Music review: SCO: Hidden Gems, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

This foray into some of the seldom-explored corners of the Classical repertoire was fleeting but fascinating, writes David Kettle

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra

SCO: Hidden Gems, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh ****

“Futuristic and forward-thinking” was how conductor/fortepianist (and erstwhile SCO principal bassoon) Peter Whelan described the brief CPE Bach Symphony that opened his enterprising programme with his former band. It set the tone excellently for Whelan’s succinct exploration of some little-explored byways of the Classical repertoire – this was strange, unpredictable music that threw conventional rules aside (though, truth be told, those rules hadn’t even been laid down at the time it was written). The Symphony also served to establish Whelan’s bounding, bouncing, eager way with his former colleagues, which delivered superbly shaped, sharply defined accounts throughout the concert. He only had to throw open his arms, or point at a particular section of players, for the music to burst into vivid life. These might have been lesser-known pieces, but there was no mistaking Whelan’s enthusiasm for them, and it was an enthusiasm he generated in the audience, too.

British soprano Anna Dennis was a captivating presence in two arias Mozart wrote for his sister-in-law Aloysia Weber, caressing the silky phrases of ‘Vorrei spiegarvi’ particularly beautifully, though maybe a little uneven across the aria’s admittedly immense range. Her “Nehmt meinen Dank”, however, was thoughtful and focused, just the kind of humble tribute a starry singer might make to their fans.

Whelan had warned us that Haydn’s Symphony No. 102, which closed the concert, was probably the composer’s loudest, and there was indeed plenty of vivid life in his bristling account – and timpani and trumpets resounding in every movement – but it was boisterous and exuberant rather than raucous. There was plenty to laugh about, too, in the switchback ride through grandeur and intimacy in its bubbling finale, something that brought smiles to the faces of the SCO players as much as to those of the audience.

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