Music review: SCO & Pekka Kuusisto, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

IT’S a thing of wonder that a concert programme themed around war and death could feel so fulfilling, even uplifting. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto had come up with a high-concept offering for his collaboration with the SCO. His applause-free first half, run straight through, felt like a playlist of short, conflict-related works, but one that was carefully and fascinatingly balanced between light and shade, chamber and orchestra pieces, with a brusque though nuanced account of Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin providing a framework on which to hang Kuusisto’s eclectic repertoire.