If Aberdeen City Orchestra’s performance at the Music Hall is anything to go by, the city’s classical music scene is thriving.
We were treated to 90 minutes of Grieg, Wagner, Beethoven and Sibelius by some of the north-east’s best musicians, and a guest star with the talent to make a serious name for herself.
Although only one of six pieces played on the night, the title for the evening’s entertainment was given to Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
Most of us are aware now of Grieg’s north-east roots. And most of us probably associate the great Norwegian with his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt.
But the Piano Concerto is up there with the very best works by – in my opinion – one of the more underrated composers.
It’s an exquisite piece, from the glorious opening, through sweeping melodies and folkloric touches, to the suitably climactic finale.
Appearance of international performer a coup for Aberdeen City Orchestra
And it’s a 30-minute spectacle to which guest pianist, Grieg’s fellow Norwegian Oda Voltersvik, did more than justice, in front of an appreciative Music Hall crowd.
An international prize-winning product of the Royal College of Music in London, Bergen-based Voltersvik is spending much of this year touring the US.
Having her on the Steinway was a real coup for Aberdeen City Orchestra, the Music Hall, and the city.
And in an unadvertised bonus, she also performed a short Sibelius piece. Just in case anyone was in any doubt of her talent. We weren’t.
There followed Beethoven’s ‘Die Wiehe des Hauses’ (The Consecration of the House) Overture, a rollicking number which is heard somewhat infrequently today.
In about as good a classical music offering as you’re likely to get in Aberdeen, Grieg and Beethoven were bookended by three Wagner pieces.
The Prelude from Lohengrin is a piece I often recommend to people who claim not to like classical music.
Leave your phone behind, lock yourself in a dark room, lie back, and play it loud.
It tends to affect even the most reluctant listener, in ways it can be hard to find words for. Such was the case in the Music Hall, with the public as if in a trance.
And as I already knew it would be, it was my personal highlight of the night.
The full scale of Wagner, from languid and subtle to the ‘father of heavy metal’
The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, meanwhile, is more of a slow burner, but none the worse for that.
Tristan and Isolde has had a lasting impact on Western culture in its numerous variations since the 12th century. Based on Celtic legend, it tells the tragic tale of the illicit love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde).
While Wagner’s adaptation of the legend has proven the most famous and enduring, it has been given big-budget treatment in the form of Tony and Ridley Scott’s 2006 film.
From the languid, subtle end of the Wagner spectrum to…the other.
The American heavy metal band Manowar described Wagner as the “father of heavy metal”.
To explain this to someone, you can’t go wrong with the Meistersinger and its bombastic Prelude, given suitably loud yet refined treatment by the Aberdeen City Orchestra, conducted by the assured Tomas Leakey and led by experienced Lancastrian Ruth Kalitski.
Aberdeen City Orchestra thriving into their fifth decade – go and see them
All in all a marvellous Saturday night’s entertainment from a group of people on our doorstep who perhaps don’t get the plaudits they should.
Formed in 1982 by a group of friends, the Aberdeen City Orchestra – previously known as the Aberdeen Chamber Orchestra – has been performing in the city for more than 40 years.
The orchestra has grown in size and continues to attract the finest local talent to its ranks.
From a small band of enthusiasts simply doing what they love, the ACO now performs annually at the Music Hall in Aberdeen.
You can’t live in these parts and not go to see them at least once.
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