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A polished and deeply moving Beethoven Violin Concerto from Nikolaj Znaider was complemented by exquisite and vibrant performances of Max Reger and Richard Strauss from the Staatskapelle Dresden.

For the centennial celebration of Max Reger’s death, American pianist Peter Serkin and Herbert Blomstedt travelled to Saxony, the composer’s birthplace, touring orchestras with his Piano Concerto in F minor.

In a romantic, colourful jaunt which led from The Isle of the Dead to The Great Gate of Kiev, Gustavo Dudamel and the Vienna Philharmonic presented an easy to love programme focussed on late-romantic masters who found musical inspiration in artistic masterpieces.

The concert opened with BBC newsreader Julia Somerville, summarising news from the year 1915 at an old-fashioned broadcasting desk complete with microphone. It was informative, and set the scene for this recital, one in a series of ‘time capsule’ concerts, solely featuring music composed in 1915 – including two of Debussy’s last chamber pieces.

For the second concert of its 2011-12 series, the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth featured pianist Di Wu and flutist Nadine Asin in works by J.S. Bach, Max Reger, Haydn and Shostakovich. Although one work didn’t include piano (Reger) and the piano part to another was of secondary importance (Bach), Ms. Wu was billed as the primary guest artist.

The second of this year’s Proms organ recitals was given by Thierry Escaich, the organist of St-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, a performer continuing the centuries-long tradition of Parisian organist composers whose work is grounded in improvisation.