Mozart Sinfonia Concertante
Queen’s Hall, 1/5/25
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stephanie Gonley director/violin, Max Mandel viola
Two weeks before the end of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 2024-2025 season, their series of concertos starring their own section principals ends with an unexpected “double-header”, when Leader Stephanie Gonley replaces the indisposed Lorenza Borrani in Mozart’s ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ alongside Principal Viola, Max Mandel. First we have a World Premiere by Associate Composer, Jay Capperauld, and the programme concludes with Schubert’s Symphony No 4.
‘Carmina Gadelica’, commissioned by the SCO and generously supported by a grant from the Vaughan Williams Foundation, is a work in five short movement for wind dectet, two each of horns, flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. The players process on stage and form a semi-circle with Principal Flute, André Cebrián in the leader’s seat on the left. ‘Carmina Gadelica’ (the Song of the Gaels) was Alexander Carmichael’s 1800 collection of poetry and song from the Western Isles. Not unlike its 1760s’ predecessor, ‘Ossian’, James MacPherson’s “translations” from a Gaelic bard, the authenticity of Carmichael’s collection was challenged. In his introduction to this composition, Jay Capperauld says “This new work for wind dectet explores the subject of authorship and cultural identity through various ‘Scottish’ melodies in a musical recreation of Carmichael’s ‘Carmina Gadelica’.
The five movements, inspired by the different types of music in Carmichael’s collection, begin with ‘Incantations’ full of dotted ‘scotch snap’ rhythms, sometime accompanied by a brisk snapping sound on stage, possibly foot-stamping. ‘Waterfall of Psalms’ replicates the Gaelic psalm-singing tradition with the precentor’s opening being taking up by multiple interweaving voices, the sonorous horns, the grace-notes and the odd harmonies in the musical lines suggesting the otherworldliness of the ritual. ‘Waulking Song’ takes us into the rhythms of women’s communal cloth-making work: the bassoon providing a steady beat, with snatches of dance woven in to the pattern. ‘Laments’ commemorates not only songs and bagpipe elegies, but also the human keening which traditionally accompanied Highland funerals. Finally ‘Fairy Songs’. These Scottish fairies certainly know how to have a good ceilidh: an ongoing reel gathers momentum over a bagpipe-like drone, with whoops and skirls, reminding us perhaps of Tam O Shanter’s witches. The ensemble’s masterly combination of these elements into a cheerful dance brings a smile to the composer’s face, and cheers from the audience at the end, applause that goes on for some time. Over the last few seasons it’s been good to hear the variety in Jay Capperauld’s compositions, with the themes often based on his own research. Next year the SCO is presenting several of his works in their online season, giving us a welcome opportunity to hear them again.
After rearrangement of the playing area, the SCO strings take the stage along with two horn players on traditional instruments and two oboists. I can’t see the orchestra in detail, but the sinfonia concertante format means that there are two separate ‘orchestras’ – Stephanie Gonley working with the first violins and Max Mandel with the seconds. Although the leaders of both sections are in their usual seats, the soloists standing at the front of the stage also turn from time to time to give directions to the different sections. Despite – or perhaps because of - the complicated form of the work, and his own frustrations with his lack of job opportunities in 1779, Mozart created music of thrilling creativity (David Kettle in his programme notes refers to “an overabundance of memorable melodies”). The SCO under Stephanie Gonley and Max Mandel produce a performance of great energy and warmth. The duet between the soloists requires remarkable rapport, during the call and response passages throughout the movement and especially in the double cadenza – Mozart, unusually for the period, wrote it out – with its breathtaking close-harmony conclusion.
The viola has a special tuning for this work, and Max Mandel checks it before the second movement. The andante begins like a waltz, but soon turn into an aria, with the violin singing the first verse and the viola the second. Our soloists make the most of the opportunities for beautiful playing in this movement and give themselves time to do so. The second double cadenza begins in a canon, in which the crossover of the lines is discordant before the viola plays reflectively on his lower notes before precise quiet trills lead to the closing bars. The jolly final movement swings along in a nice tune for the horns, before it’s taken up by the soloists. The presto marking gives both players the chance for exciting virtuosity, while each encourages the orchestra to maintain the pace. There’s no cadenza in this short finale, but during the flamboyant conclusion with the horns and oboes playing the main theme, the violinist reaches stratospheric heights (apparently the highest note Mozart ever wrote for the instrument). There’s loud, prolonged and well-deserved applause. Each of the concertos this season featuring the SCO’s own players has felt very special, the opportunity to see in the limelight musicians whose collaboration with the rest of the orchestra we’ve come to appreciate. This one has been exceptional, Stephanie Gonley and Max Mandel taking control of this magnificent music with the orchestra playing out of their skins.
After the interval we have one of Schubert’s attractive early symphonies and realise that not for the first time Jay Capperauld is the oldest composer of the evening, beating the 23 year old Mozart and the 19 year old Schubert, already on his fourth Symphony. For a work which Schubert himself named “Tragic”, there’s a great deal of energy and good cheer in the music. The adagio opening contains solemn chords, but their strength is swept away by the allegro vivace which follows. We’ve heard several of these early Schubert symphonies this season, and as ever his inventiveness in music-making and the versatility of his orchestration is astonishing. The forty players on stage, include four horns, two trumpets and timpani and they’re all given a chance to shine in the dramatic crescendos. The second movement andante for strings and winds is serene, with lovely interludes for oboes, flutes and clarinets, interrupted only briefly by more tempestuous passages, Stephanie Gonley directing from the leader’s chair, emphasising the differences in tempo and mood. The brass and drums come back with a bang for the short minuet, a splendid example of the off-beat heavy-footed variety, veering towards comedy rather than tragedy, and then the director whips up a spirited allegro in the finale, with more games afoot in a few false endings and pauses.
That was the last Queen’s Hall concert this season. Maxim Emelyanychev returns to conduct the final two concerts of the season, both in the Usher Hall. Next week Korean pianist, Yeol Eum Son plays Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto and the SCO Chorus sing Haydn’s Nelson Mass, and on 15th May, Nicola Benedetti plays the Brahms Violin Concerto.
Also, in a concert at St Cecilia’s Hall on 10th May, as part of the French Institute’s Baroque season, Maxim Emelyanychev gives a solo recital of Mozart, played on various keyboards from Edinburgh University’s collection of historic instruments.
