Beethoven 1 and 2, The Creatures of Prometheus Overture

 Strathpeffer Pavilion, 22/3/2026.

 Mahler Players, Tomas Leakey, conductor 

Another season begins, another good gig from the Highlands very own Mahler Players.

Spring has been trying to spring hereabouts, with the snowdrops and daffodils, and occasional sunny blue skies making a show. The choice of early symphonic Beethoven for the first concert of what promises to be a quite historic season seemed apropos, and was a sprightly enthusiastic affair - even if it did have a bit of a feeling of a limber up before The Really Big Game.

But more of that later.

Let's get a couple of small negatives out of the way first. It was not a perfect performance. There were a couple of ‘off moments’ wind-wise, and one of the early power chords wasn't just quite right. But not everything can be spot on in the adventure that is live symphonic music

Overall however there was much to enjoy over all three pieces. The slow movements were melodic, stately, and lush. The scherzo/trios bouncy and evocative, and the outer movements full of fire, theatrical flourishes and quick, fluid string playing.

The surprise opening of ‘The Creatures of Prometheus Overture’ reminded me of just how delightful and varied the Beethoven overtures are. There is of course, as the very knowledgeable Tomas Leakey explained, no reference point that remains historically to inform us of the ballet that the Beethoven wrote the music for, but I would love for someone to try  and make something of the larger piece.

Beethoven's first two symphonies represent progression before the great musical leap of the Eroica.

They feel Haydnesque, but with a swirl of Italian operatic drama and romanticism. And there is that ‘punch the air’, call and reply moment in the finale of the First, where perhaps for the first time we get a powerful hint of the democratic revolutionary culture and feel that would inhabit Beethoven's work.

The Players handled that piece of early 1800’s ‘rock and roll’ with gusto and joy.

As always people left the hall satisfied and happy with their musical afternoon, but the real talking point as people drifted outdoors was of ‘things to come’.

In two concerts in the last week in May, the Mahler Players will be staging their most ambitious musical performance yet, when Inverness Cathedral hosts them in a full, semi-staged performance of Wagner’s sublime music drama ‘Parsifal’, with a top-range cast of singers, led by the incomparable Sir John Tomlinson, a 40-piece orchestra and a 30-strong chorus.

This will be a huge cultural event, not just for the Highlands, but for all of Scotland. It will be the first time ‘Parsifal’ will have been performed in its entirety in Scotland since 2003.

Cannae wait.