Morrison's Academy @ St John's Kirk

May 29 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THE third of this year’s school lunchtime concerts, by pupils of Morrison’s Academy (Crieff) attracted a large audience. The programme was a perfect mixture of vocal, instrumental, solo and ensemble music.

It began with “Band Substance”, an ensemble of woodwind, brass and double bass playing arrangements of pieces by Mancini, Coleman and Kampfert. Later in the programme, the group returned to perform an arrangement of Herold’s Flute Dance. The ensemble playing was very fine throughout these contrasted pieces.

The first soloist was Emma Marnoch (soprano) who gave an expressive, beautifully phrased rendition of “A Chloris” by Hahn, her clear voice sounding pure in the Kirk.

The boys choir performed the “Chorus of Peers” (Iolanthe) by Gilbert and Sullivan, which had been transposed down into a lower key to avoid too much strain of young voices. This was a confident performance with good diction and balance of parts.

Another fine soloist was Claire Lorden (piano) who gave a virtuosic performance of Debussy’s Dr Gradus ad Parnassum, showing great finger dexterity and clear pedalling.

The mixed voice chamber choir with Hannah Logan and Rachel Cram (sopranos), gave a finely expressive and spiritually uplifting account of “I waited for the Lord” by Mendelssohn. It was wonderful to hear a genuine SATB school choir at last.

Rachel Smart (violin) played “Légende” by Wieniawski, in which she coped well with the technical demands of the piece and clearly marked the changes of mood.

The girls chamber choir performed “My Heart is Like a Red Red Rose” and “Fly Singing Bird Fly” by Elgar which has two violin obbligato parts.

These were well-balanced performances, with excellent diction. The third soloist, Lindsay Macdonald (flute) gave a very well articulated, stylish performance of the Allegro from Gluck’s Concerto in G, which was followed by the string quartet playing the presto from Quartet in C by Hofstetter. The playing was well balanced, stylistic, with dynamic contrasts well observed. However, the quieter sections sounded a little timid.

The concert closed with Concerto for Two Violas and Strings by Telemann, featuring Harriet Smyth and Stewart McMurdo and the string orchestra and featured some crisp bowing and fine dynamic shading.

An excellent concert much appreciated by the audience.

Alister Y Allan