East Neuk Festival: Opening Concert
Crail Parish Church, 1/7/2026
Donald Grant (violin), Su-a Lee (cello), Fergus McCreadie (piano)
Crail Church was the venue for the opening concert of this year’s East Neuk Festival, on the evening of the 1st of July. Three long-standing friends of the Festival, on paper comprising a piano trio, but all versatile cross-genre performers with renowned improvisational skills, collaborated in presenting an eclectic mix. In the first half, jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie presented his interpretation of Brahms’ Op.10 Ballades, followed by his own jazzier ‘ballades’ inspired by and based on the Brahms. In the second half, the three musicians delivered a rich mix of duos and trios. As festival director Svend McEwan-Brown said in his opening remarks, quite unlike any previous opening concert.
The first of the four Ballades is probably the best known (popular as an encore piece in a programme where frivolity would break the spell) and also my favourite. At first brooding and atmospheric, yet understated, it becomes more rhythmic, resolute and outspoken, before retreating back to its lair. Gorgeous expressive subtlety in the phrasing drew the listener into an intimate conversation with the youthful Brahms, while I cannot leave unsaid (and probably for merely the first of many times) that the Steinway in Crail Church for this year’s festival is a glorious instrument. The second Ballade starts as more of a lullaby/barcarolle, with touching tenderness and more captivating phrasing from Fergus, before becoming more rhythmically adventurous and quasi-heroic, leading to a fluid passage that evoked running water. The arch was completed retracing the imagery in reverse. The only brisk Ballade followed, rhythmically adventurous at first with kangaroo hops that remind me of ‘Vogel als Prophet’ from Schumann’s ‘Waldszenen’. The central interlude is an ethereal vision with something sinister lurking in the undergrowth on the left hand before we return to the kangaroos. The final Ballade begins as a leisurely drifting barcarolle, before becoming hushed, introspective and contemplative, while the water still flows with deep eddies beneath the surface. The opening insouciant mood proves elusive, resolution delayed until the final chord. A captivating and characterful realisation of an evocative piece. Excellent.
The feature of the Brahms piece that acted as a springboard for improvisation was the partial harmonic cycle of the keys of the four pieces: A-flat minor, A-flat, F-minor, and F. The first echoed the image of drifting downstream, with birdsong and a sense of something troubling beneath the surface, meditative and pensive, ending calmly. There was something quite fascinating about music flowing freely into existence before one’s eyes and ears. The second was brisk and more overtly jazzy, with elements of bebop ornamentation and Oscar Peterson articulation, but also free-flowing. The third began with a melody suggestive of highly-ornamented recitative, but mutated to impressionism, suggestive of Debussy (and to a lesser extent Ravel), but with jazz chords. I was reminded of ‘La cathédrale engloutie’ and ‘Reflets dans l’eau’. The last improvisation started with Debussy, but as the pulse became more animated, a number of Celtic folk phraseology tropes entered the mix, remaining balladic. Figures built in the right hand over an ostinato left, as if towards a big climax, though actually the tension dissipated and the line subsided to a simple folk-like melody, ending delicately and rather sweetly. Only now as I type am I struck by the extent to which liquid metaphors of free flow pervaded the imagery of the music and the manner of its execution and, in the case of the improvisation, its genesis. Stunning.
First up after the interval, Donald joined Fergus for a duo with two pieces of the Celtic folk genre, played attacca. The first, an air of unknown name, was heard, notated and arranged by Fergus on Skye. The piano articulation emulated the clarsach, whilst the violin emulated the uileann pipes. The second, a jig called ‘The Dolphin’, was a lovely melody that received an engaging outing in a stylish arrangement with a gradually accelerating tempo (but still slower than most danced jigs). Charming.
Next, it was Su-a’s turn to play in duo with Fergus. First up, a single-movement piece written by Fergus to be performed in an opera festival. In fast 3, its outer sections feature scampering athleticism allied to rhapsodic lyricism, flanking a central romance. I was reminded of the finale of Debussy’s Cello Sonata. Super piece, very well received by the audience. Su-a then spoke about how much fun the three musicians had had devising the programme, introducing another pair of pieces to be played attacca. A ‘folkified’ arrangement for cello and piano of the Allemande from Bach’s First Suite for Solo Cello, leading into ‘Ròs Geal na h-Alba’ (the White Rose of Scotland), a melody by Hamish Napier. Both were scrumptious.
Fergus had a rest while Donald and Su-a played a duo, the original violin-and-cello version of Donald’s composition, ‘The Witch of Leanachan’, which I first heard at the 2022 East Neuk Festival in the version for string quartet, performed by the Elias Quartet, of which Donald is a member. At this year’s Perth Festival, just a few weeks ago, I heard it reprised by the Résol Quartet. This is what I wrote in 2022:
“Finally, he introduced a musical portrait of a legendary ‘witch’ who … retired to haunt the woods [at the foot of Ben Nevis, where Donald spent his childhood]. Supposedly gazing into her blue eyes would turn one to stone. Audience participation was requested and rehearsed. The recital closed with audience and violinist repeatedly intoning “Hí-rí-ú; ‘n-gorm-shúil …” invoking “blue-eyes” morendo.”
Well, 2026 repeated the audience participation at the end of the super piece, with its atmospheric spooky beginning and a hectic reel before the haunting conclusion.
Fergus returned for a piece of bona fide piano trio music, the slow movement of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio. ‘Like a love letter’, Donald said, adding that, having recently read the collected letters of Brahms and Clara, he had concluded that they were undoubtedly “very good friends”. A lovely piece, it’s been enjoying fresh popularity with more frequent outings in Radio 3 over the last few years, Heartwarming.
The concert concluded with a piece by Fergus, the finale of a four movement work for piano trio, premiered at a recent jazz festival. The influence of Brahms is strongly evident melodically, while swing is present in the rhythm. An immensely satisfying movement, it made me want to hear the rest of the work. While introducing the piece, and with the concert already over-running its time, Fergus confessed he could play that lovely piano for ever. Not surprised at all – it’s a gem.
Three consummate communicators, clearly revelling in making music together and relishing the opportunity to draw the festival audience into the shared experience. An excellent opening concert.
Link:https://eastneukfestival.com/events/1-opening-concert-2/