Scottish Ensemble Press Reviews
We are all proud of the Scottish Ensemble and like to show you why. Below are extracts from Press Reviews that have been written about us. To view the full review click on More Info link.
Edinburgh Guide - 4 stars |
Wednesday, November 04, 2009, Edinburgh Guide
Scottish Ensemble
Queen’s Hall
Edinburgh Guide
Barbara Bryan
The Scottish Ensemble has over recent years developed a reputation for choosing music for strings that spans the centuries.
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The Guardian - Four Stars |
Tuesday, November 03, 2009, The Guardian
Scottish Ensemble
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Rowena Smith
The Scottish Ensemble opened its 40th anniversary season by looking both forward and back: the latter with a return visit from violinist Clio Gould, the ensemble's influential former artistic director; and forward by filling out its ranks with students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009, The Herald
Scottish Ensemble, City Hall, Glasgow
Michael Tumelty
Published on 27 Oct 2009
To mark the launch of its 40th anniversary season, the Scottish Ensemble did something special: it invited its former artistic director, Clio Gould, to join the ensemble and work with her successor (and husband) Jonathan Morton.
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The Scotsman - Four Stars |
Tuesday, November 03, 2009, The Scotsman
Classical review: Scottish Ensemble
The Scotsman
Published Date: 27 October 2009
By Carla Whalen
SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE ****
CITY HALLS, GLASGOW
IT'S the Scottish Ensemble's 40th birthday and for their current round of concerts, entitled Side by Side, they've invited students from St Mary's Music School and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to join them.
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009, The Times
October 28, 2009
Scottish Ensemble/Gould at City Halls Glasgow
Sarah Urwin Jones
Making a long anticipated return, Clio Gould, the Scottish Ensemble’s most fêted former director, took on some of the most fiendish works in the repertoire with her husband and the current director Jonathan Morton.
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Five Stars at Edinburgh International Festival |
Thursday, August 27, 2009, The Scotsman
JAMES MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross, although written 15 years ago, has an intense spiritual dimension that gives it a timeless, eternal quality. This haunting evocation of the last seven sentences spoken by Christ on the cross was suffused with a visceral rawness in what was a sensational performance by the Scottish Ensemble and singers from Tenebrae.
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Scottish Ensemble at Edinburgh International Festival |
Thursday, August 27, 2009, The Herald
A day for the seven last words of Christ on the cross saw the SCO performing the choral arrangement of Haydn's classic meditations in the Usher Hall, preceded earlier in the day by this concert featuring the rather more recent setting by James MacMillan in the Queen's Hall.
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The Herald - 30 March 2009 |
Sunday, March 22, 2009, The Herald
Scottish Ensemble - St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow
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The Scotsman - Saturday 28 March 2009 |
Sunday, March 22, 2009, The Scotsman
Classical review: Scottish Ensemble
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Scottish Ensemble & Pekka Kuusisto - The Guardian |
Wednesday, December 03, 2008, The Guardian
Scottish Ensemble/Kuusisto
*****
Rowena Smith
The Guardian,
Saturday November 22 2008
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Scottish Ensemble & Pekka Kuusisto - The Scotsman |
Wednesday, December 03, 2008, The Scotsman
SCOTSMAN – 5 STARS
Music Review: Scottish Ensemble with Pekka Kuusisto
Published Date: 19 November 2008
By NEIL JONES
THE SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE WITH PEKKA KUUSISTO *****
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Scottish Ensemble and Pekka Kuusisto - Striking a bow against accepted wisdom |
Monday, November 17, 2008, The Herald
Striking a bow against accepted wisdom
The Herald
ROWENA SMITH November 12 2008
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Music review: Scottish Ensemble |
Tuesday, October 07, 2008, The Scotsman
A NEATLY weighted programme by the Scottish Ensemble drew a telling contrast between the acerbic 20th-century resilience of Shostakovich and the elegance of Baroque masters Albinoni and Corelli. And, thanks to trumpeter Alison Balsom and Scots pianist Alasdair Beatson, the confection enjoyed a special coating of icing.
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Scottish Ensemble, City Halls, Glasgow |
Tuesday, October 07, 2008, The Herald
Opposites were the attraction in the opening programme of the Scottish Ensemble's Glasgow season, an alternation of Italian baroque concertos and works by Shostakovich, in performances characterised by a warm and consistent virtuosity.
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Scottish Ensemble/Alison Balsom/Alasdair Beatson at Perth Concert Hall Sarah Urwin Jones |
Tuesday, October 07, 2008, The Times
Linking Italian Baroque and Soviet Modernism via the fire bombing of Dresden might sound like grasping at musical straws. But given the rather odd aural juxtaposition of Albinoni (whose well-known Adagio was recreated from six bars found in the ruins of the city library) and Shostakovich (who wrote his dark String Quartet No 8 in the aftermath) in this Scottish Ensemble season-opener, one can't blame the director Jonathan Morton for trying.
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Scottish Ensemble triumph at Wigmore Hall |
Wednesday, April 30, 2008, Classical Source
Scottish Ensemble – Handel, C. P. E. Bach & Brahms
Reviewed by: Robert Matthew-Walker
Classical Source
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Scotland on Sunday 4 Stars |
Thursday, February 14, 2008, Scotland on Sunday
The Scottish Ensemble ****
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Fiona Leith
Sunday 10 February, 2008
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Thursday, February 14, 2008, The Guardian
Scottish Ensemble ****
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Rowena Smith
Saturday 9 February, 2008
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Thursday, February 14, 2008, The Herald
Scottish Ensemble *****
Perth Concert Hall
Keith Bruce
Friday 8 February 2008
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Thursday, February 14, 2008, The Scotsman
Scottish Ensemble ****
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Susan Nickalls
Saturday 9 February, 2008
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Paul Sacher Tribute at Wigmore Hall |
Monday, January 28, 2008, The Guardian
Scottish Ensemble
Wigmore Hall, London
****
Andrew Clements
Monday January 28, 2008
The Guardian
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Winter Season Opener features Walton discovery by Kenny Mathieson |
Wednesday, October 03, 2007, Inverness Courier
ANYONE who caught the Scottish Ensemble's concert with Capercaillie's Karen Matheson at Inverness Cathedral during the Blas Festival will already have had a brief taste of what lies in store in the group's opening programme of their winter season.
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A Blas of fresh air from the north of Scotland |
Friday, September 07, 2007, The Scotsman
SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE & KAREN MATHESON ***
ST ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL, INVERNESS
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Hi Arts Review - Blas - Karen Matheson & The Scottish Ensemble |
Friday, September 07, 2007, Hi Arts Review
GEORGE MACKAY finds the Scottish Ensemble providing a lush setting for Capercaillie singer Karen Matheson.
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Scottish Ensemble at Cadogan Hall - Four Star Review |
Wednesday, August 08, 2007, The Herald
Scottish Ensemble, BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall
MARTIN HOYLE – GLASGOW HERALD ****
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Scottish Ensemble @ Wigmore Hall - Times Review |
Friday, March 09, 2007, The Times
From The Times March 06, 2007
Scottish Ensemble
Geoff Brown
Wigmore Hall
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Friday, March 09, 2007, The Independent
Scottish Ensemble/Jonathan Morton, Wigmore Hall, London
By Bayan Northcott
Published: 08 March 2007
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Monday, February 26, 2007, The Guardian
Scottish Ensemble ****
City Halls, Glasgow
Rowena Smith
Monday February 26, 2007
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The Scotsman - Scottish Ensemble - Five Stars |
Monday, February 26, 2007, The Scotsman
IN A fulminating package of Elgar, Takemitsu and Ravel, the Scottish Ensemble held nothing back. It was a programme designed to tug hard on the emotions and Friday's performance was one of the Ensemble's most compelling and fulfilling this season.
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Scottish Ensemble, RSAMD, 2 February 2007 |
Monday, February 19, 2007, The Herald
*****
AMY PARKER
IT is difficult to know whether holding these concerts in the middle of the day contributes to their success, given their informality and variety, or if their timing is a great shame, given that so many people would have been unable to attend today's extraordinary performance.
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Students get ready to meet Strauss’s string challenge |
Wednesday, December 20, 2006, Inverness Courier
KENNY MATHIESON -
THE Scottish Ensemble’s annual candlelit Christmas Concert is always an
occasion to savour, but the six-concert tour has taken on extra significance for
a number of aspiring young musicians in the past three years.
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Instrumental in giving new talent a taste of the big time |
Monday, December 04, 2006, The Scotsman
KENNETH WALTON - ASK ANY orchestral musician what the most difficult challenge of their career has been, and the answer will undoubtedly be getting that vital first foothold in the profession. For nine senior Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) string students, however, a remarkable chance to do so - even if it's just dipping their toes in the water - has been handed to them on a plate by the Scottish Ensemble.
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