En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Lammermuir Festival

If three years is sufficient to constitute a tradition then, traditionally, a Lammermuir Festival ends with a sell-out concert in St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington. And if year three is sufficiently far along the line to break with tradition, then this year’s surprise was not box-office focused but based on choice of repertoire; not a Bach/Handel finish, but an all-French programme.

Stars of Lammermuir’s 2011 Musical Journey, the Navarra Quartet returned for two 2012 dates. The first of their engagements featured a single Haydn work: The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross (1787).The prospect of seven slow movements, framed by “Introduzione” and “Il Terremoto” (“Earthquake”) might strike some as a marathon.

The Lammermuir Festival has a proven track record of experimentation; venues and works frequently surprise, and this year has seen some branching out in the format of events.Master and Commander comprised an evening of readings from the maritime novels of Patrick O’Brian, interspersed with music referenced in the books.

There’s nothing like a festival coming to your neighbourhood to highlight gaps in local knowledge. Despite having grown up 12 miles from Dunbar, I’d never spotted, far less entered, St Anne’s Episcopal Church. It is a gem of a place with a superb chamber music acoustic.

Picture the scene: Dunbar Parish Church nearing the end of major renovation. Looking heavenward, one sees two RSJ-type structures which appear to have facilitated the removal of all impediments to vision and light, the latter refracted through stained glass windows. In one corner of of the resulting square, facing the opposite corner, sit the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The motto of the Lammermuir Festival, now in its third year, is “beautiful music in beautiful places”. Few settings are more striking than St Mary’s Parish Church in Haddington.

The Closing Concert of the Lammermuir Festival took place in the historic St. Mary's Parish Church, Haddington – the site of John Knox's ordination as a Catholic priest, some years before the volte face which saw him spearheading the Scottish Reformation. An all-Baroque programme was presented by the Dunedin Consort, animatedly directed from the keyboard by John Butt.

A Musical Journey is, in effect, a bonsai version of the Lammermuir Festival: beautiful music, beautiful places and, on this particular occasion, beautiful weather.

A place of pilgrimage for centuries, St. Mary's Church, Whitekirk, overlooks fields – blonde and cropped at this time of year. The acoustic in this concert was, for me, the Lammermuir Festival's most magical match of medium and venue. The Navarra Quartet resonated richly, without in any way compromising clarity.

The final leg of Lammermuir Festival's Musical Journey brought us within a few metres of the shore, to the church of St. Andrew Blackadder and to arguably the most challenging programme of the day. Contemplation of the end of life informed each piece and the contrasting circumstances, responses and outcomes could be heard in the music.

In the week when the world of Physics was turned upside-down by neutrinos being found to travel faster than the speed of light, my physics world encountered another first – a carpeted church with a fantastic acoustic! St Michael’s Kirk, Inveresk – situated at the highest point of Musselburgh, East Lothian - played host to a sold-out concert featuring The Scottish Ensemble and their special guest,

You might think that a programme containing Bach and 20th/21st century composers would suggest an evening of unconnected extremes. Nothing could be further from the truth in the case of Jennifer Koh's Bach and Beyond recital, given in Lennoxlove House, Haddington as part of the Lammermuir Festival.

The lively acoustic of the lovely Stenton Parish Church, 23 miles east of Edinburgh, hosted the fourth of sixteen concerts in this year's Lammermuir Festival, the motto of which is Beautiful music – beautiful places. I have to confess to a carbon sin of the mind in being prepared to undertake the 46-mile car journey to hear 5 minutes of music by György Kurtág.