On Saturday 8 May, clarinetest Heather Roche performed as part of Tectonics Glasgow 2021, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s annual festival of experimental music. Alongside the orchestra, she performed new concerto Natura Naturans, a piece written by Scott McLaughlin as part of a larger body of work exploring ‘different strategies for composing music where the instrument leads the player, ultimately allowing the instrument to define how the music unfolds in performance’.
Roche has been involved in the making of Natura Naturans for a long time, serving as a consultant on McLaughlin’s research into the project for a year. Her performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra revealed a piece teeming with the unexpected, as if the musicians were trying to anticipate where their instruments would take them. At times ominous, and at others meditative, the piece saw Roche exchange stark clarinet tones with disquieting string work from the orchestra.
You can watch Roche’s performance of the piece for a limited time on the BBC’s Tectonics website.