Celtic Connections has presented some fairly painful folk-classical collaborations in the past, but this year's opening concert should have been superior to the usual embarrassing combination of folk musicians and symphony orchestra. The trump card was the True North Orchestra, a chamber-sized ensemble with a few traditional instruments thrown into the mix, put together and conducted by Greg Lawson and led by Chris Stout, two violinists comfortable on both sides of the folk/classical divide.
But after a promising opening of toe-tapping orchestral numbers by Jim Sutherland, the concert descended into a sort of "preview of forthcoming attractions at Celtic Connections". There was singing from Kathleen MacInnes and Maura O'Connell, Stout's Brazilian Theory ensemble, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it set from Carlos Núñez – and that was only the first half of the concert.
Some of it was good, more of it was inconsistent; and the inevitable multiple stage resets, rendered particularly tedious by a lot of incompetence involving amp leads and an irritating compere whose hyperbole-laden presentations seemed superfluous at best, meant the performance dragged on slowly. It seemed particularly unfortunate that the orchestra, having promised something quite special with its introductory numbers – an interesting blend of the hard-edged, visceral fiddle sound and the warmer classical string – was ultimately used as little more than a glorified backing band, with a couple of not particularly interesting pieces from Sutherland's film scores thrown in. More of the True North Orchestra and fewer of the celebrity guest spots would have been appreciated.