Edinburgh International Festival: Schubert, Schumann and Strauss by Schubert, Strauss, Schumann, Ó (2017/2017), Seoltóir Thomas Dausgaard, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Turbulent drama, joyful melody and a meditation on man’s place in the cosmos: the BBC SSO, under vibrant Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard, launches its three 2017 International Festival concerts with a rich programme high on contrasts. They open with the surging emotions and poignant melodies of Schubert’s much-loved ‘Unfinished’ Symphony. Armenian-American pianist Sergei Babayan, celebrated for the sensitive insights of his playing, is the soloist in the wondrous inventions of Schumann’s exuberant Piano Concerto, brimming with unforgettable tunes. The concert concludes with Richard Strauss’s mighty, Nietzsche-inspired tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, music of enormous passion and scope – whose unforgettable opening Stanley Kubrick famously used to launch his 2001: A Space Odyssey.