Ninth Symphony wasn’t just great, it was marvellous

The scottish chamber orchestra’ s concert in the Younger Hall, St Andrews, on Wednesday night was billed as the Robin Ticciati farewell concert, as the SCO musical director departs to pastures new, so his withdrawal – and that of soloist Christian Tetzlaff – was something of a disappointment.

However, there was ample compensation in the shape of their replacements, mercurial conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and stunning violinist Josef Spacek. Both proved to be key elements to a wonderful concert.

Spacek and dvorak’s violin concerto is a case in point. Why is this concerto not in the concert repertoire? It’s a fantastic piece and easily holds its own against the Brahms and Tchaikovskys of this world and is the ideal vehicle for the soloist to show off his or her credentials.

Its grand opening paves the way for the first chance for the soloist to shine – and shine Spacek did – before Dvorak unloads melody after melody. The first movement segues into the sublime second before the composer’ s Czech roots flourish in a finale that is full of joie de vivre.

Spacekw as excellence personified in all that he did, whether it be the many moments of glittering virtuosity or in the sections of serene calmness which Dvorak has the knack of dropping into the equation with alacrity.

An encore was more than justified, and Spacek continued the flair and panache he had previously shown with virtuosic harmonics and double-stopping.

Then it was solely the responsibility of the SCO and Emelyanychev to provide the magic and this they did with Schubert’s ninth symphony, the “Great”.

This gargantuan affair calls for stamina from the orchestra and patience from the audience as the composer elongates his musical message and expands on the traditional symphonic form.

“Great” is a choice epithet for the symphony, “Excellent” and “marvellous” are far more suitable when describing the performance.