The opening concert of the 25th Edinburgh International Festival went very well, loud, unsubtle, exciting, hot. I cannot honestly say that the Scottish National Orchestra remained strangers to occasional lethargy, or that the Edinburgh Festival Chorus has yet learned a wide range of colour (wide range of volume is a different matter). But the total ensemble was a credit to Scotland, not least because the Usher Hall remains Scotland’s premier concert hall. (Review by Peter Williams.)