Review: The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow

By KENNETH WALTON
Published on 13/03/2012 03:15

THERE were one or two aspects of Sunday’s afternoon orchestral concert by the Scottish Opera Orchestra that fitted like a glove, the most overriding being the link between the architectural neoclassicism of St Andrew’s in the Square and the distinctive neoclassical sounds of Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Poulenc.

But it was the Stravinsky – Anne Truelove’s exquisite recitative, aria and cabaletta (“No word from Tom”) from his opera The Rake’s Progress – that worked best; most likely because Scottish Opera opens its run of that opera on Saturday.

Here, the orchestra (under Francesco Corti) sounded as though it knew the music inside out.

They were joined by the young soprano Elin Pritchard, who captured the translucent beauty of the music with enthralling precision and purity. The words were a little unclear, but this is an unforgiving acoustic, where utter clarity is hard to achieve.

That was an issue from the instrumental perspective in Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, which was palpably nervous to begin with, and falling short of successfully conveying the music’s crystalline detail.

Principal flautist Richard Blake took to the floor for Lennox Berkeley’s orchestrated arrangement of Poulenc’s Flute Sonata, and despite some lower register moments where the orchestra obliterated his solo line, it was a delightful presentation of a delightful piece.

The same gremlins lessened the impact of Schumann’s Symphony No 2, at its most sublime in the slow movement, but never quite balanced to perfection.

Rating: ***