Music review: SCO, Mark Wigglesworth & Laura van der Heijden, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Bringing together music by Britten, Beethoven and Shostakovich, this was an unforgettable evening of incisive music making, writes David Kettle

SCO, Mark Wigglesworth & Laura van der Heijden, Usher Hall, Edinburgh ****

For what’s undeniably the world’s most famous symphony – and a piece that drew a sizeable and appreciative crowd to the Usher Hall for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s performance – it’s surprising how seldom Beethoven’s Fifth actually gets an airing. Maybe it’s because conductors are reluctant to drag out the tired old warhorse yet again, or because they feel obliged to cast it in an entirely new light, and stamp a radical new mark on the well-worn work.

Not so conductor Mark Wigglesworth: his account was bracing, fresh and driven, but never simply calculated to shock or provoke. And it felt like centuries of veneer being peeled from the Symphony to reveal its raw ambition and drama – as well as its intricate inner workings, laid bare to impressive effect as Wigglesworth teased apart Beethoven’s rich textures, and the SCO players responded with ringing clarity and finely etched sound. Not for Wigglesworth the melodrama of fate hammering on Beethoven’s door in the first movement’s infamous opening: instead, it was driven through briskly and vividly, its arresting rhythm made all the more noticeable when it returned throughout the Symphony. His slow movement was a lilting dance, with particularly nimble playing from the SCO musicians, and after a rollicking scherzo Wigglesworth magically lifted the tempo as it transitioned up a gear into a joyful finale.

Mark Wigglesworth PIC: Sim Canetty-Clarke

He’d treated the concert’s opener, Britten’s youthful Simple Symphony, with all the same seriousness and insight, and to similarly revelatory effect. In between, the enigmatic, restless music of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 made for quite a stark contrast. Soloist Laura van der Heijden charted a clear course between mystery and muscularity in its opening movement, and proved adept at conveying the finale’s grotesqueries, but wasn’t quite as clear at getting across the long closing movement’s overall architecture. Nonetheless, it was an unforgettable evening of incisive music making.