Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE are not being given this weekend, as the RSNO attests. They were heard almost exactly two years ago at the Govan Music Festival, when Bartholomew LaFollette was the soloist with the Glasgow Barons under conductor Paul MacAlinden.

That spurious claim aside, the programme the RSNO built around its first performance of the work was delightful, and its liveliness was substantially down to the fresh faces on stage.

In this context, Clyne, whose work has found plenty of champions in Scotland, was the veteran. The soloist and conductor, Senja Rummukainen and Emilia Hoving, are both Finns born in 1994, and between them they shaped the fascinating five movement piece with assurance.

Inspired by five lines of verse by 13th century mystic Rumi, it begins at the top of the cello’s range, echoed by flute and bowed percussion, before the rest of the winds come in with counterpoint. The ethereal opening is followed by a much more emphatic second movement when maintaining a balance between soloist and orchestra is more of a challenge, and then a central section concentrating on the familiar capabilities of the instrument in a concerto context – and features a lovely brief clarinet solo.

The fourth movement begins with a statement of ground bass from the soloist, taken up by the basses, and then develops as a stately canon, with crucial roles for gong and brass. The sweeping melody of the finale is shared around democratically, as are the solo duties, with orchestra leader Maya Iwabuchi having a few bars in the spotlight.

It is a partnership piece, and although Rummukainen had plenty to do, it was also good to hear her solo in her encore of Theme and Variations for Solo Cello by Jean Sibelius.

The programme was more of a showcase for her countrywoman, and Emilia Hoving is certainly a young conductor to watch. She steered Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales with a light touch, dancing on the podium through the suite of short waltzes that transcend their piano origins in the composer’s brilliant orchestration. This is modernism doing what it does best, throwing out lots of ideas rather than worrying the essence out of a few.

After the interval, Hoving’s way with Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances was even more dynamic. There is a no-nonsense clarity about her conducting style and in her hands this was the gloomy Russian at his colourful best. The hesitant waltz of the second dance was especially good, its swing a nod to the composer’s American exile as much as the cinemascope expressiveness of the movements on either side.

The wildcard that Hoving was dealt for the Perth performance (the rest of the programme repeated in Edinburgh and Glasgow) was the presence of a cohort from Big Noise Raploch, the original Stirling project of Sistema Scotland. Performing side-by-side with RSNO players, they opened the concert with a bespoke work from Lisa Robertson, a Scots composer of the same generation as the two Finnish women.

With some vocal effects and extended instrumental techniques, and rhythmic challenges as it develops, Change is Coming required performance concentration rather than individual virtuosity of the youngsters, and they proved more than equal to its demands. Hoving’s very clear baton kept the work’s complexities firmly on track.

Keith Bruce

Pictured: Senja Rummukainen

RSNO / Søndergård

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Usher Hall, Edinburgh

The only scheduled speaking from the stage on Friday night was at the start of the concert, when leader Maya Iwabuchi invited her former violin pupil and now featured young composer, Lisa Robertson, to introduce her premiering work, am fior-eun.

However, music director Thomas Søndergård could plainly not let the evening end without thanking the audience for turning out in such numbers and bringing such vocal enthusiasm. This was an Usher Hall filled to the rafters as the Edinburgh Festival would be delighted to see it, proving that the Celtic Connections festival at the other end of the M8 has no monopoly on January ticket sales.

If the music-lovers came out for the promise of Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto and Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, they brought ears receptive enough to greet new music with cheers of appreciation.

Robertson’s piece may be briefer than the 19th century works that followed, but it is on no lesser scale. Selected from the harvest of the RSNO’s Composer Hub project, it glories in the opportunity to compose for a full orchestra with a score that swooped across the available talent onstage like the eagles near Robertson’s West Highland home that it depicts.

Here was music that not only realised every word of the composer’s eloquent statement of her intention, but was audibly made in collaboration with those now playing it, extended techniques from strings, winds and percussion included. That’s not to say that others will not want to play it – such a colourful depiction of the Scottish landscape is sure to find further performances – but that these musicians set the bar for those who follow them very high indeed.

It was also a perfect appetiser for what Søndergård and soloist Francesco Piemontesi had in store. In the way of current programme typography style shared by the RSNO and the BBC Scottish, there was an adjective on the cover of this weekend’s booklet: “Majestic”. It was no idle boast, because this was a concert that was all about making a big impression, as Lisa Robertson certainly had.

Piemontesi is a pianist who can tailor his performance to every occasion, and this was him giving it large. In collaboration with the conductor we heard Beethoven in all his majesty, and full of drama.

Did Søndergård overstate the transition into the Finale? Perhaps. But could he have asked the strings to push even more in the slow movement? Possibly also true. Certainly, there was no risk of the soloist being overwhelmed by the orchestra – Piemontesi was on fire from the first bar to the last.

The Brahms was just as epic, Søndergård drawing a clear distinction between how a full-sized symphony orchestra should play this music and more modest “period” interpretations, using bold fluctuations in tempo without sacrificing any precision. There may have been swifter Brahms symphonies, but few as rich.

Keith Bruce