RSNO: Beethoven and Widmann

Usher Hall, 27/2/2026

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Jörg Widmann, conductor, Veronika Eberle, Violin

Roll over Beethoven, you have been “Widmanned!” 

Our regular reviewer of the RSNO concerts Brian Bannatyne-Scott was on holiday so asked me to stand in for him for this concert. With the Beethoven violin concerto and Mendelssohn’s fifth symphony this looked like a nice concert, true there was also a modern work ‘Con Brio’ by tonight’s conductor, Jorg Widmann, but research suggested that this was the most performed modern composition of recent years so it should have something to offer. How wrong I was! This is possibly the worst concert I have attended in the Usher Hall in recent years, and I have to say the best bit of the evening was the Thai supper beforehand! 

The violinist for the Beethoven concerto was the very distinguished young German Veronika Eberle who has performed widely across the world. However her presence on Friday reflects her recent recording of the work with Simon Rattle and the LSO, with cadenza’s added by tonight’s conductor, Jörg Widmann. Widmann is undoubtedly a talented musician, a clarinet player, a conductor and a composer. He is at the forefront of modern music in Europe and in the USA, and  he clearly sees it as his mission to bring modern music to the orchestral world. Tonight he was going to bring his cadenza’s to Beethoven’s great work in order, as he is quoted in the programme notes, “to create a tonal cosmos in which Beethoven’s themes could appear in a different light” or later “in a new way with these cadenza’s as music of today.” Now traditionally violinists have used cadenzas to add little musical touches but usually in Beethoven’s style; here Widmann is intent on “modernising“ Beethoven and for me the result was raucous, grating and unpleasant, spoiling one of the most beautiful concertos in the classical world. Widmann used a three way interplay between the violinist, a double bass player and the timpani drummer, a guest musician, Emmanuel Joste, no doubt familiar with Widmann’s cadenzas. In Simon Rattle’s recording with the LSO, which is available on YouTube, the three play very close together and you can study the interaction; tonight however they were separated by the width of the concert stage so it was more difficult to watch all three at the same time, but certainly the bass player, who stepped forward from the other bass players, attacked his bass in a vigorous way which made one fear for the instrument, although I also feared for the Stradivarius that Veronika Eberle was playing as it also appeared to be subject to some violent attacks. Overall it made for the longest Beethoven concerto I have ever heard, getting on for an hour rather than the normal 42 minutes and for me the cadenzas marred the beauty of the work. It may have brought Beethoven into the modern world but many of us would prefer to leave him where he belongs. This is not a criticism of Veronika Eberle who played Beethoven’s notes beautifully and played Widmann’s cadenzas with gusto. The Usher Hall audience applauded warmly but several old music friends shared my view that it was awful and others at interval drinks found it ‘challenging’. Personally, I never want to hear it again, and as I write this review I am listening to Anne Sophie Mutter play the Beethoven without Widmann’s cadenzas, and it is lovely.

After the interval we were challenged by Widmann’s own composition ‘Con Brio’ (i.e. with vigour). As David Kettle explained in his programme notes it was commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony in 2008 to commemorate a complete cycle of Beethoven Symphonies. As David Kettle writes, “It represents a constant restless interplay between Beethoven’s musical language and Widmann’s own more contemporary sounds.” I’m listening to it again as I write this review: it’s available on YouTube or Apple Music, so don’t take my word for it - listen yourself and see if you can find anything recognisably Beethovian in there. Widmann claims there are elements from the 7th and 8th Symphonies, but without detailed knowledge of the scores I could not hear them.

Finally we got the Mendelssohn Fifth Symphony, which itself had a troubled birth, as set out in Erik Levi’s very good programme notes. Known as ‘The Reformation Symphony’ it marked Mendelssohn’s conversion to Lutheranism, after his youth in his German Jewish family, and celebrated the 350th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, one of the most important documents of the Protestant Reformation. It was originally meant to be premiered in Paris but the orchestra rejected it and when it was finally performed in Berlin in 1832 it received a tepid response. Mendelssohn himself said it should never be published but it finally was after his death in 1847. Since then it has become an accepted part of the symphony repertoire and elements of it can be found in Mendelssohn’s famous Scottish work ‘Fingal’s Cave’ and Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’.  Certainly, it was a pleasant enough conclusion to tonight’s concert, with only the occasional distraction of Widmann’s rather athletic style of conducting. He does like to jump about on the podium, although how much attention the musicians pay him I’m not sure; I found it distracting and sometimes to focus on the music I shut my eyes! The concert was well received by maybe a half-full Usher Hall, in contrast to the previous night when it was sold out for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert with Nicola Benedetti, ironically playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto!

So ended a rather long and not very satisfactory concert. Since becoming editor of the Edinburgh Music Review, ironically I tend to review far fewer concerts and fortunately I have a team of very talented writers who cover all the major musical events in Scotland, leaving me free to edit and occasionally review. My old friends whom I met last night said, “Where have you been and don’t you miss live music”? Well after last night I have to say “not always”; of course live music is always best but there is also something to be said for sitting in a comfortable chair in a warm house at home with an ad-free subscription to YouTube and a good TV and sound system. Indeed I’m beginning a regular column in the Edinburgh Music Review on what is available on YouTube. Finally a note to Brian Bannatyne-Scott, our regular RSNO reviewer “ you picked a good week to be on holiday.”