Edinburgh Festival tonight - Korean Broadcasting Service Symphony Orchestra, with their Finnish chief conductor Pietari Inkinen.
Firstly..... after last year's fiasco at Mahler 3/RSNO, I'm really going to have to consider if i want to keep going to the Edinburgh Festival concerts as people's behavior seems to be unbound nowadays. Someone had brought a toddler with them, and the little one engaged him/herself in conversation throughout the concert. Well, I have to say I'm sure he or she was a lovely child and never seemed unhappy or upset, and was admirably quiet 90% of the time..... but the 10% of the time they were not quiet was a serious detriment to the concert.
I mean... why bring a toddler to a classical concert ? they would have been much happier at home with a babysitter.
Anyway... first up, Dvorak Cello Concerto with Jaemin Han on the Cello. Its one of my favourites.... but this was pretty lame tbh. Jaemin Han was good, but the orchestra were underpowered and made a mess of several entries. The person sitting behind me hummed along for the slow movement tune but I silenced him with a black look. that'll teach him! After all that, I wasn't really expecting much of the 2nd half....
Tchaikovsky's 5th..... yes it was a very mainstream programme, maybe a missed opportunity for the KBS SO to bring some contemporary Korean music with them? Anyway, back to Tchaikovsky. Glad we stayed! Wow - much better, the orchestra seemed much more fluent and comfortable, very energized - for a symphony that I regard as a bit "meh" this was a very engaging performance that I very much enjoyed. So not an entirely wasted evening.
Just learned that tonight's conductor Pietari Inkinen has just finished conducting the Ring at Bayreuth this summer.
