SCO & Philip Higham, Edinburgh review: 'committed and perceptive'

Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Philip Higham, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★

It’s a bit of a cliché to describe the SCO as an orchestra of soloists. But when one of the band’s musicians steps out in front of their usual colleagues to deliver as passionate, committed and perceptive a concerto performance as principal cellist Philip Higham did here, the point is at least partially demonstrated.

Higham took the soloist’s spot in two pieces straddling the evening’s interval – he hoped that didn’t seem greedy, he joked, in a warm and witty introduction. Not at all, especially when the two pieces concerned were such different beasts.

Higham’s Schumann Cello Concerto captured the piece’s contradictions and introspection expertly, managing to be passionate but restrained, lyrical but slightly awkward in its unfolding development, and conveying the composer’s heart-on-sleeve, sometimes overshared emotion with wonderfully authentic freshness. His blend with his orchestral colleagues was particularly meaningful: he’d often emerge the charismatic focal point but also sank back to merge his burnished sound with theirs. It was an urgent, deeply felt account that demanded to be heard, and Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev supported Higham with an equally vivid orchestral backdrop.

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There was more Schumann – well, kind of – in Higham’s partner piece as soloist, though it was filtered through the sometimes rather unhinged imagination of fellow German composer Jörg Widmann. His Fünf Albumblätter trod a fine line between affectionate tribute and merciless send-up – especially in the deranged vaudeville finale – but Higham remained focused and maintained a clear sense of purpose throughout Widmann’s entertaining but perplexing antics.

Emelyanychev had begun the concert with a buoyant and bracing Mendelssohn Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture, all wave-clipping energy and invigorating ocean air as his vessel sliced through the swells. His closing Debussy Petite Suite was full of charm and bubbling good humour, but felt like something of a lightweight addition after the intensity of emotion and energy that had gone before. Nonetheless, a concert of big personalities and passionate performances.

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