Scottish Ensemble Archives - North West End UK

Spell-binding, sublime performance by the the six-strong strings of the Scottish Ensemble, accompanied by the delicate puppetry skills of a quartet from Blind Summit, made this a night to savour at Traverse 1 tonight. Classical Music can take us places in our mind, it is surely part of the joy of the experience to close our eyes and float…. Is it wise to curate, lead or interpret that trip? Blind Summit, attempted to do that tonight, but was it a help or a hinderance, an unnecessary distraction? The jury will be pretty split on this one. There was no questioning the quality of the music from Philip Glass (Symphony No. 3(1995)) and Arnold Schoenberg (Transfigured Night(1899)) superbly, and effortlessly, led by Johnathan Morton which has the audience transfixed from note one. Iro...

At The Queens Hall tonight Jasdeep Singh Degun sits cross-legged smiling and calm, cradling his sitar, on a raised Dias in the middle of the stage, and at his shoulder equally laid-back, Harkiret Singh Bahra, his regular accompanist on the Tabla, a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. In a semi-circle around the pair the Scottish Ensemble quintet are assembled, the violins of Jonathan Morton and Donald Grant, the viola of Jane Atkins, Naomi Pavri on Cello and Diane Clark on Double Bass. The striking difference is that Degun and Bahra do not have iPads in front of them streaming the music. As Degan explains in the excellent programme notes, ‘In Indian Classical music, we don’t get caught up in notation,… instead you should learn and embody the music in its entirity’. In an...

Tag: Scottish Ensemble

The Law of Gravity – Traverse Theatre

Jasdeep Singh Degun and the Scottish Ensemble – The Queens Hall, Edinburgh