Posted: Wednesday 26 November 2008
Colours of the Clyde
Like most of the audience after Monday night's stunningly good concert in the City Halls, I came out marvelling at how such high standards are set and reached in a school environment, and also feeling very proud to be associated with such excellence.
To those who missed the event - you really missed something special, I'm afraid. Put aside any notions of ‘school concert' and instead imagine that a company of several hundred talented professional musicians across the widest musical spectrum came together for a night to play an astonishingly diverse and challenging programme to a professional standard. The real magic of the evening was the knowledge that these were not professional musicians but school pupils - Hutchie pupils - doing what very few other schools could do, performing way beyond normal school expectations.
Right from the start, with the massed ranks of the full orchestra playing Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, and the Junior Choir neatly arranged behind them, and the Choral Society up behind that in the gallery, the stage seemed packed with a barely-suppressed energy. This was reinforced by George Parsonage's dignified and moving monologue setting the scene for the theme of the concert - the river and its real and symbolic journey through the city. The Junior choir sang Four Glasgow Songs with really impressive clarity of diction and youthful happy enthusiasm, conducted by Caroline Stevenson. Then there was the first diversion of style, with Rachel Forbes conducting the Intermediate Wind Band's very well controlled version of a jazzy Great Steamboat Race. A particular mention goes to the percussionists here, who seemed to have much more to do than anyone else, and managed the complex rhythms perfectly.
Alex Gray (C1968) then introduced the title piece Colours of the Clyde, written specially for the concert by Ken Walton and conducted by him. Anyone who knows Ken will not be surprised to learn that it turned out to be very impressive, the four contrasting movements each with their own integrity, power and fine melody linking together into a swirling, emotional and at times hauntingly beautiful piece. I was pleased to learn that a recording was made - it was a very strong first performance and I hope that Ken himself felt that the school did it justice. I will look forward to hearing it again. Speaking to Alex Gray in the interval which followed, I found her still emotional about the impact of hearing soloists Connor Going [S5] and Crawford McInally-Kier [S5] sing words from her book The Riverman, which they did with their customary skill and feeling. Colours of the Clyde was a magnificent centrepiece to the concert and worth the cost of admission on its own. I felt a momentary pang at our decision last week not to back-project the S1 and S2 artwork during it, as that would have added even more emotion, but the cost of doing so was too high. I hope that most of the audience found their way to the exhibition space during the interval where Susan Breckenridge and her Art department had displayed the work. If you were there before the concert started you would also have heard the school ceilidh band - just showing that Hutchie has even more musical talent than the performers on stage during the evening.
The second half of the concert opened with a real treat, Charlotte McKechnie [S5] singing extracts from Rutter's Feel the Spirit with the Senior Choir and Choral Society, accompanied by a highly talented group of staff musicians. Charlotte, as we know, has a superb voice and her year of engagements as BBC Chorister of the Year has, if anything, made it clearer and purer. This section of the concert was a real treat, particularly the opening song Steal Away.
Irene Conway (C1952) introduced Two Yiddish Songs with wit and style, raising a good laugh or two from the audience, and Rachel Dodds [S6] and Logan Carlaw [S6], accompanied by Graeme Scott on guitar, performed really well. I thought both singers mastered the lyric, folksy feeling of the songs very well, and it was good to hear Graeme, newly appointed into the music department this year, play the instrument at which he excels. We have many talented guitarists in the school and he will have inspired many more.
Next came Highlights from Moulin Rouge by the Concert Band, conducted by Joanne Freeland, and a very tight and musical performance also. There was then a hasty rearrangement of chairs and the Jazz Band settled into a groove playing two Dizzy Gillespie numbers, notable both for the smooth flow and coherence of the whole, and for the very impressive solo improvisation within each one. Joanne has managed to create a really impressive unit from such a large number of players, and I loved the way that many performers seemed completely relaxed and at ease during their playing of what are really quite technically difficult pieces.
Then came the final gathering of all the musicians, bolstered by the school Pipes and Drums for a performance of George MacIlwham's Intercontinental Gathering. George (C1944) spoke passionately about his love of music and the importance of Glasgow as a musical centre, which seemed like a fitting comment on the concert. I'm sure he was delighted by the quality of the performance we heard. To cap it all, the same ensemble, plus choir and Choral Society played Highland Cathedral, with Paul Lizzeri [S4] playing the solo opening on bagpipes. It was a rousing and emotional finale, which led to the longest and most sustained applause that I have ever heard at any school concert. It was very well deserved.
I must also pay tribute to the many people behind the scenes who helped us to stage the concert, particularly Catherine Gillen and Karin Brookes from the Development office, but really to everyone involved in any way. I hope that they all felt as proud as I did.