Tale of two halves from San Francisco Orchestra
hope to hear, and as measured an ensemble as only a big, muscular orchestra can give. angelic voices of the sopranos (Maureen McKay and Olga Pudova) and the reassuringly strong tones of the male figures (Allan Clayton and Dominik Köninger) maintained the exuberance of opera among the imaginative staging.
This ingeniously comical as well as artistic production left a stunned excitement ringing through the audience. It left me, as a first time opera goer, speechless. Full of fresh ideas and beauty in every aspect, it definitely isn’t something you can miss. Lillie Teden is a pupil at Royal High School and this review was submitted as part of the Herald Young Critics project with the Edinburgh International Festival interesting than what had come before and what came after.
Indeed, were it not for documented evidence of Murdoch’s career dating back a decade or so, this Hub session would have seemed like the result of an elaborate hoax. There is a romantic element in Murdoch’s story of being the independent artist who fights shy of the music industry but whose music reaches a wide audience through its use in films and TV commercials. This can be lucrative, so good on him.
Where things veer into fantasy, however, is that – according to the programme note – Murdoch feels “almost part of a tradition” that includes Nick Drake, Richard Thompson and John Martyn. Not on this evidence, he’s not. This was a series of monochrome washes into which Murdoch droned folksy doggerel in some imagined facsimile of a Scottish folk singer’s voice while picking a basic guitar pattern.
His band included Scottish jazz trumpeter Colin Steele, doing what sounded like warm-up exercise long notes, and pianist Phil Alexander rippling away with quite some patience alongside trombone, bass and drums. At one point Murdoch sat on the floor and droned to a harmonium, at another he delivered a sliver of a song at the piano and said it was serious. So now we know. Sponsored by Russian Standard Vodka
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Theatre
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Music
Miranda Heggie OPENING with three of Purcell’s Fantazias in four parts, the Arcanto Quartet’s warm, well rounded tone brought a lovely richness to the clean, clear lines of the music. Their measured, dignified playing had a deeply hued tone to it, heightening the doleful nature of Purcell’s Fantazia no 7 in C minor, and they relished the languishing dissonances of the final fantasia of the set, no 8 in D minor.
Skipping forward a few centuries, the quartet’s glowing sound continued in Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet no 3. The first movement, ‘duets’ began with a haunting, contemplative mood, with the second ‘ostinato’ movement more rousing and animated. Antje Weithaas on first violin played the solo in the third movement with a bright, sunny tone, while the other instruments exposed a series of natural harmonics.
The second half of the recital saw the Arcanto Quartet give a very serious rendition of Schubert’s String Quartet in G Major; not even in the scherzo did any of the players crack a smile! Though there are light-hearted moments in the music, there seemed to be a gravity to their playing, which gave even the more frivolous elements of the piece a sombre nature. The warmth of their sound brought depth and profundity to the music, but more clear definition was needed for danger of it sounding a bit out of focus.
The highlight was the final movement, marked Allegro assai, where the quartet played with drive and determination, cleverly and astutely accentuating the dramatic shifts between major and minor. Culminating in an exhilarating finale, this work wonderfully displayed the Arcanto Quartet’s ardent spirit. son’s room unchanged since he disappeared in 1985. “We just sat there in tears, the two of us.”
At the end of Helen Castor’s talk on Joan of Arc the audience exited while being serenaded by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Maid Of Orleans, one of the many iterations of the “mythic Joan” to be found in pop songs, movies and opera. Castor has been in search of the real woman behind the myth. What emerged from her research was a portrait of a young woman of “utter conviction”.
Could we say the same of our current Prime Minister? Actually, yes, according to Polly Toynbee, pictured above, and David Walker. They argued that the laidback, careless, hoodiehugger image we have been presented with over the years is far from the reality.
Think “Thatcherite wolf” in charge of a government that is ruthless, determined and utterly ideological, one committed to ending the 1945 settlement and effectively turning the UK into a version of the USA. But with less public spending.
Walker and Toynbee presented their arguments in turn in the manner of the Two Ronnies, although in this case the script was clearly written by Samuel Beckett. Without the laughs.
What emerged was a vision of a dystopian Tory future, before it veered into a collective mourning service for the state of the Labour party. Prime Minister Corbyn? They can’t see it happening. But Prime Minister George Osborne? All too scarily possible.