Glenalmond College school lunchtime concert

Jun 6 2008 By Alister Y Allan

THE seventh and final School Lunchtime concert was given by four Lower 6 music students of Glenalmond College, accompanied by Robert Gower (piano), director of music. First on stage was tenor Oliver Boyd, who sang "Virgin, Tutto Amor" by the baroque composer Durante, a beautiful prayerful song, "Silent Noon" by Vaughan Williams, a very atmospheric piece, "Take These Lips Away" by Madeleine Daing, a neo baroque song, setting Tudor period words to 20th century music and "Simply Strauss" by Gershwin, his tribute to the "Walt King".

In all of the songs, Oliver displayed fine breath control, phrasing and a sense of style. As the songs chosen concentrated mainly on the low and middle range of the voice, this tenor seems to be leaning towards the baritone’s range!

Katie Coventry (soprano) then performed "Qui Sedes", a part of the Gloria form the great Mass in B minor by J S Bach, in which her light clear unforced voice was well suited to the florid word setting of the composer. She followed with "Sure On This Shining Night" by the American Samuel Barber in which she conjured up a real nocturnal atmosphere, and "Verborgenheit" by Wolf, full of nostalgia and passion. This was a most impressive performance of vocally demanding music.

Rachel Curry (oboe) then played the demanding "Elegie" form the Sonata by Poulenc. Emotionally, this piece fluctuated between the meditative and the dramatic, and those aspects were well brought out by the soloist, whose tone production, phrasing and dynamic contrasts were of a very high standard.

The final soloist was baritone Seamus Begg who began with the Area "Avant De Quitter" from Gounod’s Faust, in which the intercessional mood of the outer sections is matched by a martial central section. He displayed a fine sense of the dramatic, expressing the emotions clearly. His voice carried easily in the kirk, though he seemed a little strained on the highest notes. The followed with two songs by Warlock; "My Own Country" is a very lyrical, expressive song. His legato line was very evident. The lively "Captain Stratton’s Fancy" was sung with great bravura, "piratical" humour and excellent understanding of Maesfield’s words.

This performance ended a quite excellent concert. The young performers deserved fully the ovation they received. This was a fitting conclusion to a week of very fine youth music-making from schools in the county.