We are used to Stéphane Denève wishing us a good evening and then telling us a thing or two about the evening’s programme. Last year a red carpeted podium was presented to the Orchestra but it does not often appear at the Usher Hall. But there it was - with Stéphane Denève on it. Why then was there a second microphone?
We had the privilege of the composer of the first work to be performed, Helen Grime, joining the conductor on the podium to tell us a bit about her work Virga. It is one of the ten chosen by the conductor for his Ten Out of 10 - written in the past ten years.
Virga is a short piece, just over five minutes, and written from the inspiration of cloud formations and weather. Virga is the precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before it reaches the ground. Not surprising that this was a Stéphane Denève choice; the more so since Helen Grime, born in 1981, was educated at the City of Edinburgh Music School and St Mary’s Music School.
Because it was such a short piece that we had probably not heard before Stéphane Denève thought we should hear it more than once - maybe five times, so that we could really get to understand its sophistication. But he was teasing us, and we heard it once through. That said, we look forward to another performance before too long.
The German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann was the soloist, playing a 1711 Stradivarius, for the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No 2. It was written in 1932 and takes its origin in the folklore and music of the most southern region of Poland, Podhale - the Polish Highlands. We were rewarded with an encore from a very talented and respected Zimmermann.
Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique highlighted the two harps in the waltz of the second movement, and four tympani players (including father and son) with the cor anglais in the third. At the end, bells toll for the Dream of Witches Sabbath. It was great fun from the ever pleasing Royal Scottish National Orchestra on a night when they were hosting a guest leader and guest second violin and cello players. And good to see the group from Merchiston Castle School in the audience.
Event: Friday 12 November 2010, 7.30pm