NYOS Symphony Orchestra: Spring Concert 2023
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - 15/04/23
Catherine Larsen-Maguire, conductor | Sean Shibe, guitar
The Symphony Orchestra of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland presented the second performance of its eagerly-awaited 2023 Spring programme in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on the evening of 15th April, conducted by Mancunian, Catherine Larsen-Maguire. It consisted of two works: the 2017 single-movement guitar concerto ‘Susurrus’ by Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski, with award-winning Scottish virtuoso Sean Shibe as soloist, followed after a short interval by Mahler’s monumental Seventh Symphony (1905). The concert was very well attended.
As has become an established tradition with NYOS performances, each work was introduced by a member of the orchestra. The audience was welcomed, and the guitar concerto introduced, by Duncan Richards of the first violins. ‘Susurrus’ is a Latin word meaning ‘a rustling or rasping sound’ and the work employed many novel techniques and effects to explore such a sound world, including sliding the (amplified) soloist’s hands, a steel ruler and a bow up and down the strings and tapping the instrument rhythmically. The orchestral musicians were also drawn into this exploration, with the violins at one point being held and strummed like guitars (not, perhaps, quite so novel: the same happens in the accompanied cadenza of Elgar’s Violin Concerto). Much of the music was rhythmically exciting, including syncopations and tango rhythms, and it was not without moments of lyricism, especially in the slower central section. The percussionists had some unusual instruments added to their arsenal, including a vibraslap and a wolf whistle à la ‘Clangers’. The closing section, in rhythm, pace and drive, recalled the finale of Stravinsky’s Symphony in 3 Movements. Orchestra, conductor and soloist met all the challenges of the work and delivered a fine performance, which was very well received by the Glasgow audience. The soloist performed a very short encore in the romantic nocturne-like style, unknown to me but equally enthusiastically applauded.
The second half was introduced by second violinist Naomi Priestnall as a 5-movement 80-minute work that charts a journey from darkness into light. The first movement certainly has its fair share of Mahlerian angst, opening with a funereal march which morphs into something more militaristic, though there is a more meditative calm central section suggesting that the night may conceal the secret of healing. The three central movements are certainly nocturnal and suggest dreamscapes: one a surreal rustic idyll, the next a demon-ridden grotesque nightmarish waltz; the last a spirit-calming serenade. The finale bursts forth into the light with a sense of untrammelled rejoicing.
I can imagine too that, for a young orchestral musician at the start of their career, the experience of collaborating on bringing such a huge work to performance under the direction of such a talented and charismatic conductor will be not merely a journey, but an immensely formative and emotionally rewarding and satisfying one, and an unforgettable experience. Every member of this orchestra gave their all to the realisation of the composer’s vision. In the first movement alone, superb solos were delivered by principal clarinet David Bruce, principal trumpet Finn Cormack, leader Chun-Yi Kang, principal oboe Angelos Charalampous and principal trombone Emma Close. Principal horn Andrew Armstrong is far too young to know that his solo at the beginning of the second movement is the Castrol GTX advert from 1984 (… oil is too small a word for it … liquid engineering, fitted in your car …), but he delivered it with style. Principal viola Edith Elliot’s solo in the third movement was clear, characterful and moving. Timpanist Josh Drury’s comments in the second movement were memorable, and he set the finale off with a flourish. In truth, though, every one of this orchestra of over 100 players contributed to an inspired Mahlerian realisation and the ensemble sound was breathtakingly good. I may have said before (more than once) that conducting a Mahler symphony paradoxically requires being a guiding presence to every musician in the orchestra yet being capable of seeing the structure of the whole piece, as if from a great height. Maestra Larsen-Maguire achieved this fully. The Glasgow ovation was rapturous.
A superb concert. Classical music has a bright future in Scotland.
Cover photo: Sean Shibe, pictured | Kaupo Kikkas, credit