I, CULTURE Orchestra
I, CULTURE Orchestra
Usher Hall
Malcolm Goodare
I, CULTURE. What an exciting name for an orchestra of talented young musicians from Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, conducted passionately by Kirill Karabits. With the theme of war in this year's Edinburgh International Festival, to remember the centenary of the First World War, they gave us a remarkable performance of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and Panufnik's Sinfonia Elegiaca.
The Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik wrote his Sinfonia Elegiaca as an "anti-war protest against violence and the aggressive element in mankind", and I, CULTURE brought this out wonderfully, with beautiful, wholesome sound. The "protest" middle section was powerful and rhythmic, and every player had movement and vitality, bringing the sound together and making it a real collaborative performance which was a joy to experience.
They really needed something as powerful and memorable as the Leningrad to follow that up. They threw us in and out of suspense from start to finish, showing an unguarded love for Shostakovich's music. They almost recreated the emotion which would have been present in its performance in besieged and war-stricken Leningrad in 1942. Even in the relative peace and comfort of the Usher Hall, the unanimous whoops from the audience afterwards showed that they had really hit us all with Shostakovich's feelings and of the people around him during the terrible conflict.
The orchestra not only reflected the power and emotion in Karabits' conducting, but they added their own too. Each individual added their own flair to the great mixture, making the evening uniquely exciting.
Malcolm Goodare is a pupil at Broughton High School and this review was submitted as part of The Herald Young Critics project with the Edinburgh International Festival.
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