My Mixtape: Scottish Ensemble's 10 tracks that embody their music

Since their formation in 1969 Scottish Ensemble have given innovative and diverse music performances, often in places, such as the Highlands and islands of Scotland, that other orchestras can’t reach.

Their programme is a rich and varied one, from freshly commissioned contemporary works in collaboration with exciting new artists to new arrangements of the classical cannon and traditional folk songs.

To give us a flavour of what this breadth of musical influence sounds like, they put together this mixtape of 10 tracks, which best embody Scottish Ensemble, including a breakdown as to why they plucked for these pieces in particular.

‘Haze (Summer)’ from ANNO – Anna Meredith/Antonio Vivaldi

Commissioned by Scottish Ensemble and Spitalfields Music, ANNO combines, intertwines, and distorts Antonio Vivaldi’s well-loved Four Seasons in this utterly fresh reinterpretation of the original – now with electronics. This approach is exactly what Scottish Ensemble is all about.

‘Scottish Suite: The Hurricane’ from Follow the Moonstone – Traditional arr. Henning Sommerro

With a real focus on our Scottish roots and collaborative approach to performance, this one embraces the heritage of Scottish Ensemble in one of our first cross-genre collaborations, with the legendary Shetland fiddle player Aly Bain.

‘Strum’ – Jessie Montgomery

Jessie Montgomery is writing some of the most exciting music for strings at the moment, and we love to feature her work in our programmes. ‘Strum’ is full of excitement and energy, and is one of the highlights of our family-friendly show in Sync, which we’re bringing to the Southbank Centre in January 2025.

‘Movement 5 Part 2’ from Folded Landscapes – Erland Cooper

Our collaboration with Orkney artist Erland Cooper is a call to arms on the climate crisis. The album thaws over its seven movements, starting in the frigid cold and progressing through rising temperatures and tensions to a final searing heat. Cooper describes this final movement as ‘a sort of classical cèilidh, a dance to the end or perhaps beginning of new days’ and even credits ‘the Earth’ as songwriter on the album.

‘The Beech Tree’ from Plan & Elevation – Caroline Shaw

Caroline Shaw perhaps needs no introduction, but let’s do it anyway. This multi-prize-winning composer traverses classical, popular, and folk genres effortlessly in her writing, striking a chord with audiences all over the world. This type of impact and connection has made it the perfect music for our music and wellbeing sessions which we deliver across Scotland in a variety of settings to help people with their physical and mental wellbeing.

‘Veer’ from Anomaly – Jasdeep Singh Degun

‘Veer’, taken from the album Anomaly, is really worth a listen. Both an incredible artist and a collaborator, Jasdeep Singh Degun is an exceptional sitarist and composer. Last year we were lucky enough to work with Degun, touring with him across Scotland with a programme featuring his brand new work and some new arrangements. One superfan even attended all five shows.

‘Seavaigers: Lament’ – Sally Beamish

This is a movement from one of our cross-genre collaborations with a fantastic lineup: Chris Stout on the fiddle and Catriona McKay on the clarsach (Scottish harp), in a composition by Sally Beamish. In Seavaigers we cross the North Sea, encountering seabirds, whales, dolphins and endless changes of light and weather.

‘Proven Lands’ from There Will be Blood soundtrack – Jonny Greenwood

Echoing the barren Americana from acclaimed film There Will be Blood, our performance of this piece is ‘Scottish Ensemble sounding most un-string orchestra like…’ according to BBC 6 Music DJ Nemone Metaxas, with whom we toured in 2021.

‘Goldberg Variations: Aria’ – Johann Sebastian Bach arr. Dmitry Sitkovetsky

Our flagship collaboration with Swedish dance company Andersson Dance, Goldberg Variations: ternary patterns for insomnia, re-imagined one of Bach’s most cherished pieces and journeyed all around the world with over 50 performances. By exploring the 18th century notes from a 21st century perspective, we question our contemporary relationship with historical music. How can we, and how should we, respond to this music today?

‘Movement II from Chamber Symphony in C Minor’ – Dmitri Shostakovich arr. Rudolf Barshai

From heart-wrenching agony to fiery passion, Shostakovich’s music always seems to capture the most intense of emotions. We took the thrilling second movement of his Chamber Symphony and brought it to life – in film. In collaboration with production company Forest of Black we turned the drama of the piece up a notch.

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