Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Symphony no. 45 in F sharp minor "Farewell”

Five diverse pieces from Central Europe are united by humour and fine perfomances by Jovan Ilias Kadesha as soloist and director of the Manchester Camerata.

Sir Simon Rattle steers the LSO through a sequence of Haydn’s most forward-looking pieces while Denis Kozhukhin, as a late stand-in, is immense in Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto.

Manchester Camerata’s series of Mozart concertos, an ongoing theme in their 40th anniversary season, came to a close with pianist Ferenc Rados joining fellow Hungarian Gábor Takács-Nagy for a superb account of the Piano Concerto no. 15 at the Royal Northern College of Music.The broader theme of the evening, though, was movement, and two modern works began proceedings to fascinating effect.

For the few of us who chose not to spend the warm afternoon picnicking in the park, instead we enjoyed the cool art deco interior of Cardiff’s Temple of Peace while watching the sunlight streaming in through the full-length windows. The Welsh Sinfonia’s light programme was framed by two Classical symphonies and the event was preceded by free tea and cake.