A masterful finale which was an absolute showstopper

It started in muted fashion and ended with a bang. No, more like an explosion of sound. It was glorious and uplifting and if festival finales had a top 10 this would be challenging for the number one spot.

Schoenberg was the unlikely hero of the hour with his epic Gurrelieder, complete with 150piece orchestra, soloists and choir. Would two hours of Schoenberg be too much? Certainly if it was his later atonal self, but this was his early melodic days, deep romantic music that knocked me for six.

It was Donald Runnicles’ farewell concert as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – and what a way to sign off!

The work is huge in scale and something of a strength-sapping marathon, but the minutes rolled by in a broad spectrum of colour. As secular cantatas go, few can equal this and it dwarfs anything Mahler or Bruckner could throw at you. It was expansive, compelling, uninhibited, thrilling – and more.

The soloists had their work cut out, sometimes defying enormous orchestral odds, with tenor Simon O’Neil leading the way. He took the full brunt of the solo work, but the others were no mere cameos. Karen Cargill could have walked straight off a set of Gotterdamerung such was her commanding Wagnerian presence and there were stellar performances from Anja Kampe, Anthony Dean Griffey and Iain Patterson with Thomas Quasthoff’s narration adding even more drama.

Orchestrally, the BBC SSO gave a performance of quality that matched the size and depth of the work and Runnicles controlled them in masterful fashion.

Works like this come along only too infrequently and it’s only through the offices of institutions like the Edinburgh Festival that it can be contemplated, never mind carried off.