The Edinburgh Festival 1994: Under concerted attack

NOT EXACTLY undersold as a composer, Beethoven is none the less the spotlit genius of this year's festival; and if you don't thrill to the prospect of three weeks of Beethoven sonatas, string quartets, symphonies and piano concerti, the Greek islands are, I'm told, very pleasant in August. For those who stay the course, the interest will be to hear contrasted interpreters weighing into the repertory side by side. The symphonies are shared between the London Philharmonic, NDR, the Age of Enlightenment, Stavanger and Cleveland orchestras; the piano sonatas between Brendel, Richard Goode and the astonishing young Piotr Anderszewski. And the centrepiece is a Fidelio day on 17 Aug when, from 10am to 10pm, a relay team of lecturers, conductors, singers and ensembles will follow Beethoven's only opera through its stages of development, including a concert performance of the initial version, Leonore, at the Usher Hall in the afternoon. The new Scottish Opera staging of the final version rounds off the day at the Festival Theatre; the whole package, if you have the stamina, costs from pounds 40 (031-557 9655).

(Photograph omitted)