Nicola Benedetti has brought intriguing changes as the Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, introducing bold overarching themes, beanbag concerts and developing deeper relationships with visiting artists through residencies. Her relationship with festival audiences is firmly grounded as she has whipped out her violin this year at late-night appearances at the Hub, joined Queen’s Hall artists for an encore, and here curating a tribute to Yehudi Menuhin with fellow Menuhin school pupil Alexander Sitkovetsky.
A Polish theme peppers the festival this year, celebrating the historic musical and cultural links with the city of Edinburgh. Sitkovetsky brought the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra for a two-day residency, joining Benedetti for this performance, a deeply personal programme of works linking both violinists with Menuhin. Another Benedetti innovation is the development of a Rising Stars initiative, the orchestra augmented with a handful of young talented string players, playing side-by-side for everything apart from the concerto.
Elgar’s Serenade for String Orchestra was a favourite at the Menuhin School, Benedetti leading the ensemble, who skipped with a spring in their step in the opening Allegro, their rich sound dreamier as warmth and passion built organically in the central movement. Violins and violas stand to perform, an exciting watch as players swayed and leant into the music, lower and upper strings exchanging phrases, Benedetti driving the final movement with purposeful verve.
Andrzej Panufnik’s Violin Concerto was written for and commissioned by Menuhin, who premiered the piece in 1972 with the composer conducting. Sitkovetsky was rehearsed as a soloist by Menuhin, but he passed away before the performance. The work is dramatic, the opening rubato bookended by poetic cadenzas, Sitkovetsky savouring long notes but turning to conduct the angular orchestral interludes, the music gaining and losing speed in a whirl. Soloist and upper strings wove a tight tapestry in the central movement, Sitkovesky making the highest notes still sound sweet as the violas turned menacing before drifting off. The Vivace was a workout for all, urgent and edgy, Sitkovetsky almost dancing as the Leopoldinum strings pushed the tension with percussive bow work.
Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D minor, another Menhuin School staple, saw the augmented Leopoldinum reunited, joined by Tiffany Vong’s harpsichord. Benedetti and Sitkovetsky gave a spirited performance, lively and dynamic in the opening, gracefully smooth in the centre, energetic and animated to end. Watching two childhood friends dovetailing phrases so elegantly cast a special spell, but it’s a poignant work for Benedetti who performed the Adagio aged 11 with Alina Abrigamova at Menhuin’s funeral and memorial services.
Sitkovesky led the expanded Leopoldinum in Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra, the players fizzing with exhilaration, Benedetti now in first violin mode. Sitkovetsky, who once led the Menuhin Orchestra in this work, brought huge energy through elegant slow dances giving way to angular declaiming unisons in a forest of down-bows. The Adagio brooded intensity as individual sectional leads built atmosphere, the violas and second violins a central powerhouse. The final helter-skelter Allegro was a flurry of dance themes, fugal passages and dynamic cross-rhythms, delivered with panache.
It was refreshing to see the Festival Director admitting to so much fun as she introduced the encore, Edward McGuire’s Fiddler’s Farewell, a piece Benedetti performed with the National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland back in the day. The slow march with Scottish snap gave way to a lively jig with whistle (Mr Menuhin's Delight), rounding off a joyful celebration of Menuhin’s musical legacy to the delight of the packed Usher Hall.
