Bakers among best in Scotland

THREE PROVED to be a magic number for bakeries in Perthshire at a top industry event.

A trio of businesses were highly commended by judges at this year’s Scottish Baker of theYear contest.

The Alyth Bakehouse impressed with its empire biscuits, while Murrays of Perth tickled tastebuds with its scotch pie.

Meanwhile, Per t h’s Tower Bakery enjoyed double success, winning a commendation for its sausage rolls, and making it to the f inals of the California Raisin for its honey/oat and raisin bread.

They all received their certif icates from Mich Turner, owner of the awardwinning Little Venice Cake Company, at a ceremony hosted by Scottish Bakers.

She said: “It has given me great pleasure to be involved in the competition again this year.

“There have been some fantastic entries and all the prizes I have handed out to bakers have been worthy in every way.

“I wish all our winners well in the coming year.”

As part of the Scottish Baker of the Year awards, more than 20,000 customers from across Scotland voted for their favourite products. THE SHEER s ound and impact of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at their Perth Festival 2014 concert was amazing. Right from their opening surge in Perth Concert Hall, they gave absolutely 100% and put over the feeling that their chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko, knew and lavished care on every single, tiny note.

They began Elgar’s Concert Overture Op.50 — In the South ( Alassio) with all the energy and opulence this piece deserves. The strings were played with tremendous élan in the opening paragraphs, yet were no less good in the mysterious passage which followed.

The Roman episode was epic, low brass and bass drum resounding — all the excitement of a huge orchestra going at full tilt. Catherine Marwood’s viola gave dreamily tender emotion to t he canto popolare section and Vasily Petrenko gave Elgar’s lyrical bent full time to express itself before ending masterfully with what the programme notes rightly called an irresistible blaze of exuberance.

Outgoing, t oo, was the Scottish première of S t e wa r t Co p e l a n d ’s percussion concerto Poltroons in Paradise, a vivid 17 minutes of rhythmic energy. From marimba and vibraphone, drums became the focus for the second part, with the third section becoming a riotous march, which slows to the final climactic notes.

The f inal work was a magnificent performance of Prokof i ev’s Sixth Symphony — an oddly serious, dissonant work to end a festival concert.

Again, the RLPO were superb in sound and acute in their response. The deliberately non-committal first movement was continued almost without break into the anguished second.

The third movement had two warring elements — a joyous chase in the style of his ballets, interrupted after just a few bars by the thumping of brass and percussion. It was virtuoso playing at its most perceptive, rising to a crisis after recalling the opening, but which had the life crushed out of it in its final bars.

Pe t r e n k o and his orchestra were rightly cheered to the echo.