RSNO Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Usher Hall Edinburgh 5th December 2025 Review
RSNO Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Symphony No 1 at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight was, judging by the audience responses, a perfect closing concert in this year’s classical music programme.
The first part of this evening's programme of music was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major with soloist Nemanja Radulović and this was in every sense of the word a "performance".
Tchaikovsky's violin concerto deserves its place as one of the world's most popular violin concertos for many reasons. Always, for me, it is that first movement with its repeating theme that so many people probably know, but can never place, as it has been used so many times over the years in films, television and other music. This is simply timeless music that really gives few clues that it was originally performed in 1881.
There is really nothing else in Tchaikovsky's music that sounds like this violin concerto. One reason may be that he had a well documented difficult time when writing for the violin. It was, it seems, not his favourite instrument. How then did he ever compose a work of this beauty and subtlety? I suspect, although he could never publicly admit to it during his lifetime, that this concerto is in part at least a love song to his probable one-time lover, violinist Yosif Kotek (who later refused to perform it).
Performing this violin concerto has become almost a rite of passage for any aspiring violinist and it has many traps for the unprepared, but in the hands of someone like Nemanja Radulović something special, a little bit of magic can happen. With a performer like Nemanja Radulović, someone who is more of a conduit for the music, room has to be given for their interpretation of the work, and the applause and standing ovation from many people at the end of his performance said everything tonight.
For me, this music is full of power, colour and emotion, but it is also in so many places what woud later come to be called gypsy jazz.
The second part of tonight's music was Mahler's monumental Symphony No 1 In D Major Titan. With four movements and a performance time of some 55 minutes, this is a work that offered the RSNO and conductor (for both works) Giedrė Šlekytė many opportunities to deliver their own distinctive interpretations.
There is so much in this symphony, and although it does in part utilise other works from Mahler, here everything so often becomes a symphonic poem. From the sheer power of the elements of nature to funeral marches and absolute silence, Mahler created a work that again has no fixed point in time. It is simply there, fresh and providing new surprises every time that it is performed. It is always worth noting too that Mahler was not yet 30 years old when this work was first performed in 1889 (born 1860).
Review by Tom King (c) 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com.
The first part of this evening's programme of music was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major with soloist Nemanja Radulović and this was in every sense of the word a "performance".
Tchaikovsky's violin concerto deserves its place as one of the world's most popular violin concertos for many reasons. Always, for me, it is that first movement with its repeating theme that so many people probably know, but can never place, as it has been used so many times over the years in films, television and other music. This is simply timeless music that really gives few clues that it was originally performed in 1881.
There is really nothing else in Tchaikovsky's music that sounds like this violin concerto. One reason may be that he had a well documented difficult time when writing for the violin. It was, it seems, not his favourite instrument. How then did he ever compose a work of this beauty and subtlety? I suspect, although he could never publicly admit to it during his lifetime, that this concerto is in part at least a love song to his probable one-time lover, violinist Yosif Kotek (who later refused to perform it).
Performing this violin concerto has become almost a rite of passage for any aspiring violinist and it has many traps for the unprepared, but in the hands of someone like Nemanja Radulović something special, a little bit of magic can happen. With a performer like Nemanja Radulović, someone who is more of a conduit for the music, room has to be given for their interpretation of the work, and the applause and standing ovation from many people at the end of his performance said everything tonight.
For me, this music is full of power, colour and emotion, but it is also in so many places what woud later come to be called gypsy jazz.
The second part of tonight's music was Mahler's monumental Symphony No 1 In D Major Titan. With four movements and a performance time of some 55 minutes, this is a work that offered the RSNO and conductor (for both works) Giedrė Šlekytė many opportunities to deliver their own distinctive interpretations.
There is so much in this symphony, and although it does in part utilise other works from Mahler, here everything so often becomes a symphonic poem. From the sheer power of the elements of nature to funeral marches and absolute silence, Mahler created a work that again has no fixed point in time. It is simply there, fresh and providing new surprises every time that it is performed. It is always worth noting too that Mahler was not yet 30 years old when this work was first performed in 1889 (born 1860).
Review by Tom King (c) 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com.
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