RSNO: Rachmaninov & The Mermaid Usher Edinburgh 13 February Review
RSNO Rachmaninov & The Mermaid at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight was of course being billed as a Valentine's Concert, and the orchestra are performing this work at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 14th. Tonight, however, was Friday 13th, but thankfully for us all there were no unpleasant surprises from anywhere for this performance; in fact, quite the opposite.
Despite the title of this series of concerts, love is one thing that does not run smoothly through any of these performances; there always seems to be a price to be paid for it somewhere by someone, either in the story itself, or in the real life of the composer.
This evening’s music opened with Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (first performed Moscow 16 March 1870) and the composer was not at this point in time having a happy period in his life either professionally or personally. His work was not receiving the critical or public recognition that he had hoped for (and this one was no exception), and his sexuality was causing more than a rumour or two in his personal life.
Despite all of this, Tchaikovsky somehow not only managed to distil the main elements and pure essence of Shakespeare's timeless love story into 21 minutes of music, but also created one of the most recognised love themes in music, one that is as eternal as the story itself. Along the way, for this work, Tchaikovsky also seamlessly blended a large scale tone poem with a sonata form. It is hard to believe now that people of the time had any doubts over Tchaikovsky and his ability to create wonderful music that also wrote stories too.
Following on from Tchaikovsky was another classic, Rachmaninov’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" performed on piano by Makoto Ozone. I have to admit that I know Makoto Ozone more as a jazz musician through his many works and his association with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. With the SNJO is where I last saw him perform, but Makoto is a musician and performer who does not limit himself to any one genre of music and his career as a performer of classical music is also an impressive one.
Niccolò Paganini, born on October 27, 1782 in Genoa, Italy was a virtuoso violinist who had to some people musical abilities beyond that thought capable for a human, and there were rumours that he sold his soul to the Devil to gain his extraordinary abilities. Interestingly the same rumour was told about legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnston in the 20th century. If both rumours are true then maybe the Devil is assembling over time an all-star band of musicians.
Makoto Ozone has the talent, but thankfully no such rumours about how he gained his abilities as a musician - this is simply the old way, talent and hard work. With these seemingly endless variations on a single theme, Rachmaninov has created a work that is instantly recognisable and it has become so embedded into our contemporary culture that many people who say they do not listen to classical music will recognise it. As always with his music, Makoto Ozone brought a lot of fun to this work. He was obviously enjoying himself performing tonight and that was shared with this audience who gave at the end the applause that was so deserved.
"Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" was first performed in Baltimore on 7 November 1934, and it is one of those moments when classical and jazz music touched and crossed over. Just how much they crossed over was obvious tonight with Makoto Ozone, a world class jazz and classical musician/pianist. performing it,
The last work of the evening, Zemlinsky - The Mermaid was first performed in Vienna on 25th January 1905, but for many years the work had been presumed lost, and it was not until the 1980s that audiences again heard this remarkable three movement interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's dark tale of a Mermaid, the human object of her love, and a witch who extracted a high price for her services to help the mermaid in her quest for the love of her life. This original story is of course far darker and far removed from the Disney adaptation of this story - "The Little Mermaid".
For me, Alexander von Zemlinsky is so precise with his orchestration here to tell this story, its scenes and all of its emotions, that this work can be easily interpreted as one huge tone poem full of wonder and passion. In his personal life though, Zemlinsky was having no luck with women, and his romantic relationship with his composition student Alma Schindler had been broken off. The object of her desire was fellow composer Gustav Mahler, whom she married a few months after meeting him. It was Mahler who also conducted the first performance of this work.
All the power, all the passion and emotions of these three works were brought out in their full splendour tonight by conductor Kevin John Edusei, and the RSNO orchestra.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Despite the title of this series of concerts, love is one thing that does not run smoothly through any of these performances; there always seems to be a price to be paid for it somewhere by someone, either in the story itself, or in the real life of the composer.
This evening’s music opened with Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (first performed Moscow 16 March 1870) and the composer was not at this point in time having a happy period in his life either professionally or personally. His work was not receiving the critical or public recognition that he had hoped for (and this one was no exception), and his sexuality was causing more than a rumour or two in his personal life.
Despite all of this, Tchaikovsky somehow not only managed to distil the main elements and pure essence of Shakespeare's timeless love story into 21 minutes of music, but also created one of the most recognised love themes in music, one that is as eternal as the story itself. Along the way, for this work, Tchaikovsky also seamlessly blended a large scale tone poem with a sonata form. It is hard to believe now that people of the time had any doubts over Tchaikovsky and his ability to create wonderful music that also wrote stories too.
Following on from Tchaikovsky was another classic, Rachmaninov’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" performed on piano by Makoto Ozone. I have to admit that I know Makoto Ozone more as a jazz musician through his many works and his association with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. With the SNJO is where I last saw him perform, but Makoto is a musician and performer who does not limit himself to any one genre of music and his career as a performer of classical music is also an impressive one.
Niccolò Paganini, born on October 27, 1782 in Genoa, Italy was a virtuoso violinist who had to some people musical abilities beyond that thought capable for a human, and there were rumours that he sold his soul to the Devil to gain his extraordinary abilities. Interestingly the same rumour was told about legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnston in the 20th century. If both rumours are true then maybe the Devil is assembling over time an all-star band of musicians.
Makoto Ozone has the talent, but thankfully no such rumours about how he gained his abilities as a musician - this is simply the old way, talent and hard work. With these seemingly endless variations on a single theme, Rachmaninov has created a work that is instantly recognisable and it has become so embedded into our contemporary culture that many people who say they do not listen to classical music will recognise it. As always with his music, Makoto Ozone brought a lot of fun to this work. He was obviously enjoying himself performing tonight and that was shared with this audience who gave at the end the applause that was so deserved.
"Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" was first performed in Baltimore on 7 November 1934, and it is one of those moments when classical and jazz music touched and crossed over. Just how much they crossed over was obvious tonight with Makoto Ozone, a world class jazz and classical musician/pianist. performing it,
The last work of the evening, Zemlinsky - The Mermaid was first performed in Vienna on 25th January 1905, but for many years the work had been presumed lost, and it was not until the 1980s that audiences again heard this remarkable three movement interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's dark tale of a Mermaid, the human object of her love, and a witch who extracted a high price for her services to help the mermaid in her quest for the love of her life. This original story is of course far darker and far removed from the Disney adaptation of this story - "The Little Mermaid".
For me, Alexander von Zemlinsky is so precise with his orchestration here to tell this story, its scenes and all of its emotions, that this work can be easily interpreted as one huge tone poem full of wonder and passion. In his personal life though, Zemlinsky was having no luck with women, and his romantic relationship with his composition student Alma Schindler had been broken off. The object of her desire was fellow composer Gustav Mahler, whom she married a few months after meeting him. It was Mahler who also conducted the first performance of this work.
All the power, all the passion and emotions of these three works were brought out in their full splendour tonight by conductor Kevin John Edusei, and the RSNO orchestra.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Please note that unless requested by performers/pr/venues this website no longer uses the "star rating" system on reviews.