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SCO opens its new season in the Usher Hall,
Edinburgh 8th October 2009
James Irvine
Editor: www.land-care.org.uk
Filed 10Oct09
©www.land-care.org.uk
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) opened a highly promising new season of concerts at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on the evening of Thursday 8th October.
Mozart: Overture to the Magic Flute
Schubert: Symphony No 8 'Unfinished'
Mozart: Mass in C minor (Edition revised by Louis Langree)
Expectations were high. Perhaps too high.
With regard to ambience, the partially revamped Usher Hall, for which Edinburgh has waited years , was a real dampener. While the auditorium is structurally unchanged, apart from putting in a glass ceiling to give more light in the 'gods', the new decor was dull. Not just dull, but very dull. Even the lighting was so dull that folk had difficulty in finding their seats. Not that the house staff were helpful. They seemed to think that all they needed to do was to stand around and do nothing, even to the extent of being churlish. It seem that they could not be bothered. What a contrast from the reception that one is accustomed to get at the Queens Hall across the city. At the Usher Hall there was a distinct lack of charm.
Compared to the Queens Hall where the SCO looks cramped, the large stage of the Usher Hall made the orchestra look small. The fifty strong SCO Chorus, when in place for the Mozart Mass, also looked rather too small for the setting and the task ahead of it.
With the notable exception of the performance of Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony the evening turned out to be remarkably disappointing. The playing of the Schubert reached superb heights with beautiful intonation and expression. But this did not seem to happen with the Overture to the Magic Flute. Frankly it sounded dull.
Casual dress may be a matter for some mild discussion as far as the audience is concerned. But when it comes to the conductor at least the dress form should be smart, out of respect for the occasion. But guest conductor Frenchman Louis Langree looked more like a sub chef after a hard night in the kitchen. Casual white top and black trousers, with a complete lack of any effort at tailoring.
The lack of ambience at the Usher Hall was accentuated at the interval, at least as far as those who had selected the Grand Circle for their seats. Apart from the new spiral staircase being quite out of keeping (and probably dangerous) the refreshment facilities were as mean as ever. Even meaner. To get a coffee after queuing at a poorly manned bar, one was given an empty inverted cup on a saucer plus a tiny biscuit, and told to queue again in an awkward corner to extract the coffee for yourself - out of one of these awful thermos jugs, devoid of clear labels as to which was tea and which was coffee. The loos were revamped at Grand Circle level, but cramped. Had we really waited all these years for this? What had happened to good design in the Festival City?
The performance of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor somehow just did not work. Not for me at least. May be it was the imbalance in the proportion of musical forces to the size of the hall that was part of the problem. May be the fact that one of the two sopranos (Malin Christensson) had to withdraw on account of illness, and another (Gillian Keith) found to take her place (possibly at short notice) had something to do with it. May be the fact that the score is for two sopranos, a tenor (Joshua Ellicott) and a bass (Brindley Sherratt) - with very little to do - was partly the reason. The acoustics of the Usher Hall are claimed to be as good as ever. Indeed, the performance of the Schubert would suggest that. But the diction of the chorus was sounded mushy. Was this an acoustics problem, or a problem for guest chorusmaster Edward Caswell?
These comments, with the exception of those relating to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, may seem a bit harsh. They are meant to be, as the SCO is a world class orchestra. Their standards of performance must not slip, and that includes the ambience of the concert hall in which they perform. May be the facilities at the Usher Hall may yet improve when the alterations are finally completed - but when will that ever be?
Roy McEwan, Managing director of SCO, has long advocated the need for Edinburgh to have a new concert hall that is midway in size between the Queens Hall and the Usher Hall. In the current economic recession he has little chance of achieving his aim, but he does have a point.
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