JAMES MUNRO hears the orchestra celebrate a notable anniversary with two world premieres

TEN YEARS on, and going from strength to strength, the Highland Chamber Orchestra celebrated its decennial anniversary with its Eden Court debut and by giving the premiere performances of two new works, contrasting in nature but both thoroughly enjoyable.

What a pleasant change it makes to see a platform of musicians in bright colours, rather than the conventional funereal black, and that set a summery mood for the opening piece, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture.

The accepted story is that the composer was so impressed by the sight of Fingal’s Cave on the island of Staffa that he was inspired to write this well known overture. Of this there is some doubt, as Mendelssohn was a poor sailor and The Minch was particularly stormy on that day in August 1829 when he and his companion Karl Klingermann set sail from Oban in a steamship for the cruise around the Isle of Mull. Apparently poor Felix spent most of the trip with his head in the scuppers!

To compound the doubt, the original sketch for the Hebrides Overture forms the heading of a letter (now in the archives of the New York Public Library) which Mendelssohn sent to his father describing their journey through the Highlands to Oban.

Anyway the pedigree of the music is secondary to the imagery it conjures up. Under the baton of conductor Susan Dingle that storm of 1829 had abated to a gentle swell and it was a positively serene overture to the Highland Chamber Orchestra’s concert.

Fragments Completed is the title given to the combined efforts of composers Gordon Tocher, Alasdair Nicolson and Edward McGuire for the second item on the programme, commissioned by the HCO with assistance from the Scottish Arts Council.

It is an interesting, if not original, concept to ask a selection of composers to each contribute a movement to a work. After all, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations emerged from such an attempted exercise. The risk is that the various styles are so individual that the end result seems fragmented.

The so-called “Inverness Fragments” that inspired the work come from a piece of pre-Reformation plainsong, the music for which was found torn up and stuffed into a book binding in Fort Augustus Abbey.

Gordon Tocher chose to write the first movement, which he called ‘Overture’. Indeed it is a classic and melodic piece that does not seem to call to mind medieval plainsong but rather it sets the scene, as an overture should, and could well be the music played during a film’s opening titles and sequences.

In contrast, Alasdair Nicolson’s movement made me think of looking through a children’s kaleidoscope, a revolving picture of musical shapes and colours, all set against a haunting and almost ethereal Celtic background. It was an all-too-short and captivating experience.

Glasgow-based composer Edward McGuire is practically an honorary Invernessian as this was his third premiere in the Highland Capital in the last fifteen months. And his folksy, dance-like style was distinctive with his interpretation of the Inverness Fragments that brought the Highland Chamber Orchestra’s commission to a close.

The three movements are, as would be expected, very different in style, although all three have the same original material for inspiration, which does form a somewhat tenuous link. Each in their own way conjures up a clear and enjoyable image in the listener’s mind. This is modern music that reaches out to the listener, but the three markedly contrasting styles prevent the work from having an overall cohesion.

Rounding off the first half was the second of the Highland Chamber Orchestra’s premieres to celebrate their tenth birthday, a Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Strings from the Caithness composer Katrina Gordon.

There is far too little repertoire for the classical saxophone, a point that has been made by the Concerto’s dedicatee, Carole Sutherland, and this work makes a very acceptable contribution to help fill the void. Although now based in Glasgow, Carole Sutherland has strong Caithness connections and is well known to audiences in the North.

Carole had requested that her erstwhile pupil, Ross Montgomery, should be the soloist in the premiere of the Concerto, and this was an excellent choice, for the young man showed a maturity and confidence that displayed the character of the piece, as described by the composer, “packed with humour, peril and tragedy ... reflecting the dedicatee’s sparkling, mischievous personality.”

The Concerto is in three sections. In the first, Ross Montgomery emphasised the sense of conflict in the music, at times optimistic, at times realistic, and leaving a question mark at the end over which emotion is dominant. The slow middle section is full of melody and pathos before the piece is wound up with a cheerful jazzy rondo woven around a catchy motif that the audience were humming over their interval refreshments.

For some reason, after two works that were new to the audience and had their full attention, Beethoven’s Symphony No 2 in D major seemed a bit of a disappointment. Susan Dingle took it at a fairly measured tempo that only added to the feeling that the Orchestra were not as confident in the work as it might have been.

Obviously when the members of the Orchestra come from all the airts, and usually just for two programmes in the year, then rehearsal time is limited and the two premieres in the programme took dominance.

But to end on a positive note. There is to be a bonus coming together of the Highland Chamber Orchestra this summer. They will be giving an open air performance by the Boating Pond in the Whin Park in Inverness at 3.00pm on Sunday 5 September in aid of Riding For The Disabled.

By chance the last few Sundays of this miserable summer have been sunny and fine; let us hope that trend continues into September, and that the Orchestra are not tempting fate by playing Handel’s Water Music!

© James Munro, 2010

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