Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Paul Rissmann

The RSNO’s Naked Classics series continues to draw sizeable crowds, and it’s not difficult to see why. A single work is dissected and then, after the interval, performed. Admirably, even the analytical first half opens with music; a passage from the piece at hand is played before the presenter takes the stage.Paul Rissmann continues to impress in this role.

Some entertainment formats seem so obviously successful and popular that you wonder why they didn't come into existence much sooner. Certainly the exploratory idea of Naked Classics has existed in the form of Radio 3's Discovering Music for many years.

If asked to single out one moment which illustrates the value of dynamic contrast in music, I might choose 'Montagues and Capulets' from Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. As a prelude to this 'Naked Classics' exploration the RSNO played a short extract of the movement.

Naked Classics is the RSNO's live equivalent of Radio 3's Discovering Music. A single work - in this case Sibelius' Symphony no. 5 - is explored in the hope of heightened enjoyment of the performance which follows. I have been a keen devotee of this format for years but had never had the opportunity to experience a live version.