SCO/Emelyanychev/Benedetti
Perth Concert Hall
Keith Bruce
five stars
ALTHOUGH every music-lover is longing for the day when audiences and performers can once again share acoustic spaces as fine as Perth’s Concert Hall, for as long as the health emergency persists we must be content, and grateful, for the opportunity to enjoy bespoke online concerts as beautifully realised as this one.
Performing just a single work that was scheduled to feature in its season-opening concerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, was joined by Scotland’s global violin star Nicola Benedetti for one of the most popular, and regularly performed, pieces in the repertoire, Max Bruch’s Concerto No.1.
With the players distanced as per regulations, the small orchestra filled the lovely auditorium, the empty public seats rarely visible in the cleverly-chosen camera angles. With the exuberant young Russian conductor on the same level as the musicians, and even straying occasionally in front of his own music stand, there was an intimacy to the performance that came with a beautifully spacious sound in which individuals were as distinct as the ensemble and soloist was balanced.
While Benedetti has played the work countless times, the Bruch is hardly Emelyanychev’s regular beat, and the result was a delightfully fresh re-vivifying of an old war-horse, which flowed seamlessly through its sections, the precision of Benedetti’s playing in the slow movement followed immediately by a brilliant rhythmic coherence with the orchestra at the start of the finale.
This concert was no marking-time exercise, in response to the challenges everyone is facing. Once again the SCO showed that the widest repertoire is open to skilful re-invention, Emelyanychev proved that his appetite for dynamic music-making is captivating to witness, and Benedetti that she brings a commitment and meticulous attention to detail to everything she undertakes.
Sponsored by Quilter Cheviot. Available to watch for three months on the SCO’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here