Scottish Ensemble Archives - North West End UK

Donald Grant and The Scottish Ensemble: Thuit an Oidhche Oirnn (The Night Overtook Us) – Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

15Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Donald Grant and The Scottish Ensemble: Thuit an Oidhche Oirnn (The Night Overtook Us) – Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

A foot tapping and thought provoking night from one of Scotland’s finest fiddle players accompanied by the tartan security blanket of the Scottish Ensemble, who together created something of a sonic explosion at The Queen’s Hall. Following on from their puppet based space Odyssey The Law of Gravity which I loved at The Traverse earlier this year, The Scottish Ensemble, champions of classical Scottish string, led by Artistic Director, and 1st violin Jonathan Morton head back to their native roots, but with many a twist along the Highland track. Before Donald Grant takes to the stage we are treated to the Ensemble’s remarkable rendition of Touch and In Memorium, by Martin Suckling, like a murmuration of starlings, swooping and wheeling seemingly defying logic (or melody) and yet still ...

The Law of Gravity – Traverse Theatre

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...

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

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...