Bonkers but brilliant, what a way to close a landmark year

0 The BBC SSO was in sparkling form under the reliable conducting hands of Martyn Brabbins Bliss’ overture – a crafty distillation of sentimental southerner’s- eye- view Scots references, from stoical psalm tunes to giddy reels and horn whoops – offered a homely start, its comforting nostalgia instantly blown away by Shostakovich’s Three Interludes from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, complete with vicious balcony- sited battery of cornets and trumpets.

Next, the balmy sensuousness of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, the dense opening chord a clear hint of the gorgeous string playing about was Chailly’s monumental readings of these two choral monoliths, as if he were filled with God- fearing awe, that made them so unforgettable.

After the interval, however, the Milan band broke out into unashamed colour and spectacle in glittering accounts of Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome, with Chailly ensuring sharp definition even in the work’s dreamy textures, and an edge of hard brilliance to much of the playing. His majestic closing evocation of Roman soldiers on the Appian Way was lovingly sculpted, even at its roof- raising, ear- shattering volume. A stormy, surging Force of Destiny Overture made a suitably theatrical encore to a concert of blazing magnificence. DAVID KETTLE to unfold. Then a tribute to Kathleen Ferrier’s early festival appearances, in which Scots mezzo soprano Karen Cargill performed three of Mahler’s Rückert- Lieder, injecting each with the rich mahogany tone that distinguishes Cargill as one of today’s front- ranking singers.

Ned Bigham’s Staffa – a festival premiere that teamed the composer with visual artist Gerry Fox, and featured drone footage of the Hebridean island and Fingal’s Cave screened above live orchestra – was more trundling background wash than genuinely vital concert work. No danger of that, however, in the SSO’S ensuing engagement with Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No 2, an effervescent world of colour and nuance; nor in the swaggering glitz of Strauss’ Emperor Waltz and, for an encore, the TritschTratsch Polka.

If the component parts were slick, the continuity of the evening wasn’t always. Did the orchestra really have to tune so frequently? Nonetheless, a sparkling event to sign off a resoundingly successful 70th anniversary edition of the Edinburgh International Festival. KEN WALTON