Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Symphony no. 9 in E flat major, Op.70

After a Rachmaninov concerto that resembles a harangue, an uneven Toronto Symphony programme comes into focus with a sharply characterised Shostakovich Ninth.

Prokofiev opens Seong-Jin Cho’s LSO Artist Portrait series, sandwiches between symphonies by Shostakovich and Beethoven. 

The CBSO’s matinee, conducted by Fabien Gabel, juxtaposes cheerful Mozart and an unpredictable new concerto from Mark Simpson with a polarised account of Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony. 

Conductor Christian Reif and violin soloist Randall Goosby together make highly satisfying debuts with the orchestra in a program comprising drastic juxtapositions.

Haydn holds his own between Stravinsky and Shostakovich, thanks to an impassioned performance by Li-Wei Qin with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. 

Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Phil excel in Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony and give an atmospheric reading of the Sea Interludes by Britten, but cellist Jan Vogler struggles to settle in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. 

Valeriy Sokolov explores the loneliness of the long-distance runner in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, while the formidable artistic partnership of Nicholas Collon and Aurora Orchestra come up trumps in Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony.

An uncharacteristically weak showing by Andris Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic took the air out of an otherwise impressive year for the festival.

Anja Bihlmaier presents the scintillating Suite by Galina Ustvolskaya, an unsettling Shostakovich 9, which finds comedy and tragedy side by side, and then Dvořák’s heart-warming Cello Concerto with Leonard Elschenbroich.

The rising Icelandic piano star made his Proms debut alongside conductor Paavo Järvi and London's Philharmonia Orchestra, in a programme that seamlessly shifted between Classical, Baroque and Modern styles.

Online concert organisers need to stage their events more successfully than what was on offer here from Bournemouth. Schubert, Lyadov and Shostakovich all wrote memorable pieces. Nothing much memorable about these performances though.

Saraste’s mastery in Sibelius is hardly a surprise, and neither is the calibre of the orchestra Sibelius himself often visited to conduct.

All the light, tuneful melodies and tuttis of the Ninth Symphony are still somehow Shostakovich, but a Shostakovich during a rare period where he seems to be taking antidepressants.

Shostakovich, combined with witty Prokofiev, warm and expressive Mozart and atmospheric Mussorgsky from Noseda and the LSO at the Barbican.

Shelley and the RPO make sense of Shostakovich with lush Glazunov, tight Borodin and dazzling Prokofiev with Kian Soltani.

The HK Phil display virtuosic brilliance in an energetic rendition of Shostakovich’s witty Symphony no. 9 under Jaap van Zweden

Alina Pogostkina and the Belgrade Philharmonic strings shone in Peteris Vasks' atmospheric Distant Light while Fabrice Bollon entertained with Shostakovich's most exuberant symphony.

Three works written in the turbulent years after the end of World War 2 were featured in this dynamic concert with the BBCSO under the baton of Sakari Oramo.

A remarkable feat of memorisation – a whole orchestra and no music! – made for an illuminating and exciting introduction to the Soviet composer's “victory” symphony.

The Royal Northern Sinfonia and Olli Mustonen push Shostakovich to the brink of insanity, and suprise with Mozart's 'Coronation' Concerto.

Dickensian good cheer and humour make for a remarkably satisfying performance from Oue, Fray and the NSO.

Sublime and satirical Russian music served to an appreciative but less than capacity audience at the Anvil. 

Continuing their Shostakovich cycle, the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev brought the Fourth and Ninth Symphonies to the Salle Pleyel, as well as the Concerto for Piano and Trumpet, with pianist Daniil Trifonov.

It’s a slightly topsy-turvy world when a Shostakovich symphony lightens the mood and sends you home grinning, and when a work by Mahler is a filler rather than the main event.

“Royal Albert Hall / Barbican / Usher Hall (delete as necessary) sold out for Sunday morning concert.” How likely is this headline in response to a normal, mid-season concert in Britain? For Hamburg, it is perfectly normal, and the crowds that thronged the Laeiszhalle, young and old, chic and casual, were not to be disappointed.

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra presented a Russian program with a twist; “A Russian Flirt with Haydn”. All four works and three composers that graced the stage were influenced by Haydn, most obviously Schnittke and his Moz-Art à la Haydn. The music worked well together, though I would suspect that this is more due to the Russian background than Haydn’s influence.

Nikolaj Znaider concluded the Hallé Beethoven cycle in emphatic fashion, preceding the Choral Symphony with another ninth symphony, that of Shostakovich. The football-style roar from the sell-out audience at the end of the evening was a good indicator of the quality of the concert.

James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto was first performed in 2010, but this afternoon, at the Dutch premiere, was the first time he conducted it. It’s quite an extraordinary piece, so full of ideas that you might wonder if he couldn’t have written two concertos instead of just the one. But when it comes to MacMillan, this potential overload of ideas actually works really well.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra opened their latest series on Thursday with works by John Luther Adams, Schubert, Richard Strauss, and Shostakovich. The German baritone Matthias Goerne joined the DSO and Artistic Director Jaap van Zweden for a performance that was moving and powerful enough to far outshine a couple of puzzling managerial decisions.

Sous la direction d'Andris Nelsons, la phalange viennoise impressionne dans Chostakovitch et séduit dans Dvořák, dont la Symphonie n° 6 est sublime de douceur et de tendresse.

Die Philharmoniker zeigten einmal mehr ihre von Schostakowitsch gepriesene „glänzende Orchesterkultur”.

Tugan Sokhiev kehrt mit Tschaikowskys Francesca da Rimini und Schostakowitschs Neunter Symphonie nach Berlin zurück.

El pianista polaco polaco Rafał Blechacz aborda, junto al director Víctor Pablo Pérez y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, el Concierto para piano número 1 de Chopin.

Vor der neuerlichen Schließung des Hauses schwelgen die Philharmoniker noch einmal in musikalischen Erinnerungen.

La Sinfónica de Tenerife, dirigida por su principal director invitado, Víctor Pablo Pérez, ofreció un programa titulado “Shostakovich provocando", que tuvo como clímax la Novena sinfonía del compositor soviético.

Mettre ensemble, faire avancer la musique, modeler les phrases, les nuances, donner les départs sans jamais s'interposer ni entre le public et les musiciens ni entre eux et la musique : voilà la leçon de direction donnée par Neeme Jarvi.

Après avoir ouvert le festival Piano aux Jacobins, la « dernière grande dame de l’école soviétique »  retrouvait Tugan Sokhiev pour le lancement de la saison de l’ONCT à la Halle aux Grains.

El CNDM presentó la cuarta edición de ¡Solo Música! Cinco orquestas dieron vida a las "Nueve Novenas" y Víctor Pablo Pérez acometió la titánica labor de dirigirlas todas. Al piano se presentaron las Sinfonías de Beethoven en transcripción de Liszt y se cerró un día de música para todos con fuegos articiales y música de Handel.

Le chef Rozhdestvensky annonçant au dernier moment qu'il n'est plus en mesure de diriger l'orchestre, il est remplacé in extremis par Mikhail Pletnev dans les symphonies, et par le premier violon Alexey Bruni dans le Concerto de Scriabine. S'il faut être indulgent dans la laborieuse première partie, la Symphonie n°9 de Chostakovitch est pleine de verve, ce qui est remarquable dans de telles conditions. 

Pas même la trentaine et déjà touche-à-tout ! D’aucuns auront été étonnés par la mise en regard, plus ou moins heureuse, de Bernstein avec Chostakovitch. Mais un concert qui fait éprouver les renversantes sonorités qu’on peut extraire du Philhar’...

David Guerrier, magistral au Bâtiment des Forces Motrices de Genève, a suscité l'enthousiasme grâce à son interprétation du concerto de Chostakovitch. Malheureusement, la structure du programme n'a pas été en faveur de Haydn.