The SCC: St Giles at Six

St Giles Cathedral

This has been a very busy two weeks for me, but then “what’s new?” says I. There’s been SCO, then RSNO, then another RSNO experience – very different - Inside Out with Elim Chan in the new auditorium in the Glasgow Concert Hall, sitting with the orchestra while they rehearsed Beethoven 7 - fantastic! Then Susan Boyle in the Usher Hall, along with half the population of West Lothian – local girl made good, then Wendy Weatherby’s Singing Workshop, then a recorder play-day. But that’s not what I want to write about. No, I was asked to review St Giles at Six, one of a series of concerts in the famous cathedral.

Sunday 8 March: International Women’s Day, and what better than to hear works from six different women composers, works that span the ages from Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), through Leonara d’Este (1515-1575) and Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) to the present day, Kerry Andrews (b.1978), Judith Bingham (b.1952) and Roxanna Panufnik (b.1968). I confess that three of the six were new to me, d’Este, Andrews and Panufnik.

The Scottish Chamber Choir is a group of about fifteen women and twelve men, sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, directed by Ian McLarty, sober in black but anything but sober in their vivid exposition of plainsong, which is a type of chant associated with the medieval church, so what better locus than St Giles.

The singing was exemplary, lovely harmonies and great voice control, with some works benefiting from piano accompaniment from Ian McLarty, and an added bonus was the way in which some pieces were introduced by members of the choir – a lovely touch. The audience – tourists and locals, I’d guess – were hugely appreciative of this varied concert, the ovation at the finish bearing witness to its excellence.