This was a delightful concert from the 11 string players who make up the Scottish Ensemble under their leader/director Jonathan Morton. The players were keen and alert (standing at their desks) throughout, their sound was precise and well-focused and the choice of repertoire ideal for a summer festival programme. Full marks all round for an ensemble that played and sounded in top form.
The weakest item on the bill in some ways was the opener, Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade. It has undoubted charm and a lilting main melody but that really is about it. What it allowed the players to do was to listen carefully to the sound they were making in the nearly-full hall, adjust individual dynamics accordingly and play a little bit more like the string quartet for whom Wolf had originally written the work. So, a pleasant but somewhat insipid start.
The Wolf was followed however by an astonishing piece of precocious violin writing, Mendelssohn’s 'other' violin concerto in D minor, written when he was a mere 13 years old. The structure of the piece (Allegro-Andante-Allegro) is entirely conventional and most of the orchestral harmonies are too, but every now and then there are bold and youthful experiments in seeing how a musical phrase can be made to bend, how a harmony can be varied in order to take us into unexpected territory. Morton played the solo part brilliantly and his ensemble followed him through every twist and turn, never swamping their soloist but always giving him and us full, resonant string sound in support. It would be wrong to claim the work as a forgotten masterpiece, but it does constitute a highly refreshing excursion into unfamiliar Mendelssohn territory and when played like this no further case needs to be made. The gypsy-like Finale was a high-spirited ending to a delightful, unfamiliar piece.
The second half started with more Wolf, this time arranged for string orchestra by John Woolrich (Associate Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival). Woolrich has taken seven songs from the Italienisches Liederbuch and has allocated the texts to various solo instruments: the songs are mostly short, with one main melodic theme, and the orchestration restrained and sensitive to that slightly lugubrious mood that Wolf so often conjures up. The two viola players were given – and took – their chance to shine and the work as a whole is a welcome addition to the string ensemble repertoire. As with the entire programme, it was beautifully performed with marked attention to orchestral dynamics and phrasing.
The finale was the well-known Serenade in E by Dvorak. Morton and his players clearly know the work well and gave it an affectionate, warm performance, with energy and pace in the Scherzo and in the Finale, balanced by expansive phrasing of all those long, haunting lines that provide the melodic structure throughout. In the Dvorak they confirmed the favourable impression the ensemble had been making all evening: playing with precise articulation, attention to detail and lovely string sound. First class in every way. A Scottish air for violin as encore, played to a soft and beautifully harmonised string accompaniment, was icing on the cake.
Photo: The Scottish Ensemble
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