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Handel's oratorio Susanna is often considered to be less than consistently dramatic and this performance in the Halle Handel Festival did little to dispel that view.

Heinz Holliger conducted a fine interpretation of Schubert's Ninth, but it was Stephen Hough's performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 that really made the evening.

Hope can spin high-lying musical phrases with a sweetness and suspension that few of his contemporaries can match.

The final stop on the Basel Chamber Orchestra's Australian tour at the Sydney Opera House saw Sol Gabetta in fine fettle as soloist in Cello Concertos by Saint-Saëns and the Latvian Vasks.

It was an evening for showing off. The Basel Chamber Orchestra (being Bartoli and Scholl’s frequent partners) performed Bizet and Rameau, plus a Mozart concerto with conductor Christian Zacharias directing from the piano. 

Rolando Villazón and kammerorchesterbasel failed to impress in a programme of Mozart's concert arias for tenor.

The buzz in the Concertgebouw was palpable for many minutes before the entrance of Cecilia Bartoli. It was one of those occasions when even an audience member who knew nothing of the artists could hardly have failed to anticipate something special. She did not disappoint.