Pushing boundaries: Scottish Ensemble’s Shifting Patterns in Perth
The Scottish Ensemble, led by Jonathan Morton, performed an engrossing ‘Shifting Patterns’ programme in Perth, featuring two distinctive musical voices, Anna Meredith and Henryk Górecki.
The programme began with Górecki’s extraordinary Quasi una fantasia, a version for string orchestra of his String Quartet no. 2, written for the Kronos Quartet. The piece was an intense experience, with four distinctive movements ranging from austere beauty, musical loops and fiery energy.
The second half of the programme featured seven Anna Meredith tracks, accompanied by visuals by Ewan Jones Morris, and utilized electronics, with each instrument individually miked.
The Ensemble breaking new musical ground and building on their successful performances of Anno, now ten years old and recently revived at the Barbican.
Author's summary: Scottish Ensemble performs Shifting Patterns in Perth.