Bells 2023Edinburgh International Festival
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Rachmaninov's superbly effective choral symphony seems to have had to wait until 1975 for its Scottish premiere, when André Previn launched it. Since then, the RSNO has given it a couple of times, when they had Estonian or Russian directors, but it does not seem to have returned to the Festival. It is therefore an excellent choice for the closing concert to celebrate the composer's 150th anniversary. Mind you, the second concerto was not to be ignored, with a performance earlier in the Festival, by Mikhail Pletnev and the LSO.
This really is a feast of romantic overload, with the first part of the programme beginning with Wagner - the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan - to be followed by Scriabin's gloriously over the top Poem of Ecstacy. And that just brings up the interval. It should be ideal to show off the conducting talents of Karina Canellakis.
David Butt Philip was an excellent Bacchus two years ago, recently repeating the part with Opera North. Since then he has been travelling the world with great success at the Met and in Vienna. Let's hope the Festival can catch him regularly.
