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.
Making connections between works real and emphasising the value of tradition were addressed in this mix of Bartók, Martinů and Mahler from Manfred Honeck, Frank-Peter Zimmermann and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.
In a patchwork assembly of German Romantic and French impressionistic works, the chief interest in the Budapest Festival Orchestra's latest programme was the appearance of star violist Tabea Zimmermann in pieces by Schumann and Kurtág.
The leading French quartet Quatuor Ébène makes a mighty leap from a pre-revolutionary world in 1772 to the turbulence of 1923, only to return to sheltered calm in 1842: works by Haydn, Janáček and Schumann.
On paper it all seemed so alluring: a tuneful opening suite, one of the raciest warhorses in the stable and a national icon to close with. However, the reality in Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Elgar was somewhat different.
Shaking up cosy expectations is what Bertolt Brecht does in the theatre. Here, in two contemporary works and a symphony written in the New World, Dalia Stasevska and the BBC Symphony Orchestra have little time for any heart's-ease.
How do you like your Tchaikovsky and Sibelius? Great music admits of several approaches, often challenging traditional views. Noa Wildschut's violin and the RPO under Richard Farnes show why expectations are not always met.
Teodor Currentzis, conducting the SWR Symphony Orchestra, and Yulianna Avdeeva do Prokofiev proud in his Third Piano Concerto and Fifth Symphony: all the colours of the rainbow delivered with sophistication, élan and boundless effervescence.
At the Proms the splendour of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony provides a contrast to but also a parallel with Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in a welcome visit by The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder with Benjamin Grosvenor.
Spanning almost a century in musical terms, from the old-world elegance of Johann Strauss to one of his greatest admirers, Erich Korngold, John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London demonstrate orchestral excellence.
Appropriately for a Russian-themed programme, two works in a minor key, one by Prokofiev and the other by Tchaikovsky, bring out the best in Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.
Vasily Petrenko unleashes powerful and poetic sounds in Sibelius' Second Symphony and Jess Gillam dazzles in one of Michael Nyman's works while the European Union Youth Orchestra shows off its remarkable qualities.
Daniel Barenboim offered an unusually Germanic take on César Franck, while section leaders Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani pulled double duty as soloists in Brahms' Double Concerto.
An American conductor in charge of music from the New World: a world premiere by Augusta Read Thomas and Charles Ives' celebrated "place pieces" set the scene for a symphony bathed in nostalgia and memories of the Old World.
Tracing a line of musical heritage was what this concert was all about: the imaginative richness of inspiration that passed from Rimsky-Korsakov through early Rachmaninov to Stravinsky.
Age sometimes brings compensations: Mischa Maisky's total commitment to the Schumann concerto left Daniel Lozakovich out in the cold with Brahms. Meanwhile Klaus Mäkelä with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra reins back Romantic feeling in Schumann's Second Symphony.
Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe bring to a triumphant end their Beethoven cycle in Baden-Baden with coruscating performances of the Second and Third Symphonies.
