sco winds : alasdair beatson, piano
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Sunday 18 January, 3pm afternoon concert ·
Robin Williams oboe Maximiliano Martin clarinet Peter Whelan bassoon Alec Frank-Gemmill horn Alasdair Beatson piano Mozart: Quintet in E flat major for piano & winds, K. 452 Schubert: Sonata in a minor, D.784 Beethoven: Quintet in E flat major, Op.16 “suave... dazzling... an amazing, life-enhancing musical experience” (The Herald) |
THE SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA WINDS
Here's what Michelty Tumelty had to say in the Herald in December 2012 when members of the SCO's wind section first got together to perform:
Music clubs and societies, festivals and concert halls; get your diaries out.* On Friday, at the regular concert in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland lunchtime series, I sat, mesmerised and pinned to my seat by some of the creamiest, most stylish wind sextet playing I have heard in 50 years of concert-going. I was not alone.
This was the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Winds, playing a series of sextets by Beethoven, Weber and Mozart, all delivered with the characteristics we know so well from their playing in the full SCO: precision, subtlety, immaculate ensemble, infinite sophistication of style and those miraculous SCO qualities of listening, watching, concentration and super-alert responsiveness between colleagues.
After a suave performance of Beethoven's Sextet, and before a dazzling performance of Weber's Adagio and Rondo, which moved from the warm, prophetic flush of Romanticism into the witty, cartoon capers of its Allegro, second bassoonist Alison Green got up and announced: "We're a new group."
I pursued her on Friday evening at the City Hall, where she was playing in the orchestra. "How new?" I asked. "Well, this week, " she grinned. It's not an SCO initiative: it's the players. Let's go for it: that sextet of players I heard on Friday is immediately one of the best ensembles in the world. I do not exaggerate: their playing of Mozart's K375 Serenade was heartstopping. They are out there. Look 'em up; book 'em. If it's class you're after it's all there and for hire. This was an amazing, life-enhancing musical experience. Ask anyone who was there.
* We got our diaries out, and here they are, joined by Alasdair Beatson, "chamber pianist extraordinaire" – a combination not to be missed!
ALASDAIR BEATSON is highly regarded as a distinctive and vibrant musician, equally adept in solo and chamber repertoire and in constant demand for festival appearances throughout Europe. Highlights of the 12/13 season include appearances as soloist with Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, solo recitals in Glasgow’s The Piano Festival and Bath’s Mozartfest, and a BBC Radio 3 Recital live from Wigmore Hall with Natalie Clein. His recent CD of Mendelssohn piano music with SOMM Recordings received praise for highly sensitive playing of rare insight (Classic FM Magazine) and was awarded the ‘Outstanding’ accolade of International Record Review. He recently released a disc of the complete piano works of the French composer Ludwig Thuille.
One of the most established chamber pianists of his generation, Alasdair collaborates in a wide and varied repertoire with some of today’s finest musicians, including Adrian Brendel, the Doric String Quartet, Guy Johnston, Pekka Kuusisto, and Pieter Wispelwey. He enjoys a regular association with the Scottish Ensemble. In 2012 he founded Musique à Marsac, of which he is Artistic Director.
Here's what Michelty Tumelty had to say in the Herald in December 2012 when members of the SCO's wind section first got together to perform:
Music clubs and societies, festivals and concert halls; get your diaries out.* On Friday, at the regular concert in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland lunchtime series, I sat, mesmerised and pinned to my seat by some of the creamiest, most stylish wind sextet playing I have heard in 50 years of concert-going. I was not alone.
This was the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Winds, playing a series of sextets by Beethoven, Weber and Mozart, all delivered with the characteristics we know so well from their playing in the full SCO: precision, subtlety, immaculate ensemble, infinite sophistication of style and those miraculous SCO qualities of listening, watching, concentration and super-alert responsiveness between colleagues.
After a suave performance of Beethoven's Sextet, and before a dazzling performance of Weber's Adagio and Rondo, which moved from the warm, prophetic flush of Romanticism into the witty, cartoon capers of its Allegro, second bassoonist Alison Green got up and announced: "We're a new group."
I pursued her on Friday evening at the City Hall, where she was playing in the orchestra. "How new?" I asked. "Well, this week, " she grinned. It's not an SCO initiative: it's the players. Let's go for it: that sextet of players I heard on Friday is immediately one of the best ensembles in the world. I do not exaggerate: their playing of Mozart's K375 Serenade was heartstopping. They are out there. Look 'em up; book 'em. If it's class you're after it's all there and for hire. This was an amazing, life-enhancing musical experience. Ask anyone who was there.
* We got our diaries out, and here they are, joined by Alasdair Beatson, "chamber pianist extraordinaire" – a combination not to be missed!
ALASDAIR BEATSON is highly regarded as a distinctive and vibrant musician, equally adept in solo and chamber repertoire and in constant demand for festival appearances throughout Europe. Highlights of the 12/13 season include appearances as soloist with Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, solo recitals in Glasgow’s The Piano Festival and Bath’s Mozartfest, and a BBC Radio 3 Recital live from Wigmore Hall with Natalie Clein. His recent CD of Mendelssohn piano music with SOMM Recordings received praise for highly sensitive playing of rare insight (Classic FM Magazine) and was awarded the ‘Outstanding’ accolade of International Record Review. He recently released a disc of the complete piano works of the French composer Ludwig Thuille.
One of the most established chamber pianists of his generation, Alasdair collaborates in a wide and varied repertoire with some of today’s finest musicians, including Adrian Brendel, the Doric String Quartet, Guy Johnston, Pekka Kuusisto, and Pieter Wispelwey. He enjoys a regular association with the Scottish Ensemble. In 2012 he founded Musique à Marsac, of which he is Artistic Director.
