St Mary’s Kirk, Haddington, 1/11/2026
Haddington Concert Society 40th Anniversary series: ‘With the Wind(s) in our Sails’
Maximiliano Martín, SCO principal clarinet, André Cebrián SCO principal flute, Cerys Ambrose-Evans SCO principal bassoon, Imma Setiadi pianist and Founder of the Musical Rainbow Project
The second concert in the 40th anniversary series of Haddington Concert Society took place on a cool but clear and sunny afternoon in St Mary’s Kirk. The late afternoon light shone a pattern of autumn colours through the ornate windows, warming the old stones and sparkling across the instruments of the three principal wind players of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. This was a wonderful opportunity to experience a collaboration among top class musicians, whom we seldom hear playing together across a complete programme. The carefully curated playlist seemed designed to deliver a variety of groupings of the soloists in challenging pieces both familiar and new that showcased their skills. Direct quotations below are taken from the excellent programme notes provided by Maximiliano Martín.
Fiona Finch, Chair of the Haddington Concert Society, welcomed the substantial audience, noting that it was a challenge to follow the opening concert of the series, but that after a flying start, the wind was truly in their sails. The committee of trustees of the Society, who organize these concerts had reduced from 11 to 5 members with one more soon to step down. The Chair made a plea for anyone interested in joining the committee to come forward to sustain the rich tradition of concerts in the town.
Maximiliano Martín and Imma Setiadi began with the ‘Introduction and Rondo’ by Charles-Marie Widor. This romantic piece was composed in 1898 as an examination piece for the Paris Conservatoire when Widor was principal organist. It requires “flawless technical execution, precise breath control and a sophisticated command of romantic expression” to achieve alternating soft wistful passages with fast intricate sweeps of sound supported by romantic chords on the piano.
Maximiliano Martín then welcomed the audience, saying it was a pleasure to collaborate with great musicians and friends in a concert with a combination of pieces and styles. He paid tribute to the dedication of the organizers, referring to a Festival he organizes in the Canary Islands and his experience of things you expect to happen but don’t. It was vital after a tradition of 40 years to continue to support the Society. He also reminded us of the recent train crash in Spain and wished to dedicate this concert to the victims.
André Cebrián then joined Imma Setiadi for the ‘Concertino’ by Cécile Chaminade. This more accessible melodic piece nevertheless places considerable demands on the flute player. It was rumoured to be an examination piece composed to confound a former lover. Chaminade enjoyed immense popularity in the late Victorian era , filling concert halls in Europe and America, but her music fell out of favour and was damned with faint praise as having “no depth of feeling, but pleasant to hear and to play” by the ‘Oxford Companion to Music’ in 1955. André Cebrián and Imma Setiadi certainly gave the lie to that. The exquisite opening melody floated into the vault of the church with precise articulation through the fast passages and wonderful rubato to bring out the emotion of the piece.
Maximiliano Martín and Cerys Ambrose-Evans then performed the ‘Sonata for Clarinet and Basson’, composed in 1922 when Poulenc “sought to write music that was clear, lean and straight to the point”. The piece lasts only eight minutes in three fast-slow-fast movements that saw great connection between the players. The first movement had a jerky, jazzy feel, ending in a surprisingly soft lilt. The second was calmer with a more melodic musical line, while the third felt like a jokey conversation with rollicking waves of sound interspersed with sudden pauses.
It was interesting to contrast the Poulenc with ‘Basson Sonata Op 168’ for bassoon and piano, written in 1921 by Camille Saint-Saëns just before his death. Similar to Poulenc in rejecting heavy German Romanticism, Saint-Saëns instead looked back to Classical ideas of “economy, transparency and lyricism”. In both these pieces the bassoon is given a larger role to deliver the melodic line beyond the traditional ‘oom pah pah’ of comic relief. The technical expertise required in both these pieces was considerable and handled superbly by Cerys Ambrose-Evans.
During the 15-minute interval, tea, coffee and biscuits were served by volunteers in aid of the church kitchen refurbishment fund with CDs from the soloists on sale.
The second half of the concert then brought together combinations of three instruments, flute, clarinet and piano in a ‘Tarantelle’ by Saint-Saëns and to finish ‘Trio Pathétique’ by Glinka, one of the few pieces for clarinet, bassoon and piano. Interspersed between these were short pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos: ‘Chôros No. 2’, based on Brazilian street music, and ‘Bachianas Brasilieras No. 6’ fusing popular music with the style of JS Bach.
Following rapturous applause from the audience, André Cebrián introduced an encore he had arranged especially for this concert to include all four musicians. Drawn from ‘The ballet ‘Creatures of Prometheus’ by Ludwig van Beethoven, This was a sensitive arrangement of ‘No. 5 Adagio’ in which the piano starts with a flourish of chords and the flute enters with the melody before combining bassoon and clarinet for joint and solo parts.
We left the church in the chill gloaming but with hearts and minds full of this inspirational concert. We are looking forward to the next concert on 22nd November with leading cellists Philip Higham and Kim Vaughan in recognition of Moray Welsh, Honorary President of the Haddington Concert Society since 2005. Details are on the website welcome