The stately Sir John Eliot Gardiner led the four French horn players on stage. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra's own Alec Frank-Gemmill and Harry Johnstone were joined by Radek Baborák, principal horn at the Berlin Philharmonic and Mikuláš Koska, principal horn at the Brno Philharmonic. We were to hear two works by Schumann and the concert opener was his Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra. It was fascinating watching the four horn players each with his own score.
Schubert's Fifth Symphony is an old favourite. Beforehand we watched as so many chairs and desks were removed to allow all the violins and violas to stand for the performance, making it just that little bit more interesting. There were some stiff legs bending at its end.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner's own Monteverdi Choir joined the Orchestra for Schumann's Manfred. More often than not Schumann's Manfred is shorthand for the Overture alone. We were to hear it all. Members of the Choir were at times soloists in front and then back alongside their colleagues. But the main performer was German actor Wolfram Koch as narrator, speaking not singing in his native tongue. Schumann had taken Byron's Manfred, written in 1817, full of the deep supernatural world and of the ghosts which were popular at the time. Some would say there was too much talking, other would say that it was difficult to follow as the one narrator was chamois hunter, witch of the alps, nemesis, Arimanes, Astarte and the Abbot in addition to his main part as Manfred. The programme gave us the words but with the warning that it used Byron's text, for it had gone to print before the final rehearsals. It took me a few moments to realise that we were hearing perhaps only three quarters of the original text. That obstacle overcome I thorough enjoyed myself keeping up with the narrator's fine voice. It was good to hear a work not so often performed. With a wry smile - that's what the Edinburgh International Festival is all about.
Performance: Thursday 11th August 2016 at 19:30