The multimillion-pound refurbishment of Glasgow's Victorian City Halls, some three years in the making, is one of the most ambitious cultural projects undertaken in Scotland in recent years, and its reopening this weekend one of the most anticipated events. Over the coming weeks there will be plenty of opportunities to assess whether the prized acoustic of the main auditorium has been retained during substantial renovations. This opening concert, however, wasn't one of them: as the culmination of a major BBCSSO education project, it was less a demonstration of the hall's capabilities than a symbol of its place in the local community.
The affirmative clarion call of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man suggested the egalitarian nature of the venture, as players from BBCSSO opened their new home in the company of 250 children from local schools and students from the RSAMD's Community Music course. Music written for the combined forces of children and professional players, though well-intentioned, can be cringeworthy, especially when it is made technically simplistic to accommodate the limited proficiency of the young players to a point where the musical value is fatally compromised. However, the BBCSSO's young resident composer, Anna Meredith, has adroitly sidestepped this pitfall by creating an ingenious picture in sound in which the younger participants contribute by creating effects with everyday objects - dustbin lids, baking trays, spoons, water bottles - rather than conventional instruments. Her piece, Casting, is a 20-minute soundscape inspired by Glasgow's industrial heritage. It opens with nothing but the sound of running water, and builds in momentum and volume to suggest an out-of-control machine, which is in turn dismantled as the music eerily disintegrates in the closing section.
Placing musicians around the hall as well as on the stage, neatly coordinated by conductor Baldur Brönnimann and a team of assistants, added an interesting spatial dimension to the performance, as well as making full use of the space for which it was created.
