Chamber of surprises

KENNY MATHIESON discusses the origins and musical philosophy behind the unorthodox chamber music group Mr McFall’s Chamber with violinist ROBERT McFALL as the Edinburgh-based group prepare to visit Lerwick with a new project.

MR McFALL’S CHAMBER slipped quietly onto an unsuspecting Scottish music scene in 1996 as the result a challenge laid down to classical violinist Robert McFall by his sons. Robert had grown accustomed to collecting the boys in the early hours from various dance clubs round Edinburgh after their own band had played, and eventually they challenged him to get some of his classical colleagues together to play in that unlikely setting.
 

Robert is a member of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the bulk of his colleagues in Mr McFall's Chamber were recruited from that source. Violinist Greg Lawson, viola player Brian Schiele, cellist Su-a Lee and bassist Rock Standley all share that connection, while pianist Graeme McNaught is also firmly oriented in classical music.
 

Even their regular vocalist, Dave Brady (aka Dave Bradley), shares the SCO connection. In an earlier part of his life, he was a folk singer, but he is also the man who – in his own words – “drives a wagon for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra”, entirely undeterred by the fact that he only has one-arm.
 

The group took their name from a slight misprint in the publicity material for that original club appearance, and have developed into the most unclassifiable musical organisation in Scotland. Even Robert struggles to put a precise definition on their music.
 

“I don't really know what to call it,” he confesses. “We are a group of predominantly classical musicians getting together to play music in other styles. I think that's about the only way I can describe us, and after that it's a matter of listening to our music and making up your own mind. I don't like the word crossover, because it has some rather tawdry associations now. The difficulty of defining what we do can make it a bit of struggle getting people to give us a chance unless they have heard it, because it's very hard to describe in print.”
 

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