A
preview and a review of our concert with pianist Jill Morton on 2nd
December 2006 at the RSAMD
Review
by Amy Parker, The Herald, 4th December 2006
Perhaps,
to avoid the anticlimactic and often despairing reality that accompanies
a birthday, one might think of adding a Piano Concerto to the list of
requests. Admittedly, the likelihood of being delivered a masterwork as
sublime as the one Maxim, son of Dmitri, Shostakovich received for his
special day is fairly low. Happily, though, and vicariously, we are able
to experience some of the delight that might have ensued as Maxim
accepted his Piano Concerto No.2, as the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.
The nerve-wracking opening movement had the audience holding its breath
as pianist Jill Morton ripped through the pugilistic score, marching up
and down the keyboard in giant stretches one moment, and delicately
reasserting the more minor, lyrical response the next. Indeed, Morton's
relationship with the piano was most striking; simultaneously she had
total command of the instrument and yet remained intuitively aware of
its intimidating prowess.
Copland's Quiet City - a piece salvaged from an experimental drama the
American composer had written - was a jazz and folk-influenced tale of
loneliness and anonymity in the big city, and seemed to convey more hope
than desperation. The open trumpet octaves and single-line melodies that
were bleakly self-referential and hard to locate were played with great
sensitivity by the ensemble and as we arrived all too quickly at the
finale - Beethoven's Symphony No.1 - there was the definite feeling that
this orchestra were out to impress.
As birthday celebrations go, this one definitely went with a succession
of bangs.
Preview of the concert by Michael Tumelty, The
Herald, 2nd December 2006
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