Dept. Q, Netflix review - Danish crime thriller finds a new home in Edinburgh

★★★ DEPT Q, NETFLIX Danish crime thriller finds a new home in Edinburgh

Matthew Goode stars as antisocial detective Carl Morck

Netflix’s new detective-noir is a somewhat cosmopolitan beast. It’s written and directed by an American, Scott Frank, derived from a novel, Mercy, by the Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, and set in Edinburgh (as well as other flavourful Scottish locations). There are plenty of Scots in the cast too, although it’s the very English Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, The Crown etc) who takes the lead role of DCI Carl Morck.

St Matthew Passion, Dunedin Consort, Butt, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - life, meaning and depth

Annual Scottish airing is crowned by grounded conducting and Ashley Riches’ Christ

I was in Germany last week, and nearly every town I went to was advertising a St Matthew or a St John Passion taking place in the week up to Easter. It says something about how deeply engrained Bach’s Passion settings are in German culture that they can muster up so many performances while, in most years, we in Scotland get only one for the whole country.

Naumov, SCO, Egarr, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - orchestral magic rescues some punishing music

Hard-driven Beethoven, monotonous Eötvös, some light from Kernis

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has had to put up with its fair share of artist cancellations over the last month, and the ensuing games of musical chairs led to the somewhat implausible scenario of this concert, where Richard Egarr, a conductor more closely associated with Bach and Handel, conducted the UK premiere of a work by Peter Eötvös, that darling of the avant-garde.

Nakariakov, SCO, Emelyanychev, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - a frenzied feast of contemporary classics

★★★★ NAKARIAKOV, SCO, EMELYANYCHEV, EDINBURGH Dazzling trumpet virtuosity

'New Dimensions' concerts continue to flourish

What a delight to see an almost full Queen’s Hall for a programme solely of contemporary music. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s New Dimensions series, launched this season, sees a host of newer classical works performed and appears to be drawing in regular audience members as well as a younger crowd.

Verdi's Requiem / Capriccio, Edinburgh International Festival 2024 review - words, music, judgement

★★★ VERDI'S REQUIEM / CAPRICCIO, EIF Words, music, judgment

Philharmonia Orchestra closes the festival with grandeur and intimacy

The Philharmonia’s residency was the centrepiece of the Edinburgh International Festival’s final weekend, and it’s right that the orchestra should be the focus because they were consistently the finest thing about both their Verdi Requiem and their concert performance of Richard Strauss’ last opera Capriccio.

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