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Under the Hear And Now banner, this concert by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra confirmed the ensemble's admirable commitment to performing and broadcasting contemporary repertoire.
They began with Arne Gieshoff's Stanza, a short work which nevertheless managed to cram plenty of excitement and impact into its five-minute duration. This was followed by Alasdair Nicolson's The Last Meeting, a haunting elegy inspired by the legend of Orpheus and Euridice and starring the orchestra's two horn players, who gave a superbly sustained performance in what was effectively a double concerto.
The second half featured two world premieres, beginning with Andrew Simpson's brilliant Phantasmagoria – a fiendishly difficult three-movement work of stunning complexity and range. The players revelled in every note, and were led through the composition's dizzying variety of style, texture and dynamic with remarkable assurance by conductor Richard Baker.
Also receiving its premiere was Stuart MacRae's impressively evocative Earth, which closed the concert. This piece made good use of the Fruitmarket's balcony, arranging several of the musicians above the audience to create an appropriately immersive effect.
The orchestra again showed confidence in their rendition of the densely layered music, masterfully controlling the sudden changes in timbre and volume. Indeed, their unwavering energy, allied with the fascinating and imaginative compositions on display, gave a powerful demonstration of how vital and wonderful contemporary music can be, and how important it is that organisations such as the BBC SSO continue to commission and present the work of today's composers.
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