UPDATED 7.25pm 26/06/09: St Magnus Composers' Course and Orkney Conducting Course Concert

[Updated: 1925 26 June 2009]
The last lunchtime Cathedral concert of this years Festival gave us Psappha performing brand new music for violin, viola, cello, double bass and percussion
from 7 composers under 8 conductors, including a collaborative theme and variations by all 7 composers!

All 8 pieces were composed during last 10 days, at the St Magnus Composers' Course, which was directed by Alasdair Nicolson & Sally Beamish, and included sessions with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The composers worked with Psappha in developing and rehearsing these new pieces, and much of this process has been open to the public to observe.

Each piece was conducted by a participant in the Orkney Conducting Course, which was directed by Martyn Brabbins, with Charles Peebles. The participants had sessions (many of them open to the public) with the RSNO, Psappha, & the Festival Chorus, with guests the Huddersfield Choral Society, along with Orkney Conducting Course pianists, Liz Burleigh and Michael Bawtree.

[Added 0800 26 June 2009]
Composer and flautist, Gemma McGregor, attended many of the public sessions. Her review of Psaphha's performance of Max's The Lighthouse appears in this week's Orkney Today. After the St Magnus Composers' Concert, Gemma provided the programme notes below for the blog, and commented:

The honing of some pieces and the transformation of others through careful observation of the five musicians responses to the scores proved a challenging task that was ably accomplished by tutors, Alasdair Nicolson and Sally Beamish. The levels of expertise and experience varied greatly between the seven student composers but all were encouraged to focus on what they wanted to say with their piece and what would be the most effective way to dialogue with the musicians to bring about the sought after score and performance. “Psappha”, led by percussionist Tim Williams are an extremely accomplished group who were single minded and tireless in their devotion to creating this brand new music and assisting the composers with notation and techniques peculiar to their instruments. Workshops given by Tim Williams to describe cimbalom and James Crabb to describe button accordion were informative and well-received.

Concert Programme
(Notes from Gemma McGregor)

Robert Baker: Sharp Edges
Christian Baldini, conductor
An intriguing study of texture created through the use of extreme dynamics. The bass marimba notes and double bass slap pizz notes cut through the cleverly interlocking sustained arco string sounds – an effect that worked particularly well in the cathedral acoustic.

Kirsty Blackwood: Automatic Oomph!
Gordon Bragg, conductor
A programmatic depiction of cogs in a machine – was greatly aided by the rhythmic precision of her conductor and the fine tuning of the string players. Marimba tremolos were an exciting backdrop to the repetitive string riffs.


Gareth Peredur Churchill: Echni
Simon Crawford-Phillips, conductor
Created a very beautiful sound world of sul pont strings and bowed cymbals that gave a suggestion of fragile desolation, with the melancholic phrases from David Aspin’s expressive viola finally meeting the other strings in a unison agreement at the end only to fade to nothing.

Lewis Forbes: Auld
Roger Kalia, conductor
Displayed a strong affinity with his Scots tradition containing hints of pibroch grace notes and a suggestion of drones that maybe linked with the piping of himself and his father before him. Lewis used complex groupings and cross rhythms that propelled the players through the piece – fortunately his conductor was masterful in allowing it freedom but keeping it under control.. The clock chimes of the tutti crotales and marimba added to the impression that this piece was a meditation on the nature of tradition passing and what it leaves behind.

Edmund Hunt: The Bright Sun Will Blacken
David McCallum, conductor
Used forte glissandi in opposing directions to create a nervous energy that contrasted well with the violent sound of the unison Bartok pizz and the querulous drumming of fingers on the stringed instruments. Psappha journeyed through the tones in their choice sections led by an intuition that only comes from people who have played together for long enough to replace the consciousness of the self with that of the group. An apocalyptic finale was suggested by the Varese-like flourishes on crotales.

Michael LaCroix: Ecliptic
Hans Petter Maehle, conductor
Was systems music of the pulse-raising variety that was shockingly energetic in performance – thanks no doubt to the dedicated perfectionism of Psappha and the faster tempo chosen by the conductor. Tim Williams was inspiringly masterful in his improvised four part marimba solo.


James Stephenson: The North Road
Juan Ortuno, conductor
Had a very complex part for bass drum with extremes of dynamic markings that worked surprisingly well in the resonant acoustic of the cathedral. The string writing was lyrical and compelling with effective use of harmonics. The sound world of each player was personalized by giving each instrument their own particular timbre – the violin had the hysteria of being at the extreme high end of its range with phrases initiated by neurotic leaping grace notes, the viola was also high but sweet, the cello was warm in its mid-range bowed phrases (lusciously played by Jennifer Langridge), and the double bass was menacing with its low pizz notes and pp sustained harmonics. The combination of these sounds amounted to an unusual but effective ensemble sound that appeared to describe a mood of anticipatory fear combined with a determination to continue.


Ae Fond Kiss
For Alasdair's Birthday
Robert Tuohy, conductor
Theme: Ae Fond Kiss, Gareth Peredur Churchill
Var. 1: Dancing, Lewis Forbes
Var. 2: Melancholic, Michael LaCroix
Var. 3: Con Fuoco, James Stephenson
Var. 4: Still, Robert Baker
Var. 5: Elegant, Kirsty Blackwood
Var. 6: Vivo, Edumund Hunt