Herald review of Milngavie 75th anniversary concert

13th November 2017 | Concerts, Reviews | 0 comments

Four stars from The Herald today for my Glasgow concert with Jamie MacDougall and the Maxwell Quartet, marking the 75th anniversary of Milngavie Music Club with a very special programme:

‘To mark the club’s 75th birthday, current president Hugh Macdonald introduced a programme derived from a weekend in 1953 when Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and the Amadeus Quartet played Haydn, Schumann and Vaughan Williams. Back then I am sure that Milngavie would not have been able to look so close to home to find musicians of the calibre of pianist Susan Tomes, tenor Jamie MacDougall and the Maxwell Quartet – the latter hot-foot from winning the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition. … Vaughan Williams’ song cycle ‘On Wenlock Edge’ was a first for both players and singer, although you would never have guessed it from the commanding performance.

‘…Schumann’s brilliant Piano Quintet from 1842 – by common consent the composer at the height of his powers – has just as eloquent a dialogue. Alongside the dynamic playing of Tomes, the beautiful tone of cellist Duncan Strachan had starring role here, on the journey to a Scherzo that is a delight just on its own and a a final Allegro that is as eloquent an expression of his creativity – and the inspiration of his wife, Clara – as the composer ever achieved.’

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A competition for concertos

A competition for concertos

I spent the past couple of days popping in and out of the first round of the Concerto Class held each year by the Edinburgh Music...

read more
Listening bars

Listening bars

In today's Guardian I was reading about the Japanese tradition of 'listening bars', where customers have 'a deep, beautiful,...

read more