REET Songs is the name given to the latest touring concert from this exciting collaboration between leading percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the eclectic voices of the Kings Singers. The name derives from Steve Martland's new collection of songs written to commission by the group and based on the theme of death and resurrection.
Before I say anything about these pieces themselves, there's a point to be made about their presentation. There are four songs in the collection and in this instance they were interspersed throughout the programme rather than grouped. on hearing the songs I felt there were benefits to be gained from a complete performance.
That said, these are little gems of contemporary vocal music, based on children's songs and hymns - Poor Roger, Oranges and Lemons, Green Gravel, and Jenny Jones. The usual features of Martland's music, such as dense rhythms and melodic repetition, are present but it's refreshing to hear them executed by voices rather than his customary band. Elsewhere, the programme presented a variety of South African-influenced music. Peter Klatzow's Return of the Moon, an atmospheric song cycle, was exquisitely voiced, Glennie providing an incidental sound scape on marimba. Later they combined their talents in a selection of songs from Paul Simon's Graceland album.
Glennie gave dazzling solos on Scottish composer David Horne's Reaching Out and Frum by Icelander Askell Masson while the Kings Singers demonstrated both their vocal and theatrical expertise in Van Dijk's Horizons and Lalela Zulu by Stanley Glasser. A string of encores ensued, my personal favourite being U2's MLK - an urban hymn to the memory of Martin Luther King.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article