Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Elim Chan by Marsalis, Schoenberg, Lutosławski, Alkaen (2024/2024), Musiikinjohto Elim Chan, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Three pioneering musical languages dramatically contrast in this expedition of the concerto form. Guided by conductor Elim Chan, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra meets two dazzling soloists. First, Alison Balsom – described as ‘simply divine’ by the Sunday Telegraph – performs the Scottish premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s ambitious Trumpet Concerto. Jazz and classical idioms abound in this wild exploration of everything the instrument can do. Then, the ‘extraordinary visionary’ (Wall Street Journal) Pierre-Laurent Aimard turns to Arnold Schoenberg's inventive Piano Concerto, which the composer wrote while in exile in the United States during World War II. The concert closes with Witold Lutosławski’s folkloric Concerto for Orchestra, which is inspired by the music traditions of the Kurpie region in Poland.