ABOUT THE WORK: In late 1999 or early 2000 John Scott recorded his long-gestating Guitar Concerto, “Celtic Kingdoms”, with members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (the featured guitarist is unknown), but to date the work has never been released in any capacity. The full work runs about 35 minutes and has been conceived in three movements (rearranged and edited down for this demonstrational suite):
I. Song of the Northern Moorlands
II. Song of the Sacred Forest
III. The Glorious Festival of Beltain
Dedicated to various facets of ancient Celtic activities, the work is a mysterious and lyrical exploration of their history with an abundance of character and melodic intrigue one expects from this composer. After opening with an exclamatory statement in the low strings, Scott allows the music to swell into a brief, Rozsa-like crescendo of ecstatic pageantry for full orchestra. Following the extroverted beginnings things become inward and mysterious as woodwinds, solo violin and guitar explore various primordial textures emblematic of the strange and dark landscapes of the ancient Celtic world. A sinuous and evocative melody emerges on guitar at 3:07, which is later picked up by the full orchestra in a lyrical thematic statement. This theme is the primary identity of the first movement of the concerto and has a mature, ambiguous emotionality for the ‘Northern Moorlands’ depicted musically within it.
At 7:20 an impressionistic flourish segues us into one of the most singularly romantic melodies of Scott’s entire career, heard first on guitar with soft string accompaniment and then with a surging statement of full-orchestral grandeur at 9:50. In a career filled with glorious highlights, this remains among Scott’s most romantic and breathtaking moments, depicting an ancient reverence for the ‘Sacred Forest’ that is the subject of movement two. After the orchestra decrescendos woodwinds and guitar pass the melody around for a spell longer in a passage of ‘musical afterglow’ that recalls the lyricism of George Delerue’s most tender woodwind writing. Sublime musicianship!
13:27 onward sees the ancient Pagan Beltain festival celebrated musically with a light, almost humorous subject that dances about the orchestra, providing instances of music that sounds perhaps the most traditionally “celtic” of the entire work. A reflective idea emerges around 19:40, evoking the late afternoon setting over the moorish landscapes of the ancient Celtic world amidst all the festivities. A final flourish of the 3rd movement’s central subject closes the score with a not-quite-spectacular, but satisfactory, musical “exclamation point”.
Scott has produced a generous amount of concert music in the last twenty years – some of it released commercially like his “Belem Symphony”, “Moonflight for Choir and Orchestra”, the “Jules Verne Festival Overture”, “Red and White Suite” and so forth – but less fortunate have been his recorded-yet-unreleased works: “In Arcadia”, “House of Shadows”, his opera “Twilight Beguine”, numerous String Quartets, chambers works, silent film scores and so forth – to say nothing of completed-yet-unrecorded works like his “Pasadena Symphony”, “Viola Concerto”, a work for Narrator and Orchestra dedicated to Jacques Cousteau and an untitled ballet, amongst many other pieces. This is a rare instance in which a recorded yet totally-unheard work exists but has only been heard by those who were involved in the London recording session, and it is a privilege to share a few highlights from it with the world.
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