Music

The man in charge of major pop and rock gigs in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens believes they can help it become “Scotland’s answer to the Hollywood Bowl.”

Businesses and residents in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town are campaigning for a clampdown on silent disco walking groups over claims they are turning “gullible” visitors to the city into “complete idiots”.

David Greig, one of Scotland’s most prolific playwrights has accused Scotland’s leading composer, Sir James MacMillan, of “hypocrisy” for accepting Scottish Government funding to stage a programme of his work at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Tributes have been paid to the founder of one of Edinburgh’s best-known cultural celebrations after he passed away at the age of 84.

In a format initiated last year, Monday night’s Fireworks Concert began with music but no fireworks. Paying tribute to Leonard Bernstein’s 100th anniversary, a performance of his Concert Suite No 1 - a set of love songs from West Side Story - allowed the audience to listen to the music without distraction. With their voices blending well, and displaying remarkable control and appropriate tenderness, tenor Nicky Spence and soprano Lucy Crowe both ably rose to the challenge of amplified outdoor performance on a less than warm summer evening.

Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is both a glorious visual spectacle and music to the ears. Not one inch of space was left unfilled on the Usher Hall stage for Sunday’s Festival finale, conducted by Daniel Harding. What a sight! What a sound!

Judging by the ­rapturous reaction in the room, it appeared that the International Festival had saved the best of their contemporary music programme to last. There is a certain je ne sais quoi about St Vincent, aka Texan art pop tornado Annie Clark, which marks her out as one of the most interesting artists working in pop music today.

Since Leith Theatre opened its doors once more as part of the Hidden Door ­festival in May 2017, fans of the much-loved venue have wondered what would be the ultimate test of its potential as one of the best venues in Scotland.

The answer was a Mogwai concert, with a hall so full that people were standing in doorways ­trying to catch a glimpse of the stage.

You could never accuse Prague’s Pavel Haas ­Quartet of stinting on drama. The foursome attacked their richly coloured programme with breathtaking vigour and no less abandon – there was a chance the whole thing could have come off the rails, were it not for the group’s ­impeccable control and minute attention to nuance.

There is such a casual brilliance to Canadian crooner John Grant’s music that even his most relaxed, straightforward concert reveals scintillating layers to his sound, and so it was with one of the most keenly anticipated shows of the International Festival’s contemporary music programme, with Grant and his Icelandic band – plus the notable piston engine of Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer, Budgie – embellished only by a stage set of illuminated pillars that looked imported from a 1980s music video.

A sensational performance of a fascinating programme made for an unforgettable festival debut from the Los Angeles-based Colburn Orchestra.

Reflections and resonances ricocheted back and forth across French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s expertly conceived, heavily perfumed Queen’s Hall recital.

Need inspiration for what to see during the last week of the Festival? Here’s a round-up of this week’s must-see shows according to our critic, Andrew Eaton-Lewis

From a drag show for kids to a multi-generational circus act, there are many unexpected hits and hidden gems to be uncovered amongst the 3,548 shows at this year’s Fringe.

With the National Museum of Scotland’s Rip It Up exhibition giving due credit to Scotland’s punk, post-punk and indie musicians, it’s only appropriate (if a little uncanny) that cult heroes The Pastels and The Vaselines should appear together on a bill curated by the similarly independent-spirited Neu! Reekie! collective for the highfalutin International Festival.

The week ahead will be one of mixed feelings for one of Scotland’s much-loved musical personalities. For the past 11 years, he has been intrinsic to the musical success of the Edinburgh International Festival, yet his stage appearances are mostly brief. For almost a quarter of a century he has transformed the country’s musical youth, in a way the current education system is struggling to do. He is a bundle of creative energy. He wears outrageous shoes. He is the irrepressible Christopher Bell.

We were invited to summon the spirit of punk as Russian protest artists Pussy Riot took to the stage at Summerhall.

Basking in the wonderfully wayward eclecticism of Ron Davis’ Symphronica amid the picture hung premises of the Scottish Arts Club, you’re never quite sure whether you might get an eruption of all-out jazz fusion or a tea dance.