Music for Warmth and Restoration
This December Scottish Ensemble will take its annual Concerts by Candlelight on tour to locations across Scotland for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Taking place at venues in Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow from the 2 – 8 December 2021, Concerts by Candlelight: Music for Warmth and Restoration is the perfect pre-Christmas musical feast set against a backdrop of shimmering light.
For the first time ever the incisive and dynamic presence of violinist and director Matthew Truscott will lead proceedings and Concerts by Candlelight: Music for Warmth and Restoration will offer something for every taste, with a selection of music spanning centuries, inclusive of a variety of genre and styles.
A web of connectedness binds this string programme around its central work, Beethoven’s taut and beautiful ‘Heiliger Dankgesang’. A song of thanks for recovery from illness it is one of the most celebrated, profound and joyful pieces of string music from any period, and its intimations of past, present and future make it a very fitting tribute to the past 18 months, as we emerge into the ‘new normal’ and enjoy live music all together, once again.
From the gorgeous musical balm of Henry Purcell to the warmth and generosity of Brahms, the touching music by Biber, and the thick, treacly sonic textures of Julia Wolfe’s Four Marys, wherever you are in Scotland this winter, Concerts by Candlelight is the perfect outing for both families and friends.
Violinist and director Matthew Truscott said: “I am very much looking forward to working with Scottish Ensemble to help bring some warmth and restoration to audiences across Scotland with Concerts by Candlelight this December.
“The programme features music that channels sentiments of courage and overcoming adversity, which seems fitting this year, and I can’t wait to perform in front of live audiences in Scotland once again.”
Concerts by Candlelight Ticket Details
2 December – St Machar’s, Aberdeen
3 December – Inverness Cathedral, Inverness
4 December -St John’s Kirk, Perth
6 December – Caird Hall, Dundee
7 December – Greyfriars’s, Edinburgh
8 December – Wellington Church, Glasgow
Available from www.scottishensemble.com
Repetoire
Henry Purcell In Nomine in 7 parts, Dorian
Julia Wolfe Four Marys for string orchestra
Heinrich Biber Balletti Lamentabili a 4
Johannes Brahms Adagio from String Quintet No.2 in G major
Franz Schubert Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man) from Winterreise (arranged for string orchestra by Dobrinka Tabakova)
Henry Purcell
Symphony and Here the deities from Welcome to all the pleasures
Fantasy on One Note
Ludwig van Beethoven Molto Adagio (Holy song of thanksgiving) from String Quartet No.15
(arranged for string orchestra by Iain Farrington)
Anon In Nomine in 6 parts