Perth Concert Hall

three stars For the first time in the long history of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the start of 2025 has seen two outfits trading under the name on tour at the same time.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra may have had two separate line-ups touring at once, but the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual Strauss-fest seemed to provide the inspiration for the programme at this concert, billed as the RSNO’s Viennese Gala.

At least, that’s what it said on the tin, and there were seven pieces by Johan Strauss II, whose bi-centenary falls this year, in the programme, and the clap-along Radetzky March by his father to conclude it.

However, this was assuredly the only Viennese concert ever to lurch from that repertoire’s best known tune, On the Beautiful Blue Danube, to Harry Lauder’s Keep Right on to the End of the Road.

The reason for that odd segue was the presence of the soloist, and presenter, of the concert, tenor Jamie MacDougall, whose dual roles both mirrored and explained the paradox at the heart of the concert: on the hand, it was good to hear some variety in the usual Viennese whirl, but it was also often very odd.

Lehar and Offenbach sat comfortably enough alongside the Strausses, but MacDougall’s choice of two songs by German film composers from between the wars, Werner Richard Heyman and Hans Mayer, which added saxophone and keyboard to the orchestra, really belonged in another programme as much as the Lauder and Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia.

The orchestra boasted enough of the RSNO we know to justify the billing, with associate leader Lena Zeliszewska as concertmaster and the first violins and cellos at the front of the stage – and the oboes further back – all familiar staff faces.

With principals from the BBC SSO and Orchestra of Scottish Opera also bolstering the band, there was no lack of quality in the ranks, but on this opening night of the tour it was fair to speculate how much rehearsal-time RSNO assistant conductor Derrick Morgan had had with his team.

The two Strauss overtures that opened each half were the orchestra’s biggest showcases, and the second of those, from the composer’s last operetta, The Goddess of Reason, was the evening’s highlight.

It was after the interval that Morgan and his musicians seemed much more comfortable together, even as they embarked on their own Byzantine musical excursion.

The RSNO’s Viennese Gala visits The Buccleuch Centre, Langholm on Wednesday, Eden Court, Inverness on Thursday and the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock on Friday.