Celebration is exactly the right term for this final classical concert of the 2007 Edinburgh International Festival.

There was a disappointing attendance at this unusual concert by the Gürzenich Orchestra. Advance ticket sales were so poor that the Upper Circle was closed and the ticket-holders there reseated in the Stalls.

It is to be hoped that opera companies in general do not adopt this spurious practice of billing a new production of a well-seasoned work as a World Premiere. Especially in cases like this when the extent of the new production is solely to introduce confusing non-Strauss additions to the staging.

This first of two concerts by a renowned U.S. orchestra fell somewhat short of general expectations. The programme outlined had all the signs of a showcase design, short pieces by American composers to start followed by demanding piano concerto and then a symphony.

This ill-assorted coupling of Purcell's only opera and a divertimenti by Salieri did not sit well together as a Festival double bill. There was no doubt about the merit, musical and historically, of Purcell's sadly-negelected work but there is considerable doubt about the merit of Salieri's piece.

Mention John Tavener today, and most people think of the contemporary composer with only one 'R' to his name. His near namesake, John Taverner with two 'Rs', who lived and composed for the Church of England 500 years ago, was as innovative in his day as John Tavener is now.

Carlo Gesualdo is famous, indeed notorious, for two reasons. The more musical of these is his extravagant chromatic style, as demonstrated in late-Renaissance Italian madrigals, which were roughly contemporary with those of the great Monteverdi. In fact, Gesualdo's early work is pedestrian and he only developed his experimental style at the avant-garde court of Ferrara, after that nasty business with his wife and her lover.

Once or twice in a generation music presents you with a performance that goes straight to the subliminal core of your being, where words cannot describe what it does to your emotions. And if you're lucky, everybody else feels that too in a live concert.

What makes a truly great conductor? Flawless technique for starters - expressive and communicative. Inherent musicality for sure. Passion certainly. High on the list of requirements must also be the ability to nurture understanding and trust between director and musicians.

To many choral singers, especially to those who grew up with the C20 early music revival, William Byrd's Masses for Three, Four and Five voices form the bedrock of what became the English choral tradition.

In the mediaeval church, Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary were sung or said daily or on Saturdays (which was dedicated to the Virgin) in the Lady Chapels of cathedrals and the larger parish churches. Most of the music that survives from the C13 is devoted to the Virgin, and the content of the Mass would vary according to the season of the year.

This first concert in a short series of five entitled Harmony and Humanity at Greyfriars Kirk had a most fitting subtitle: Prologue to polyphony. Its real title was Music from Eleventh Century Provence. Both titles were needed to fully describe this subtle and amazing start to what promises to be a most illuminating series.

Lindau is a picturesque south German town in the district of Bavaria at the eastern end of the Bodensee, or as it may be better known, Lake Constance. The Jugendkapelle, the Young Persons Band, is part of the Music School of Lindau.

Karis Stretton has played in several famous city churches in London and clearly enjoyed entertaining us in a significant Edinburgh church with a recital on ‘nature’s inspiration’ from Debussy, Sierrra and Scriabin and ‘for folk’ from Cardew, Rzewski and Bartok.

Expecting a programme of Buxtehude and contemporaries, for Buxtehude died three hundred years ago in 1707, we instead heard ten light and fun short organ works from composers ranging from one born in 1494 (Attaignat) to one born in 1953 (Bolting) with the main item Praeludium und Fuge e-moll from Buxetehude half way through.

The stalls in the Central Hall were full for this lunchtime concert by two of the feeder choirs for the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and what a treat it was for all those who braved the rather inclement Edinburgh weather on this dull and dreich day. There may not have been much brightness and light outside the hall, but there was certainly plenty inside it for this hour-long concert.

This was, without any doubt, one of the finest Lieder recitals I have heard in years. With such a perfect programme and performers, it is remarkable that the Queen's Hall was not quite sold out.

The centrepiece of this morning's serene and fascinating concert of consort music was John Taverner's Sanctus from the Mass called Gloria tibi Trinitas

As in previous years, the final concert in Festival of British Youth Orchestras for 2007 was given by the Edinburgh Secondary Schools Orchestra (ESSO), under the baton of its conductor for many years, Alasdair Mitchell. We are usually not disappointed with a performance from the ESSO and that was true this evening. I don't think I have heard the orchestra play so well and so consistently throughout the whole concert as I did tonight.

For their second Queen's Hall concert, Nachtmusique were joined by a guest pair of oboists - more of these later - who, like themselves, play authentic period instruments or copies thereof. A pattern is emerging for Nachtmusique's programmes: two masterpieces, the first of which may be an arrangement, enclosing two more everyday entertainment pieces - all of these being from their chosen period around the late 18th Century.