Fringe Music
Miranda Heggie
Moishe's Bagel
Acoustic Music Centre at St Bride's
Four stars
Russian Lates
Royal Overseas League
Three stars
Treacherous Orchestra
Queen’s Hall
Five stars
WITH music inspired by a mix of different life events; the loss of a close friend, witnessing Roman ruins in an Algerian desert or doing some DIY round your mum’s, Moishe’s Bagel once again bring their infectious blend of Balkan, klezmer and jazz to the Fringe. A traditional Romanian Hora (circle dance) tune was followed by keyboard player Phil Alexander’s own composition Tanz Glassidic. Capturing a unique strand of gypsy-jazz minimalism, this piece was composed (allegedly) after a request from the band to Philip Glass to write a piece for them went unanswered, and according to Phil, is the piece Glass would have written!
New Morning, a work inspired by Martyn Bennet and composed by the band’s violinist Greg Lawson, lends an element of Scottish folk to the music, with tight syncopation and spiky rhythms, while accordion player Pete Garnett’s Zen and the Art of Wallpaper Stripping layers repetitive patterns in quite a therapeutic manner. Creating an overwhelming sense of fun, it’s impossible to walk away from this band without a smile on your face.
A PROGRAMME made up of quite dark, tenebrous music, this Late Night concert at the ROSL was centered around Shostakovich’s String Quartet no 8 in C minor. Written in just 3 days, at a particularly low point in the composer’s life, it has been said that Shostakovich had planned to take his own life and that the piece was to serve as his own musical epitaph. The slow first movement saw the Solem Quartet capture the uneasy nature of the piece with close harmonies explored with almost syrupy textures, before moving with perfect synchronicity to the frenzied opening of the second movement. Ending the evening were Tamsan Duo, from New Zealand, playing 2 movements rom Prokofiev’s 2nd violin sonata. Violinist Laura Bennet gave a lyrical performance, playing with a peaceful fluidity.
BRINGING together a wild fusion of musical styles and traditions, 11 piece folk super-group Treacherous Orchestra gave a rousing concert at the Queen’s Hall on Friday night. A set made up mostly of tunes from their latest album Grind, which won Album of the Year at the 2015 Scots Trad Music Awards, their punchy blend of folk-rock coupled with astounding musicianship from each band member resulted in an exhilarating performance.
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