MUSIC REVIEW : Currie Conducts Scottish Evening

“A Scottish Celebration,” presented by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Sinfonia Orchestra in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, was no mere potpourri of ethnic hit tunes in arrangements beefed up for a big hall.

True, canny Music Director John Currie did allow for more voices and instruments than seem to fit the Scottish tradition of narrative songs (14 out of 17 by Robert Burns), and his arrangements of the animated tunes tended to the loud and slapdash.

But tenderness and intimacy were available as well: the sopranos alone (“Willie’s Fair”), the whole Chorale in hushed pianissimo ( “The Winter of Life”), a loving account of “Annie Laurie.”

However, the guests from Scotland really sparked the cumulative effect and deeper experience Saturday night, nothing less than the baring of the Scottish soul through music.

Jean Redpath must be considered an indispensable ingredient of any such occasion. The renowned Scottish folk singer held the assemblage spellbound by the simplest yet rarest means: total love of and identification with her material and peerless artistry in its presentation.

Folk fiddler Alasdair Fraser’s solo turn ran the expressive gamut from deep Celtic melancholy to joyful jig, his fiddle imitations of the bagpipe almost unbelievable, the whole rendered with a humble sincerity, flawless virtuosity and just about the sweetest violin sound since Fritz Kreisler.