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Editor Ben Willis almost convinced me that two grown men could fit inside grandfather clocks

Guest conductor Charles Dutoit returned to Los Angeles for a program devoted to one of the composers he is most closely associated with. 

In the nearby city of Winterthur, Zurich’s fine International Opera Studio (IOS) recently premiered two short operas by Maurice Ravel, a flashy L’Heure espagnole and a lyrical L’Enfant et les sortilèges.

Cologne Opera's staging of Ravel's two comedies needed a stronger directorial response to the performance space, but the musical rewards compensated.

Sultry Spanish rhythms and bawdy humour are counterbalanced by Gallic charm in the return to Glyndebourne of Laurent Pelly’s productions of L’Heure espagnole and L’Enfant et les sortilèges. Danielle de Niese joined a largely Francophone cast to ensure this joyous revival fizzed.

Josep Pons strode purposefully onto the Barbican stage to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony. The first movement opened by way of an Adagio laden with a suitable sense of portent, the layers of writing for the strings being clearly articulated to bring this out.