Packed programme of quality music at Lammermuir Festival

Six composers, 11 works, in three venues in 24 hours. Not that the Lammermuir Festival is going for an entry into the Guinness Book of Musical Records but they do know how to pack a programme full of quality music.

In one day, albeit over a night, I saw two of the world’s best ensembles, a world class soloist with an equally marvellous orchestra performing in venues in and around Haddington that are ideal for this intimate festival.

It continues to pull the crowds in and attract the biggest names in the business.

Along with that, the festival managed to introduce me to two works I’d never heard, one with instant appeal the other in the “now I know why it’s never performed” category.

The latter was a quartet by Donizetti, and while the superb Quatuor Mosaiques did their best to give it some credence it paled in comparison to the Mozart and Haydn quartets they performed with customary class.

My day got off to the best of starts at Haddington’s Town Hall, courtesy of the Gould Piano Trio.

While the Haydn trio was excellent, it was surpassed by the aforementioned “instant appeal”.

Saint Saens’ E minor trio is a superb work, with the Gould ensemble propelling it to superstardom.

But the best was kept for last with Lars Vogt performing three Beethoven piano concerti, numbers two, three and five, in Haddington’s St Mary’s Church with the Northern Sinfonia. This was out of this world and, to me, an “I was there” moment. Vogt’s class and technique allied with the Sinfonia and Beethoven’s marvellous music is a mouth-watering combination.

Things seldom get better than that, and one reason why a trip down the A1 to East Lothian at this time of year is well worth it.

Garry Fraser