John Whitener, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Principal Tuba player, is an American and was well placed to give us a real sense of twentieth century American classical music in his pre-concert talk.
Indeed he told us that there really wasn’t any new classical music written until then; and went on to muse that the country’s culture had only then started to emerge. Minnesota’s place, where I once lived, in the close-knit friendship between Bernstein and Copland was fascinating.
But it was the young man from the Faroe Islands, Dávuur Juul Magnussen, the youngest member of the Orchestra and its Principal Trombonist, who stole the evening with his performance of Nathaniel Shilkret’s Trombone Concerto.
A lively three movement long piece it was written in the early 1940s and only performed once or twice - then to be forgotten until rediscovered by Bryan Free in 1998. Bryan Free is a former RSNO Associate Principal Trombonist.
The music combines classical with jazz and Dávuur Juul Magnussen played straight down the middle in a manner suitable for either genre. He was clearly enjoying himself more and more and his colleagues joined the audience in the well deserved rapturous applause.
The second half, both the Bernstein and Ginastera, were each a dream for the percussion players and it was music so bright and warming that all thoughts of the cold snow covered pavements outside were forgotten.
The night’s conductor on the red podium, the American Miguel Harth-Bedoya, clearly knew what he was about. Deserving his special praise was Katherine Bryan, the very talented Principal Flute player, and the audience concurred.
Event: Friday 3 December 2010, 7.30pm