Review: Erland Cooper at the Barbican, London

Erland Cooper can barely contain his joy. “I can’t believe we are here sharing a stage together, musicians on stage, an audience listening to us, thank you so much,” the Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist tells a socially distanced crowd in the vast Barbican Hall and those watching online via livestream.
By Duncan Seaman
Published 11th Oct 2020, 20:00 BST
Updated 13th Oct 2020, 08:47 BST
Erland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/BarbicanErland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican
Erland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican

Where back at the start of 2020 a performer asking concert-goers if they are “having a good time” might have seemed little more than stage patter, now, with the live music industry experiencing an existential crisis in the face of the Covid pandemic, such a question carries considerably more weight.

That it’s answered by cheers and a loud round of applause says much about how events like this have been missed in the past seven months.

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As winter and greater social restrictions beckon, this, part of a varied series of concerts at the Barbican made possible by anonymous benefactor, signals at least one possible way forward for live shows until we are rid of the threat from coronavirus.

Poet Will Burns. Picture: Mark Allan/BarbicanPoet Will Burns. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican
Poet Will Burns. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican

Cooper urges the audience to imagine they are on a ferry to the islands of Orkney, off Scotland’s north coast, where he grew up and about where he composed a triptych of albums of contemporary chamber music.

The 70-minute programme comprises selections from all three of those records – Solan Goose, Sule Skerry and Hether Blether – blending themes of air, sea and soil with found sounds from nature.

Cooper is accompanied by a core group of NEST musicians Anna Phoebe (violin, Moog), Lottie Greenhow (violin, soprano), Jacob Downs (viola, piano, Moog) and Klara Schumann (cello), together with soloists from the London Contemporary Orchestra and visuals by Alex Kozobolis.

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For the achingly beautiful Maalie, the musicians are joined by the poet Will Burns, who observes of a rain-sodden visit to the archipelago that “the air, the mist, the ocean, all blend into a single wisdom of water”.

Erland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/BarbicanErland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican
Erland Cooper accompanied by players from the London Contemporary Orchestra performance in the Barbican Hall. Picture: Mark Allan/Barbican

Shalder draws on a pretty folk melody while Spoot Ebb gradually builds from a circular piano riff with sighing strings and a wordless soprano vocal.

Scottish singer Kathryn Joseph adds some atmospheric narration to Flattie (Pt 2) and Cooper takes the microphone himself for the hushed First of Tide.

As the epic Skreevar and barely-there piano ballad Where I Am Is Here bring the set to an emotional close, a clearly moved Cooper raises a glass to the audience. All is most definitely not lost for live music in these difficult times.

For further details on the Live from the Barbican season visit: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/series/live-from-the-barbican

Related topics:LondonOrkney

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