Thirteen North are a new Scottish-based string ensemble with a changing, thus far mostly female lineup of 13, under the shared artistic directorship of violinists Emily Davis and Catriona Price. Conceived by the pair during the Covid lockdowns, the group aim “to bring classical music to new and more diverse audiences”, and gave their debut concert in a deconsecrated church that also hosts rock and pop gigs, with the audience encouraged to move around and the bar remaining open for hazy IPAs throughout.
Under the title Connected, the programme was billed as “a multidimensional performance … exploring human connection through the themes of generations, culture and tradition.” It centred on Béla Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra, which was performed with a rare gusto, alongside commissions from Pippa Murphy, Pàdruig Morrison and Price herself. These were interpolated between Bartók’s three movements, and prefaced with short films by Glasgow film-maker Bircan Birol. Beautifully shot on locations around Scotland, they allowed each composer to speak in their own words, conveying the new pieces’ hinterlands more evocatively than printed programme notes.
Murphy’s Ca’ the Yowes tae Humbie takes its inspiration from the Scottish folksong collected by Robert Burns, teasing apart its melody into a series of mesmerising fragments. Price’s Saint Sophia is offered as a symbol of solidarity with Ukraine, and fuses Ukrainian modality and rhythmic patterns with an unmistakably Scottish slow air. But it was the Uist-based Morrison’s These Highland Glens Once Danced that resonated most closely with the Divertimento, invoking an irrepressible primal energy.
The performances were subtly amplified, and the atmosphere felt genuinely warm and inclusive. But there was a lot of speaking — perhaps just a little too much. Given the high quality of the playing, next time it might be better just to let the music do more of the talking.
