Celtic Connections

Patrick Doyle: A Celebration

City Halls, Glasgow

Keith Bruce

four stars

COMPOSER Patrick Doyle is a natural hyperbolist, whose superlatives can lead him into troubled waters, and as his own master of ceremonies for this celebration of his music, he was visibly keeping his tendency to be diverted mid-story in check, although few folk name-drop with such ebullient charm.

There was a lot of music to get through, however, and the contribution of conductor Dirk Brosse to the seamless success of this evening – as well as the masterful musicianship of the BBC SSO – cannot be overstated.

The musical highlight of the night was the performance of the Pumpkin Pursuit from Doyle’s score for Cinderella, a truly dramatic and dynamic piece of writing that was the best evidence of how Brosse was able to galvanise the whole orchestra after many of them had been relatively idle for a while.

The strings put in a full shift nonetheless, orchestra leader Laura Samuel shone on Corarsik, a piece for violin soloist originally written as birthday gift for Emma Thompson, while first cello Sian Bell had an equal share of the spotlight.

In its full glare, however, were the vocal soloists, Mairi MacInnes on the cue from the recent remake of Whisky Galore, acting student from the University of the West of Scotland Eva Walker hamming it up to a band playing with Sigh No More from Much Ado About Nothing, and Doyle’s daughters Abigail and Nuala with Tir Na Nog from Into the West and Never Forget from Murder on the Orient Express, both of whom showed how the musical gene is thriving in the family.

The Doyle heritage was represented too, in a recording of the composer’s father restored from the family archive and given live orchestral accompaniment, in a piece of understated but impressive technical wizardry that would, as they say, have brought a tear to a glass eye.

With the Phoenix Choir adding the choral element and top traditional musicians Fraser Fifield, Jarlath Henderson and Chris Stout contributing their considerable skills, Doyle kept his best trick for the end. His new Scottish Overture featured piper Lorne MacDougall making his entrance from the back of the hall, and is a piece that ticks all the boxes and press all the buttons. We heard the world premiere, but nothing is more certain than that we shall be hearing it again.