Last weekend, in this space, I pointed to a few concerts in Edinburgh and Perth which will feature visiting international orchestras.
Two of them will come to the Usher Hall and the context was interesting as it seemed to hint at Edinburgh picking up on what the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall no longer does.
It turned out last week that the announcement of the Usher Hall events was a bit of a tease: the venue followed through by unfurling a full five-concert International Classical Series this winter, while quietly confirming that it is indeed a response to the fact that Glasgow doesn't do one any more.
This week let's just pack in the details of the mouth-watering new series. It opens next Sunday with a monumental concert by the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra playing Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with Freddy Kempf.
Two weeks later, on October 22, Michael Sanderling conducts the Dresden Philharmonic in Dvorak's New World Symphony while Sarah Chang plays Barber's Violin Concerto. On Friday December 7, Richard Egarr brings back his amazing Academy of Ancient Music with soprano Elizabeth Watts in an all-Vivaldi programme.
On Thursday January 31, the Bergen Philharmonic and Andrew Litton bring a glorious programme with Grieg's Piano Concerto featuring pianist Christian Ihle Holland and Richard Strauss's spectacular tone poem, Ein Heldenleben. Then, in a coup for Edinburgh, the great Czech Philharmonic and master conductor Jiri Behlohlavek round off the series on April 13 with Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and the Fifth Symphony, while pianist Helene Grimaud will play Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. All concerts in the new international classical series start at 7.30pm.
What a line-up. There is much to chew over in it, but two comments today. Its sheer strength suggests Edinburgh City Council and the Usher Hall have convincingly got their act together in the run-up to the hall's centenary in 2014. And suddenly, Scotland's musical horizon is more richly populated. This one will sell like hot cakes.
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