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A Perfect Nightcap
Every night through the Festival there was the chance to see some innovative and exciting drama, dance and music performances at 10.30pm. The perfect nightcap. Every seat in the Usher Hall (pictured here) was priced at just £5 (sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland) to allow everyone the opportunity to attend. Cuban music to a one-woman drama from Beirut, a concert by 150 saxophonists, and a performance of Argentinean Tangos, there was certainly something different on offer.
The final night, Saturday 4 September offered a spectacular Stravinsky double bill - Concerto for Two Pianos and The Rite of Spring (in a version for two pianos). Simon Crawford Philips and Philip Moore were the two pianists. The Usher Hall stage looked superb with the two gleaming black grand pianos facing each other. The audience waited in eager anticipation.
Stravinsky is said to have written the Concerto to help his son break into the concert scene. Father and son performed it first in 1935 in Paris. It's a rollercoaster ride and the two pianists give it their all with shifts in mood and tempo, colour and rhythm.
Almost no musical work has had such a powerful influence or evoked as much controversy as Igor Stravinsky's ballet score "The Rite of Spring" in collaboration with Serge Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes. First performed in 1913, it immediately caused a riot due to its scenes of pagan sacrifice, extraordinary costumes and choreography. Paris was not yet ready for such modernity and unconventionality.
Two pianos cannot attempt to create the intensity of a full orchestral performance but this was as thrilling as anyone could have wished, a riot of rhythm and strumming keys dispatched with a heady mixture of virtuosity and controlled brashness. As a duet it was breathtaking and sent a tingle of adrenalin up and down the spine. Familiar as it may be, The Rite of Spring will never lose the power of its musical force. An electrifying double act performed with energy and passion by these two young talented musicians.
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