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Scottish Chamber Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, abbreviated SCO, is a chamber orchestra from Edinburgh. It was founded in 1974, with Roderick Brydon as its first principal conductor until 1983. It is one of the five national performing companies of Scotland. It plays throughout the country, with annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and islands, and rehearses mainly in the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, which was opened in 1979 by Queen Elizabeth II. The orchestra appears regularly at the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals and at the Proms.

Music and breakthrough

After Brydon, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Ivor Bolton, Joseph Swensen and Robin Ticciati, among others, served as principal conductor. Since 2019 that has been Maxim Emelyanychev. Charles Mackerras was conductor laureate until his death in 2010. In 1980 the orchestra recorded all six Brandenburg Concertos with Raymond Leppard for the BBC, and in the years afterwards the recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons followed. The orchestra also played with Simon Rattle, then a rising young conductor.

Influence

The SCO performs classical and new work. It commissioned more than a hundred new pieces, including from Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan and Judith Weir. It recorded for labels including Deutsche Grammophon and Hyperion and works with Linn Records, among other things for Mozart symphonies under Mackerras. The albums in the list, from Mozart and Haydn to Vivaldi and Handel, show what the orchestra is strong at: clear, agile playing in the repertoire for small forces. In 2023 members played at the coronation of Charles III.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to The Four Seasons in the 1982 recording and notice the violin solos and how the small orchestra depicts Vivaldi's thunderstorm and birds with short, sharp strokes.

Discography

Studio albums

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