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An exhilarating journey through three Russian suites with LaVerdi in Milan. 

Schumann, Goldmark and Malipiero feature in a seasonal programme in Milan. 

If the orchestra's playing was marked by poise and balance, so was the programme taken in its entirety. The buoyancy that had prevailed to now brought out the darker hues of Schubert's “Unfinished” Symphony deliciously.

La Verdi dispatched each of the works with panaché under audience favourite Oleg Caetani. There is plenty of swagger to their playing at present – a Gallic cock with plenty of feathers in its tail.

La Verdi possessed the necessary bloom to portray Scriabin's rich colour scheme under former LSO Assistant Marius Stravinsky. At times, they were irresistible.

This was raw Mahler at its most all-embracing. The musicians seemed to embrace the entire world. As an audience member made to leave the hall, Axelrod leant over the balustrade to shake his hand.

As a pianist, Mustonen failed to deliver as would have been hoped, though as a conductor his rapport with the orchestra bore delightful results.

Rota's Mysterium is emotive and direct. La Verdi demonstrated that this most human of works deserves a place on our musical maps.

Whilst tonight's performance of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony was polished and highly accomplished, it was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 2 that really quickened our pulses.

La Verdi show off their signature sound in a programme designed to display their broad resources.

The orchestra was joined by legendary Milanese conductor Aldo Ceccato who, for a man that had been celebrating his 80th birthday just two evenings earlier, possesses a remarkable vivacity.

There is not much in common between the symphonies of Schubert and Shostakovich, but tonight La Verdi drew together two more rarely heard examples of these works under a theme of “turning points”.

Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 had not been heard in Milan for 27 years. Tonight, Riccardo Chailly returned to perform the “Symphony of a Thousand” with his former band, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.

The Latin Requiem traverses a series of emotional responses to death, ranging from astonishment and dread to humility and gratitude. Verdi’s Messa da requiem contains all of these ingredients but in different proportions to many other well-known settings. Written by an agnostic, it is more earthly than spiritual in outlook, and fear and trembling predominate.

With the double bicentenary of Verdi and Wagner this year, other musical landmarks risk being eclipsed. But this October “La Verdi” commemorate the 140th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth with a series of concerts and lectures featuring all four of his piano concertos alongside works by other Russian greats.