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The bond between Dohnányi and his old orchestra remains strong. 

Sensational playing from the Philharmonia ended a superb season at the Royal Festival Hall, and allowed a brief escape from the troubles of our times.

Christoph von Dohnányi conducted the CSO in a pair of Mozart symphonies along with a Beethoven piano concerto, the latter with Martin Helmchen in an impressive CSO debut.

Both guest artists of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s concerts this week appeared in Australia for the first time: the octogenarian Christoph von Dohnányi and the versatile violinist, less than half his age, Carolin Widmann. The great German conductor must feel a certain pride in his ancestry, as he kept the Hungarian spelling of his surname.

Smetana’s Bartered Bride overture set the stage for an intriguing new concerto by Richard Sortomme for two violas, followed by Schubert’s “Great” C major symphony.

Dohnányi offers hugely satisfying interpretations of varied programme at the Southbank Centre with the Philharmonia and Carolin Widmann.

The Philharmonia Orchestra celebrated its 70th birthday with a gala comprising Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, conducted by the orchestra's Honorary Conductor for Life, Christoph von Dohnányi

Dohnányi and the Philharmonia produce rousing Beethoven and Bartók with clarity and bite. Steinbacher and Power present different approaches to Mozart in a spirited and flawless performance.

The Philharmonia, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Christoph von Dohnányi explore swan songs of Richard Strauss, in his 150th anniversary this week, and Bruckner at the Royal Festival Hall. 

Audience members were gifted with a rare treat Saturday night when Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Laureate Christoph von Dohnányi appeared as guest conductor with the San Diego Symphony.

The Cleveland Orchestra's former Music Director, Christoph von Dohnányi, returned to lead radiant performances of two of Schumann's symphonies. 

Christoph von Dohnányi yields to the Romanticism of Ein Heldenleben after a delicate, ornate rendering of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no.1 from Martin Helmchen.

Christoph von Dohnányi was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and to celebrate he led some of the Academy's students in a performance of Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.

Christoph von Dohnányi was Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1984 to 2002 and now holds the title Music Director Laureate. He paid a rare return visit to Severance Hall this weekend to conduct works by Hans Werner Henze and Gustav Mahler, composers with whom Dohnányi is closely associated.

Mozart finished the Piano Concerto no. 27 in January 1791, the year he was to die. His music had fallen out of favour in Vienna, he was very short of funds, and he and his wife had been repeatedly unwell over the previous years.

There was a definite buzz about London’s Southbank Centre on the evening of 16th February, for this was the night of the second concert in the Philharmonia Orchestra’s ‘The Still Point of the Turning World’ series, which began last month to huge critical acclaim (see my review).

Following their acclaimed 'Bartók: Infernal Dance' series, the Philharmonia moved on Thursday to another of the twentieth century’s great composers: Richard Strauss. Strauss’s youthful tone poems, Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche were contrasted with his gloriously autumnal Four Last Songs, with Mozart’s 25th Symphony serving as a rather unexpected companion.