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Antony Hermus searches for menace and intrigue in the BNO's programme in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. 

Roberto González-Monjas conducts the Belgian National Orchestra, joined by Paul Lewis, in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

Stanislav Kochanovsky, Nikolai Lugansky and the Belgian National Orchestra impress with an all-Russian triple bill.

Think of an exhilarating journey animated by an expert guide who lives and enjoys every moment, yet makes you believe he is discovering it with you and isn’t afraid to tease you with some daredevil steps off the beaten track.

Fiery Prokofiev but lacklustre Britten with the National Orchestra of Belgium.

Mismatching between programme and performers resulted in a disappointing evening of operatic all-time favourites.

The world première of Giya Kancheli’s Nu.Mu.Zu is the blow-your-socks-off highlight of an evening that includes colourful playing of Falla and Strauss.

It can be a strange experience to listen to Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no. 2 without the visuals of Celia Johnson’s doe-eyed sadness and Trevor Howard’s tortured half-smile to go with it, so synonymous is the work with Brief Encounter, Noël Coward’s celebrated paean to 1940s English morality and thwarted love.

Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts occupies the site where once stood the Pensionnat Héger, the school where Charlotte and Emily Brontë lived during their sojourn in the Belgian capital – an appropriate setting, as it is not difficult to imagine Bruckner’s mighty Fourth Symphony underscoring one of the sisters’ Gothic tales of unrequited love.