Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh OVER the years the Hebrides Ensemble have commissioned an impressive array of new works and the latest - Penumbra by Marina Adamia - is an outstanding addition to the repertoire. In this piece for clarinet, viola
, cello and piano, the Edinburgh-based Georgian composer demands great versatility from the instruments to explore not only the nature of darkness and light but the subtle nuances of every degree in between.
Such expansiveness created tantalisingly ephemeral textures which were frequently punctuated by sinewy sweeps of sound. Although Adamia’s music speaks with a fresh and distinctive voice this is deeply rooted in her Eastern European heritage. This is also true of Sofia Gubaidulina whose intriguingly theatrical Dots, Lines and Zigzags had the pianist Peter Evans and bass clarinetist Lawrence Gill playing cat and mouse.
As always the Hebrides turned on a faultless and often brilliant performance for this concert of former Soviet Union composers which also featured Shostakovich’s elegiac Piano Quintet in G minor. In particular, Krysia Osostowicz and Kathryn Greely’s sharp and sparky conversation in Prokofiev’s pyrotechnical Sonata for 2 violins was an electrifying tour de force.
