This was a welcome return by the London Philharmonic Orchestra to the Festival after a ten year gap. Leading them was Edward Gardner, their Principal Conductor. The concert began with what I found to be a puzzling work. Judith Weir was Master of the King's Music until last year, a ten year appointment, and composed her work Forest in 1995 with just the opening melody in her mind. Written for a full orchestra it has been described as dense; dense in the sense of being alone in a forest and perhaps with the fear of who or what lurks behind the next tree.
The stage was reset and the grand piano brought to the front for Italian pianist Beatrice Rana for Rachmaninov's well know and much loved Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It was fascinating watching her master her keyboard for all twenty four variations of the Theme.
After the break we were indulged in English composer Gustav Holst's The Planets. In this case seven planets: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Each is a mighty piece and can stand alone, but together one after the other, as we heard it is mind boggling powerful. The surtitles high above the Orchestra gave the name and Holst's description of each planet for its first thirty seconds or so which was helpful. Mars, the Bringer of War was the boisterous first whilst the National Youth Choir of Scotland singing out of sight went some way to calm us down for the final - Neptune, the Mystic.
Very considerable applause from the full Usher Hall audience encouraged Edward Gardner to allow his players an encore, no title given, which very appropriately calmed us down further to end a very enjoyable evening.
Event: Tuesday 5th August 2025 at 7.30pm