ONE of the
most ambitious community arts projects to be held in Shetland came to a
climax on Friday with the premiere in Fair Isle of a specially commissioned
work, Given Days.
The piece,
for choir, folk group and instrumental ensemble, was written by Alastair
Stout (27), who is one half a Fair Isle man. Although he now lives in
America, Mr Stout says he has many happy memories of Fair Isle, which he
visited often as a child.
The piece
was commissioned two years ago by the community. Classic Fair Isle organiser
Betty Best said people wanted a piece of music about the island, similar to
Mendelsohn's
Fingal
Cave
Overture
which was
inspired by a visit to the Inner Hebridean islands.
"We need
to celebrate this island and the people here," she said. "It was obvious
that Alastair had the training, the skills and the understanding of what the
island is like. We then put it to him and made a few suggestions and it grew
from there."
Since then
over £10,000 was raised towards the project with contributions from Shetland
Islands Council, Shetland Arts Trust, the Scottish Arts Council and other
foundations and trusts.
Mr Stout
said the piece was an attempt to describe the island and life on the island,
and includes the sounds of birds and the foghorn at the South Lighthouse.
The title of the piece refers to the occasional days of good weather when
the island is at its best and people enjoy living there.
The music
sets texts by Shetland poets Christine De Luca, Tom Laurenson and Jack
Renwick and Fair Isle poet Barbara Wilson. Verses were specially written by
Jonathan Lennie, who collaborated with Mr Stout in a piece written for the
Lerwick
Choral
Society in 1999.
Children
from Fair Isle Primary School also helped with the libretto when they were
asked to come up with words to describe Fair Isle, which are used in the
last movement of the piece.
A
recurrent theme is a hymn tune written by Mr Stout last year called
Gilmester, the call-sign of the Fair Isle ferry Good Shepherd.
The hymn has been sung in Fair Isle's two churches many times over the last
few months and Mr Stout said the fact that people were familiar with the
tune was very helpful when it came to rehearsing Given Days.
About 150
people packed into the island's hall to hear the concert. Not a bad number
when you consider the island has a resident population of 79. Flights and
ferries were fully booked during the festival and extra sailings and flights
were chartered on Saturday to take the performers to
Lerwick.
The piece
was performed by the Fair Isle choir, supplemented by members of the
Lerwick
Choral Society, a folk group and the London-based contemporary music chamber
group Chroma. Fine solo singing came from the Yell baritone Andy Ross. Mary
Blance and Mr Lennie introduced the piece with a spoken narrative.
Mr Lennie
said he found it quite disconcerting to hear his words set to music when he
heard the piece for the first time. "I was very pleased with it. For me the
whole experience has been great. It was much more than just a concert.
"It was such a welcoming place:
staying with a family in Fair Isle and meeting the people who live there.
Everyone seemed to feel part of the community. I didn't want to leave. I
think everyone was in tears when the time came to go."
The
programme, which was repeated at a sell-out concert in
Lerwick
Town Hall on Sunday, included a divertimento for
hom,
violin and cello by Haydn, two fantazias by Purcell arranged by Mr Stout for
violin, cello, clarinet and horn.
Former
director of
Lerwick
Choral Society Ruth Sharville sang the Purcell song Fairest Isle,
accompanied on the piano by Neil Georgeson.
Sea Eagle,
a piece
for solo horn by the festival's patron Peter Maxwell Davies, received a
bravura performance by Yevgeny Chebykin who admitted to being a little
nervous at playing the piece in the presence of the composer, especially in
view of the work's technical difficulty.
The piece,
written in 1982, was inspired by the sight of a sea eagle flying around the
cliffs of Orkney. "It was an attempt to convey the energy and majesty
of the
bird," Mr Maxwell Davies said. "When I first wrote it everybody said it was
unplayable, but I was extremely pleased with this performance."
Chroma
then played John McCabe's Movements for clarinet, violin and cello.
This little-known chamber work is quite similar texturally to Messiaen's
Quatour pour la
fin du temps,
with
birdsong themes and jagged melodic lines subsiding into occasional moments
of intense lyricism in the cello part.
After the
concert
Lise
Sinclair, who trained the Fair Isle choir, said she was very pleased with
performance. "It was absolutely brilliant," she said. "It was lovely music
and it was a pleasure to sing. Everyone put a lot of work into it and got a
lot out of it. It really has been very special for everyone. We are now
hoping to raise the money to do the piece again in Orkney next year."
While
Friday night's concert was the main event of the festival the week also
included workshops for children given by members of the Chroma ensemble, a
Vivaldi
Gloria
from
scratch and a piano recital by Neil Georgeson.
Mrs Brown
said all the events had gone well. "I think it was all well worth while. It
has done a lot to promote the island and the people here."
I never
found out who was the kind soul who gave up their place on the ferry
crossing last Thursday to allow this reporter to attend the festival. But
anyhow, my thanks.
