LET'S start with stuff I probably shouldn't know, but do, so I'm passing it on as it's in all of our interests.
The RSNO's annual autumn concerts in Kelvingrove, which were staged on Friday and Saturday nights, have become an interesting and important element in the RSNO's schedule, not least because in these events the orchestra has explored areas of music outside its regular repertoire territory, notably the music of the Baroque period.
I have to tell you that Glasgow Life (so-called) has pulled out of the partnership, leaving the RSNO to shoulder the cost of promoting the Kelvingrove project itself. Let's hope it can be sustained.
The weekend's concert was far too long. It can't be said it was merely generously filled: it was overstuffed, with two Bach Suites, two pieces by Benjamin Britten, including the big Frank Bridge Variations, brilliantly-played by the RSNO strings, and two pieces by Arvo Part, where one, the Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten, would have done.
We could have done without Britten's Courtly Dances, fun pieces but lesser stuff, and without Part's Bach-Beekeeper piece, an early-ish work and not representative.
Laurence Cummings, a Baroque man, was conductor, and Bach's Third and Fourth Suites were very lively, though the bathroom acoustic of Kelvingrove played the usual havoc with instrumental and musical textures. On the other hand, Part's Britten Cantus, absolutely perfect here, could have been tailor-made for the Kelvingrove space.
Last point, re the Bach Suite performances. Kelvingrove acoustics apart, I'm seriously interested in the way the RSNO is now playing this music.
It's very stylish. Anyone care to explain? I think people would be interested.
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