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Bookending a concert with Die Seejungfrau and La Mer, Klaus Mäkelä and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra offered two very different musical depictions of water and the ocean.

In the week of remembrance, Sheku Kanneh-Mason played Elgar’s Cello Concerto with a level of British reverence, while Andrew Manze concluded with some exquisite Ravel. 

Evocative Smyth and impressively detailed Strauss from Tausk, and warm Dvořák with soulful playing from Daniel Müller-Schott.

The Apollon Musagète Quartet captures the imaginative world of Panufnik, while Nurit and Pescia deliver a searingly intense Bloch Violin Sonata no. 1.  

Nestled in the alps, Musikdorf Ernen’s chamber music festival concerts recently began its annual Kammermusik Plus weeks with works that showcased some extraordinary young talents.

To see three passionate ambassadors of their instruments performing together made a sensationally satisfying evening at St Georges, Bristol.

Russian piano virtuoso Evgeny Kissen taps his Yiddish roots for an engaging concert of solo piano works by lesser-known Jewish composers and a classic Yiddish poetry recital.

For whatever reason, performers have always seemed to fear the fourth wall. They are content to let their music speak for itself, and any attempt to address the audience verbally is often considered lowbrow. This makes sense in some regards, as it facilitates the image of performer as master and lends artistic integrity to the music.

Oxford becomes much quieter outside of the university terms, and this was reflected in audience numbers for Saturday’s concert. Although the evening did not pan out as expected, those who were in the Sheldonian still came away having heard some brilliant performances.

It takes some brashness (and perhaps just a little bit of megalomania) on the part of a composer to choose Macbeth, of all of the Bard’s plays, to set to music. As if one can ignore that in the hearts and minds of most listeners, Verdi had the first, last, and only word in musical adaptations of Shakespeare’s drama of bloody intrigue.

Whoever curated last night’s BBC SO concert, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, needs a medal. Not only were the pieces united by virtue of being composed at the same time during the dark years of the First World War, but also each composer seems to find something passionately troubled to say which reflected their vintage – an unusual combination of neglected works, two of which are masterpieces.

Dreams and anxieties, religious and otherwise, were the dominant themes at Thursday night’s New York Philharmonic performance. The concert program worked backwards in time, starting with Phantasmata by composer-in-residence Christopher Rouse (completed in 1985), followed by Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo (1916), and finishing with Brahms’ Symphony no. 1 (published in 1877).

‘Schubert’s A minor’ is a prefix that rolls off the tongue of concertgoers everywhere with the comfortable familiarity of a home-cooked meal.

Since the summer of 2009, I have had the privilege to study voice under Dr. Robert Holst, assistant professor of music at Lewis University. Dr. Holst is also director of the Downers Grove Choral Society, a highly-regarded community chorus in my area.