Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt*!

On Friday, as Nigel Farage came to Edinburgh to boost his party’s candidature for a Scottish Euro seat, and to tell us how we’d be better off outwith the European Union, in Glasgow a very different approach to things European was being promulgated by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and its Chorus.

In an inspired piece of programming, the SCO’s season finale was Beethoven's 9 Symphony (the Choral). Its theme of universal brotherhood, joy and fellowship sent out a much more positive message than the isolationism preached by Farage and many other narrow separatists. (*The title of this piece is part of Schiller's Ode to Joy, the poem that provides the lyrics for the Symphony. It translates as 'This kiss to the whole world'.)

Emmanuel Krivine

The internationalism was further enhanced by the announcement prior to the performance that French conductor Emmanuel Krivine has been appointed the SCO’s Principal Guest Conductor. He celebrated by leading the Orchestra and Chorus through a lively and animated performance – both his feet leaving the podium on at least one occasion!

The fact that two weeks prior to the Euro election the SCO chose the European anthem to play was not lost on people in Glasgow – the fact that it was delivered by a French Conductor, and Scottish orchestra and German soloists was also a positive note!

The large audience gave a massively enthusiastic reception to what was an excellent interpretation of a classic piece. I know which city I preferred to be in last Friday!

Came for the Adams, left with the Shostakovich!

A huge crowd at Glasgow's City Halls last night, experienced sublime artistry. A performance of a piece of music took flight, in a way that only happens very rarely. The stage for this event was a BBC SSO concert simultaneously broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The artist was Canadian violinist James Ehnes. His playing of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto took the roof off the City Halls.

Inspired by the Hall, which he admitted was a favourite, and by the piece which had been written while Shostakovich was under severe political pressure, Ehnes gave us all a performance that one sees few times in a lifetime. His playing of the final Burlesque movement, was particularly inspired and had even the orchestra applauding enthusiastically.

Indeed, it eclipsed the rest of the programme - a pity in some ways, as the first piece, Beethoven's 4th Symphony, is already too little known, and the John Adams headliner, City Noir both deserved good reviews - in which some of the magic rubbed off on the orchestra. Ehnes has worked with this orchestra, and with Donald Runnicles a number of times previously. Glasgow will be looking forward to the next occasion.

While it would be difficult to recapture the full experience of the live performance, it is available on BBC iplayer for the next seven days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03kpdh8