sound

ALAN COOPER’S BLOG ON SOUND: 2011 

 After a positive tsunami of musical events last weekend, the sound festival is running at a more relaxed pace during the next week. It began with an excoriating performance of 1,000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass. Some people I spoke to did not like the video presentation; they felt it was too much “in your face”, but for me it was an unforgettable experience.

Saturday began with a marvellous talk by Professor Jonathan Cross and then the day offered a mixture of both challenging (Viridian Quartet or Scottish Clarinet Quartet) and more traditional listening (Scottish Flute Trio and top notch guitarist Sean Shibe) and then certainly in pure performance terms, the most accomplished concert so far: JAM. I nearly missed that because of road works.

Sunday in Johnston Hall was amazing. It was a hugely varied electro-acoustic jamboree. Mr McFall’s Chamber with Thomas Strønen was surprisingly nuanced and delicate and in the evening the Scottish Ensemble gave a fabulous performance although I felt the qualifying piece for the Sound Festival had just been tagged on at the last minute. Monday night at the Atrium Pete Stollery and Adrian Moore launched CDs. A great venue but difficult to find in the dark and the rain! I had a Kafkaesque adventure through the Hospital buildings getting there. I arrived late, and with wet feet but ultimately it was worth it.

I very much enjoyed Curious Chamber Players at Kings College Chapel last night – read my review on the press pages. They will also be performing during the next few days in the Salmon Bothy, Portsoy at the Saturday Lunchbreak in Aberdeen Art Gallery.