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While Stravinsky and Britten tuck away their sentiments and melodies, the debate about Shostakovich’s Fifth seems finally to be settled.

The impressive Amsterdam Sinfonietta showed lucidity and depth in Britten and Shostakovich, with tenor Ilker Arcayürek and horn player Felix Klieser adding much to the quality.

The Bergen Phil and the Edvard Grieg Choir trace music from Elizabethan themes to 20th century works on them, culminating in Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.

I often think you can tell the quality of an orchestra by looking at the back desks of its string sections, and the players on the fringes of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic play with as much vigour as those at the front; their joy in the music is both visible and audible. The result is a strong and complex string sound, well blended, but with a coolness you don’t get from most German orchestras.

Tonight’s programme was a feast of British music, with a Britten flavour, played by the strings of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, joined by virtuosic viola player Lawrence Power, whose prowess is bringing this much-neglected solo instrument into its own.We started with the beautiful Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra, written by Edward Elgar in 1905.