Bach, Pärt & Blood: A Haunting Musical Journey

A recent performance by the Scottish Ensemble featured a program that blended the works of JS Bach, Arvo Pärt, and contemporary composer David Fennessy. The concert opened with Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, particularly the D minor Chaconne, presented with arrangements that evoked "ghostly chorales." These arrangements, by Helga Thoene, transformed the solo violin into an other-worldly duet, though the vocal performance by the Chamber Choir of the National Youth Choir of Scotland was described as delicate and distant.

Arvo Pärt's Greater Antiphons, re-arranged for string orchestra, followed. The Scottish Ensemble emphasized texture and gesture, drawing out percussive and bell-like sounds from the strings in these brief prayers. The concert culminated with David Fennessy's "Blood," a seven-movement piece for solo violin, strings, and voices. Inspired by a Hildegard of Bingen chant, the work presented "hard-earned virtuosity," with soloist Jonathan Morton delivering intense musical pulses. The piece concluded with "smudgy echoes" that drew the audience toward a shared unison pitch.