Scottish Ensemble (SE) is setting out to perform the 30minute Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings by heart.
Tchaikovsky’s heartfelt work is considered to be one of the late Romantic era’s definitive compositions and will be familiar to many through its use in film, ballet and TV from Balanchine’s Serenade to the 2021 survival hit Squid Game.
SE is interested in the impact playing this life-affirming piece from memory will have on the performance and the audience experience, perhaps allowing the players and listeners to connect more directly in the moment. Although listening and collaborating is always essential for SE, by removing the music their reliance on each other will be heightened, strengthening their common sound and offering audiences the chance to hear a familiar work in a new way.
Preceding the Serenade, SE will perform Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, that are inspired by a bracing walk along the Cardiganshire coast, and Caroline Shaw’s Punctum, an exercise in nostalgia inspired by Roland Barthes’ description of the ‘unexpected’ in photographs.
Listeners who cannot join Scottish Ensemble in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Inverness on 16th -18th February, can tune in to a live audio stream of the Glasgow performance.
Further events taking place in the spring/summer will be announced shortly.
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 