scottish ensemble/Alasdair Beatson, RCS, Glasgow

Classical music writer

Monday 28 May 2012

EVEN to the ears of someone intimately acquainted with the sound and style of Scottish Ensemble playing, the performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet on Friday by violinist Jonathan Morton, violist Catherine Marwood, cellist Alison Lawrance and bassist Diane Clark, joined for the occasion by pianist Alasdair Beatson, was frankly astonishing.

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Michael Tumelty

I cannot tell you how many performances of the Trout I have heard, nor how many recordings of this towering, life-affirming masterpiece I have possessed. But I can tell you this: I have not heard such supreme sophistication of ensemble playing lavished upon the work, which was light, tight, clean and ultra-refined in its delivery.

And, though this is just one man's perspective, the command-post from which this breathtaking string playing flowed resided in Alasdair Beatson's near-miraculous discretion with the piano part and the group-texture in music so frequently and carelessly barnstorming in performance. This was utterly glorious, as was the deftly characterised account of Alasdair Spratt's Bite, a classy, concise piece of musical portraiture with not a superfluous note. HHHHH

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scottish ensemble/Alasdair Beatson, RCS, Glasgow

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