2 mins
Scotland Unite
ALL ABOARD: Members of the Lycaeum Music school took to the streets of London between August and September, touring the capital in a bus to deliver music education to children from all walks of life. ‘We are trying to make musical education in the UK more affordable for everybody,’ said owner Petru Cotarcea. Funded by Arts Council England, the ‘MusicOnWheels’ project has delivered introductory instrumental workshops to more than 4,000 children across London. Photo: courtesy Lycaeum Music
COMPOSER James MacMillan
WORK We Are Collective
ARTISTS Maxwell Quartet, Alasdair Beatson (piano)
DATE 14 October 2022
PLACE Haddo House Hall, Tarves, UK bit.ly/3AfO1ph
James MacMillan
Maxwell Quartet
MACMILLAN PHOTO MARC MARNIE. MAXWELL QUARTET PHOTO LOUISE MATHER
As part of its ten-year anniversary edition, the Haddo Arts Festival will be celebrating all things Scottish on 14 October. A commission by acclaimed Scottish composer James MacMillan, We Are Collective for piano quintet will be performed by fellow Scots the Maxwell Quartet and pianist Alasdair Beatson. The one-movement work includes fragments of traditional Scottish music. ‘It grew out of an initial sketch for a part song that I had abandoned,’ MacMillan says. ‘Some of the vocal material survived in instrumental garb. It can go off in more directions than if it were just vocal.’ A classical, binary structure of exposition and development consequently evolved, with other classical devices such an integrated fugue.
‘Merging strings and piano is a question of both aural and sonic balance,’ MacMillan continues. ‘I’ve kept them quite separate. The strings begin with a fanfare-like figure, followed quickly by a boisterous passage for solo piano.’ The instruments then combine for the chant’s declamatory five-note motif: B flat, C, B flat, D flat, E flat. ‘It becomes an ideé fixe, ripe for development.’ MacMillan adds that the quintet, while influenced by politics, is not a political piece. ‘Maybe I’m odd, but I’ve always found political demonstrations strangely comical,’ he says. ‘It has a tongue-in-cheek flavour throughout.’
This light-hearted approach is something MacMillan admits is unusual of his recent work, which has been largely focused on sacred music. ‘Having been involved in massive projects recently, I also felt bereft of the intimate sound world of chamber music. It allowed me to refresh my compositional palette.’
Although the piece is filled with allusions to traditional Scottish music, specific techniques are not notated. ‘It’s an aural tradition, so it’s best left to natural instinct,’ says MacMillan, who has a background in Scottish music. ‘The players know the traditional techniques. They’re a wonderful group. We’ll see how they fare!’