Two figures occupied Usher Hall’s large stage. More accurately, two performers, as there was also a very focused page turner, removing played pages as though they were explosives. Seated at the piano was Lars Vogt, last seen in this hall during Edinburgh Festival 2012 in a joyous performance of Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto.
I wish C.P. Snow could have been there. Had the author of the celebrated 1959 “Two Cultures” lecture been able to attend the Edinburgh International Festival Conversation between Philip Campbell (editor of Nature magazine) and multimedia artist Meredith Monk, I believe he would have been heartened by the effortlessly resonant conversation between two representatives from either side of the once ir
I was first struck by the scene’s arithmetic: one man; one piano; two sonatas; 900 audience members. I was then taken with how long Haefliger sat at the piano before playing. Those who appreciate music framed by silence would have approved of this.
A concert programme can resemble a puzzle; searching for links and contrasts often results in a more enjoyable, unified experience. I therefore strove to arrive in sufficient time for a careful reading of the programme notes for this performance by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Usher Hall, part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
In the relatively recent past, Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky has featured impressively as an RSNO guest in concertos by two of his countrymen (Rachmaninov and Prokofiev). I was therefore very much looking forward to hearing him in the more intimate, less gladiatorial setting of an Edinburgh International Festival morning Queen’s Hall recital.
If the Chiaroscuro Quartet experienced any nerves at their Edinburgh International Festival debut at the Queen’s Hall, complete with full house and BBC Radio 3 recording team in place, it certainly didn’t show. Formed in 2005, this young, period instrument quartet, appeared completely at ease and at one with the music.
Philip Glass’ ability to draw an audience of massively varied age groups is impressive. The event in question, which ran for two nights, certainly addressed the Edinburgh International Festival 2013’s theme of how artists engage with technology.
If a single word can express disappointment without surprise, it would capture my feeling upon surveying the seats before this concert of 20th-century music at the Usher Hall. My heart went out to the musicians. However, upon seeing Ilan Volkov’s happy and positive demeanour and hearing the first notes, all such negativity dissolved, never to return.
The opening concert of the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival was a Scottish-Russian collaboration. The RSNO, the home team on home turf, featured two Russian soloists, all under the baton (or, more accurately, the open hands) of Valery Gergiev at Usher Hall.
A “post-season friendly” for the RSNO, this Usher Hall concert formed part of the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture Musical Celebration. Knowing almost nothing of this former British protectorate, I was surprised to discover that the population is just under two million – approximately 40% of Scotland’s.
In one of Europe’s hottest capitals (that day), a sizeable Edinburgh crowd gathered in the shade of the Dovecot Studios for this season’s final RSNO chamber concert.
The Scottish Ensemble’s tagline, “re-defining the string orchestra” could, in this particular programme, have justified the additional claim “re-defining the quartet”. The only work in this imaginatively conceived, four-item programme not written for quartet (or double quartet) was the opening Musical Postcard no. 4 by the young British composer Martin Suckling.
There’s something heartwarming in stories of friends’ differences resolved. Hanuš Wihan had requested a cello concerto of Dvořák, who declined on the grounds that, although a fine orchestral instrument, the cello was not suited to the solo spotlight. The change of heart, occasioned by Victor Herbert’s Second Cello Concerto, is to all our benefits.
RSNO concerts begin, for me and around 100 others, with the pre-concert talk. I'm especially glad of these when new to a work, such as Mendelssohn’s 1846 Elijah. A talk by those who have prepared the music for us adds something to even the most extensive “presearch”. Sir Andrew Davis, in conversation with RSNO principal trombonist Dávur Juul Magnussen, came across as extremely witty and erudite.
Inclement weather stalks the Edinburgh Quartet; at least, those concerts which I’ve attended in the past few months. On cue the early evening heavens opened unstintingly. By the time the concert approached it had “faired”, as the Scots sometimes say, but perhaps disinclination to venture out had been irreversibly embraced by some. That’s not to say that the attendance was poor.
This second of two SCO Britten centenary concerts saw its subject juxtaposed with two living British composers and Mozart. Cynics might consider the closing Symphony no. 40 in G minor (1788) a reward for surviving the rest of the programme’s modernity.
It’s rare to see a soloist perform two concertos in a single programme. RSNO Associate Leader William Chandler promised, in his highly entertaining and informative pre-concert talk, that we were in for some very exciting playing from pianist Xiayin Wang. Indeed we were.
Endeavouring to travel lightly through the world, I tend not to collect programme notes. However, such was the quality of Jo Kirkbride’s notes for this SCO Britten centenary celebration that scanning them for e-posterity is tempting. They prompted a consideration of the whole idea of programming.
In an engaging German-Scots accent, RSNO first violinist Ursula Heidecker Allen promised the pre-concert talk audience an evening of sunny Mediterranean moods. Time being a factor in these very worthwhile 25-minute, capacity-crowd events, she addressed only the programme’s two Respighi pieces, mentioning that he was a pupil of another programmed composer, Martucci.
Doubling as a 300-seat lecture theatre for Edinburgh University’s Music Department, the 1859 Reid Concert Hall is an elegant performance space with deep red walls and a fine sound. On this particular evening an audience of around a couple of hundred gathered for a seven-item concert given by the Edinburgh Contemporary Music Ensemble.
