Best of Both Hemispheres

Wellington-born composer Lyell Cresswell has lived in Edinburgh since the early 1980s writing regularly for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO). “His latest piece for them, a triple concerto premiered here with the Swiss Piano Trio as soloists, is crafted with flattering familiarity, as if for old friends; its clean, balanced textures perfectly suit the SCO,” Kate Molleson writes. “What Cresswell captures so well, though, is the SCO’s innate elegance.” In a preview of the evening, Andrew Clements, also of the Guardian, described Cresswell as “one of Scottish contemporary music’s best kept secrets.” “Cresswell continues to think of himself first and foremost as a New Zealand composer, maintaining that his music doesn’t sound ‘British’ in any way,” Clements wrote.