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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.

Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and a dazzling new work by Wim Henderickx at Bozar

Expert conductor Herbert Blomstedt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra bring impeccable Mendelssohn, Brahms and Stenhammar to Brussels.

Some 15 minutes long, in a slow-fast-slow form, Le Tombeau de Napoléon wraps a taxing solo part for tenor trombone in a dramatically compelling and sonically thrilling orchestral canvas.

Deeply moving and often terrifyingly dark, Gergiev and the Mariinsky took us on a devastating ride towards the abyss which eventually left me grabbing for a rope.

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

Blomstedt, in splendid form at 91, also paid tribute to his largely forgotten compatriot Franz Berwald, who died 150 years ago.

The Allegro assai fared best of all with feverishly energetic strings and an astonishingly violent fugato development.

Full of melodic treasures hidden for ages, Anton Rubinstein's The Demon answers the most demanding expectations.

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.

The poetry of Arthur Rimbaud was, to borrow a phrase from the 1960s, "way out there." His 1870s collection Les Illuminations inspired Benjamin Britten, who set a selection of the poems to music: the words are surreal, bizarre, sometimes erotic, always onomatopoeic and packed with interesting sounds.