Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Symphony no. 3 in A minor, "Scottish", Op.56

Aurel Dawidziuk and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra explore darkness and light, although the drama does not always bringing the audience to the edge of its collective seat. 

Nil Venditti arrives like a small, joyful bomb at The Glasshouse and lights up a familiar Mendelssohn symphony with new insights.

Two Camille’s anchor the first half of Samy Rachid’s Tanglewood program: Saint-Saëns and Pépin. 

Championing British musicm the Ulster Orchestra also performs a seldom heard work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. 

Christian Thielemann conducts bracing accounts of Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Strauss' Ein Heldenleben in the Concertgebouw's fabled acoustic. 

Series of a composer's relatively neglected symphonies, or other genre, face one key test. Do the works emerge with greater stature than before?

A Tan Dun trombone concerto and a Joel Thompson world premiere combine varied influences in novel combinations, along with a lackluster Mendelssohn symphony.

Ponomarchuk and the LPO raise the spirits in Felix Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony after an underwhelming first half at the Brighton Dome. 

Joshua Bell directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in lively, well-crafted performances of Prokofiev and Mendelssohn in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. 

Iván Fischer brings his Budapest band to the BBC Proms in an evening of many surprises, with a convincing Schumann Piano Concerto from Sir András Schiff.

Guest conductor Matthias Pintscher pairs Webern's "idyll for large orchestra" with Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto, featuring an elegant Philippe Tondre as soloist.

Garrick Ohlsson returns to the scene of earlier triumphs for breathtaking Brahms with Emmanuel Villaume and PKF – Prague Philharmonia.

Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall radiates with an evening of persuasive interpretations from violinist and conductor Julian Rachlin. 

The chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker challenges his audience with a pairing of disparate symphonies by Mendelssohn and Shostakovich. Not something you encounter every day.

Alpesh Chauhan and the BBCSO give a finely judged “Scottish” Symphony, Timothy Ridout plays Sally Beamish's haunting Under the Wing of the Rock and a riotous Orkney Wedding with Sunrise concludes a celebration of Scotland. 

Two symphonies composed in 1842 were an interesting programming premise but the execution was something of a letdown, with musical subtlety in short supply.

The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra reopened its doors to audiences with majestic Mendelssohn.

The Gewandhausorchester lends its distinctive voice to Mahler, Schumann, Wagner, and Mendelssohn in its second solo Leipzig Week program

A rare Bach devotee among today's immensely talented crop of under-thirty pianists, Beatrice Rana interpreted both concertos with great incisiveness.

Nicholas Collon decides that Mendelssohn is really a very revolutionary composer, while Amy Dickson's saxophone and Ronald Brautigam in Mozart provide vibrant contrasts.

Fine performances of music associated with Queen Victoria, with a royal novelty thrown in to complete a programme marked by commitment and vigour. 

Jan Latham-Koenig conducting the Flanders Symphony Orchestra reveals the drama and Romantic heart in Mendelssohn's Third Symphony, while Filippo Gorini chooses a classical approach to Beethoven.

An energetic performance from the Kansas City Symphony with Alessio Bax and David Lockington.

Herbert Blomstedt returns to Cleveland in authoritative performances of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” and Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” symphonies.

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

Scotch snap aplenty in evening of “Scottish Fantasy” with Hong Kong Philharmonic. 

With Andris Nelsons about to debut as Kapellmeister at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, a collaboration with his Boston Symphony was inaugurated in style. 

We were drenched in all sorts of dreams about Scotland as the Philadelphia Orchetra celebrated the country in their British Isles Festival

One had the opportunity to see The Cleveland Orchestra function as a true chamber ensemble without conductor as a program of Vivaldi, Haydn and Mendelssohn was led by concertmaster William Preucil.

Violinist Veronika Eberle has a successful San Francisco debut with the tricky Schumann concerto while the SF Symphony sounds somewhat limp under Robert Abbado with Busoni's Turandot and Mendelssohn's Scottish. 

The Philadelphia connection continues in Montreal with Kensho Watanabe leading the Orchestre Métropolitain in an all-Mendelssohn program.

Callum Smart, playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor, and conductor Matthew Halls made very successful debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at a packed Cheltenham Town Hall.

Guest conductor Nicholas McGegan also led pleasing performances of Haydn’s Symphony no. 99 and Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony. 

The Manchester Camerata under Gábor Takács-Nagy with violinist Jennifer Pike played three English works and Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony.

A truly revelatory performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto, with freshly bold and uncluttered readings of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Scottish Symphony from András Schiff and the OAE.

Colin Currie played with passion and verve, but James MacMillan's new Percussion Concerto was a disappointment.

Coupled with its exquisite landscape, the mystery and legend that permeate Scotland’s atmosphere and history have inspired poets, artists and composers to capture its magic and distinctive folklore in evocative works of art. 

An evening of delights and bonuses with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Nareh Arghamanyan.

Sunshine bursts forth as Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, featuring pianist Nikolai Lugansky, in a Sunday matinée concert of Beethoven and Mendelssohn at the Southbank Centre.

Manchester favourite Nobuyuki Tsujii made a welcome return to the BBC Philharmonic with Grieg’s popular Piano Concerto, followed by a thrilling performance of Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, conducted by Juanjo Mena. The concert began, though, with a world première. Emily Howard was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to write her new work, Axon, for the BBC Philharmonic.

When a conductor decides to lead a performance without a score, it really means two things. One is obvious: a deep and intimate familiarity with the music. Less obvious, though, is the implication of trust in the musicians of the ensemble. On Friday, young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado delivered a spectacular interpretation of Mendelssohn’s Symphony no.

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s “Bach to the Future” promised to be a highlight of their season this year. This orchestra has repeatedly shown its mettle in 20th-century repertoire and had taken part in an absolutely stunning B minor Mass last year. And how appropriate to have a young Scotsman conducting Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony.

Although Mendelssohn and Elgar lived in different eras and composed in very different styles, a common thread runs through their works featured in Hong Kong Philharmonic’s performance on Saturday – all of them draw their inspiration from the British Isles.As well-heeled youngsters in the 19th century were wont to do, Mendelssohn embarked on a tour of Europe as part of his education.

Though often played with far greater forces, the Beethoven and Mendelssohn played in this concert were well suited to the small size and immediacy of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Directed energetically from the leader’s chair by Joshua Bell, they gave crisp and clear performances which highlighted the chamber-style aspects of these works.

Some entertainment formats seem so obviously successful and popular that you wonder why they didn't come into existence much sooner. Certainly the exploratory idea of Naked Classics has existed in the form of Radio 3's Discovering Music for many years.

They made quite a contrast on stage: the diminutive figure of violinist Alexandra Soumm, resplendent in bright pink evening dress, and the imposing black-clad bulk of conductor Peter Csaba. Both, however, are bundles of energy, which was deployed at full tilt in this performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, closing the violin-laden programme of this year’s Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad.

The opening night of the Hallé’s 2011-12 season was a thrilling tour through highly descriptive and technically challenging repertoire, and will leave Manchester concert-goers with much to look forward to.The 1889 premiere of Richard Strauss’ tone poem Don Juan was conducted by the composer, then aged 25.

Ein tolles Team: In Baden-Baden begeisterte die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen unter Tarmo Peltokoski mit dem Geiger Daniel Lozakovich in einem Programm voller Vielfalt und Virtuosität.

Die norwegische Ausnahmegeigerin verzaubert mit Bartóks Zweiten Violinkonzert das Münchner Publikum.