Music
The Glory of Christmas, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Michael Tumelty
four stars
AS an old veteran of Raymond Gubbay's Christmas concert series in Glasgow, I'd suggest that Tuesday night's concert, despite its hackneyed title, was actually one of the best I've experienced.
Let's take it step by step. Remember these concerts are put together on a single rehearsal: one slip on the night by the band it's away. The Scottish Concert Orchestra, led by Tony Moffat of the Scottish Opera Orchestra, put together for the night by cellist and fixer John Davidson and featuring luminaries from the Scottish orchestras and the freelance community, was a very good band indeed. Total professionals, they just come on and do the business.
Conductor for the night was Timothy Henty, who, unlike some of them, didn't push himself to the front, stayed in touch with the audience, and never hindered the band. He delivered the programme well, highlighting the contribution of the late Agnes Hoey's Glasgow Youth Choir, now led by Audrey McKirdy, and rightly receiving their own slot in which to demonstrate their lovely, rather rough-hewn art; while the admirable Glasgow Chamber Choir, refined by director Michael Bawtree into a force to be reckoned with, gave splendid and sophisticated performances of the close of Handel's Messiah, and the one and only Mark o' Keeffe played Handel on the trumpet, frankly, as no one else can.
With Scottish tenor Thomas Walker out of action through illness, the terrific replacement, James Edwards, sang from the soul in O Holy Night and just melted the big audience. The concert was a great mix, with some classy stuff, and superior playing and singing, not least by the audience in the carols.
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