SCO, Joseph Swensen & Geneva Lewis, Edinburgh review: 'immensely powerful'

It’s not every concert that you get told about the encore before the music has even started. But there was a reason, conductor Joseph Swensen explained. Sibelius’s Symphony No. 6 was sad from start to finish, so he just couldn’t send us back out into the world with it at the end of the evening. Better to ease us back into reality with a lighter, slightly less sad piece – Sibelius’s Valse triste.

That was the concert’s second half sorted out. And with that done, Swensen launched into a vivid, vibrant opening with a brittle and superbly chiselled Concerto for String Orchestra by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, all furious figurations and clipped rhythmic intensity, showcasing the drive and passion of the SCO strings.

If you were after passion, however, young Kiwi/US violinist Geneva Lewis delivered it in spades in her immensely powerful Sibelius Violin Concerto. It was hard to believe it’s the first time she’s performed the work: it bristled with conviction and fresh insights, but managed to remain light on its feet and never less than graceful – even in the apparently carefree finale, which roared to a blustery close.

Lewis is clearly a musician to watch: her technique was immaculate, her playing strongly defined and spotlessly clean, and more importantly, her musical insights were profound and deeply considered. It was a gripping, very moving account, one that dared to be nimble and even elegant, but was all the more immediate and memorable for that.

And Swensen’s sad Sibelius Sixth? After the wound-spring intensity of the Concerto, the concert’s second half felt a little underpowered, and a little unsettled – as if Swensen might even have been reluctant to indulge his emotional perspectives on the piece. His closing Valse triste, however, was ghostly and evocative, rhythms pulled around shamelessly for maximum heartstring-tugging, and it showed off the SCO players’ versatility splendidly.