With every seat taken, we were off to a rousing start with Mozart's four-minute-long Overture to The Marriage of Figaro before Peter Oundjian returned with microphone in hand. In the same vein as last week, he told us, a senior member of the Orchestra was to be the solo performer, last week Principal Flute - this week the Principal Cello, Belarus born Aleksei Kiseliov.
At a time when we are remembering the start of the Great War, Elgar's Cello Concerto emerged at its end in 1919, at a low point in his life with the old order changed for good and his wife's health deteriorating. Perhaps the Concerto's best known soloist has been Jacqueline du Pre. I was sitting beside one of Edinburgh's celebrated cellists who had been taught by her.
Both our conductor and soloist mentioned her - Peter Oundjian was influenced by her for he was brought up near to where she lived in those days, whilst for Aleksei Kiseliov, in his programme notes, he tells of his cello teacher in Minsk giving him her recording when he was 14 or 15. But it came with a warning that he was too young yet to understand the music. Aleksei is now 29 and feels he is grown-up enough to play it. I can vouch for that - having followed his spectacular career since his days at the Royal College of Music.
Aleksei's performance was seamless. You can't get better than that. No acting, no acrobatics but the cello played at its very best. Not surprisingly the audience adored it and the Orchestra was ready to accompany him with an encore.
After the interval for Bruckner's Symphony No 7 we saw four Wagner horns and tuba on the back row of the Orchestra - for Bruckner was much in awe of Wagner. Near by were the cymbals and triangle players - each with one note to play the whole symphony. It is a much loved work, probably Bruckner's best known and, it is said, a favourite of Hitler. Peter Oundjian kept up the pace and reached the finishing line at sixty-three minutes with the programme notes suggesting a normal seventy. In the pre-concert talk earlier he told us he had managed sixty-and-a-half the night before in Perth. Why did the Usher Hall slow him down, one wonders?
A wonderful evening - and well deserving of five stars.
Concert: Friday 10th October 2014 at 7.30pm