Opera Scotland

Symphony no9 'Choral' 1975Edinburgh International Festival

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Giulini was a wonderful conductor in the way that he gripped the attention of the audience as well as the performers. Listeners found they somehow achieved a really unusual level of concentration, with a pregnant silence throughout the performance - and an audience mentally exhausted at the end. Quite fascinating.

The solo quartet was superb. Soprano and bass were regular visitors from Germany (where the American soprano was based). The alto and tenor were two of the best young British performers.

Before the Beethoven, Giulini conducted four of the orchestra's wind principals in the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, K297b - a lovely starter.