Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Vaughan Williams

A striking performance of The Planets had people humming their favourite bits on their way out of the hall, but the real winner was Vaughan Williams’ neglected valedictory symphony.

A concert programme that includes both Holst and Vaughan Williams is as right as strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. 

This week’s subscription concerts of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra featured only British music that was composed in the last century; three very different works in terms of compositional approach and musical language.

Sir Andrew Davis also led superb performances of Delius’ Brigg Fair and Strauss’ Don Quixote, with Mark Kosower and Wesley Collins as soloists.

A pleasant afternoon's entertainment with grand sweeps and some beautiful singing by Roderick Williams.

Conductor Michael Francis and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor have an auspicious debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Kancheli, Martinů and Vaughan Williams – all of whom have at various times been misunderstood or ignored – featured in this bold programme from Vladamir Jurowski and the LPO.

Music from Vaughan Williams is contrasted with two pieces from Dobrinka Tabakova  in The Scottish Ensemble’s candlelit concert, Ascent. Senior NYOS strings swell the ranks to produce a reflective evening of richness and warmth.

Breaking up is hard to do. If his First Symphony is anything to go by, William Walton took it particularly badly.

A moving first half of Vaughan Williams and Tchaikovsky and a mysterious Shostakovich 15 in the second half. Andreas Brantelid's superlative musicianship wowed.

The summer’s extreme heat and lack of rain have created drought conditions in Atlanta. As fate would have it, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra this week programmed two works drenched with water, albeit of the salty variety.

Benjamin Northey and Andrea Lam team up with the MSO for a festive evening of Vaughan Williams, Chopin and Holst.

Serebrier and the ECO deliver fine performances of Haydn, Beethoven and Vaughan Williams.  

Challenging musical norms and blurring the lines between genres, Manchester Camerata shows off its "restless ambition" at the RNCM.

The 2016 Proms come to a riotous close at the Royal Albert Hall.

A varied concert of new music by Anthony Payne, Max Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto with Ray Chen, a Tchaikovsky rarity and a rousing early work by Vaughan Williams

Celebrating Youth, Music and Education in Roof-Raising Style: Ten Pieces Secondary comes to the BBC Proms 

The start of Pinchas Zukerman's Summer Music Festival struggled to find inspiration.

The Sydney Symphony in a finely chiselled account of Vaughan Williams' “A London Symphony”, but groped for balance in Ravel and Bax.

Joseph Phibbs’s Partita makes a strong impression in its première at the Barbican. 

A well-crafted programme at Symphony Hall showcasing the best of English music from the first half of the last century.

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra brought together music with a connection to the First World War.

“If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.” There was certainly plenty of Shakespeare-inspired music on the bill for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's celebration of The Bard. 

A superb concert from the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder included John Casken's 2014 oboe concerto Apollinaire's Bird, a rare piece by Elgar and Vaughan Williams' powerful Fourth Symphony. 

Wednesday night saw the masterful rendition of British songs, by the legendary baritone at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, part of the ‘Echoes of a Mountain Song’ series. 

Elder and Elgar prove to be a winning cominbation at the Chicago Symphony.

Bryan Hymel and Irene Roberts explored the boundaries of love in the latest splendid performance in the Rosenblatt Recitals.

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

Vaughan Williams and Finzi given the Philharmonia treatment with John Wilson at the helm at the Royal Festival Hall.

Jack Liebeck and the Hallé Orchestra under Karl-Heinz Steffens gave an impressive performance of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto at Leeds Town Hall. 

The Scottish première of Will Todd's Mass in Blue was a joyous coming of age concert for the Cadenza choir at the Edinburgh Fringe.

  The BBC National Orchestra of Wales on fine form showcasing British composers, with a little help from Chloe Hanslip and Ailish Tynan

Sir Mark Elder and the Halle introduce Vaughan Williams masterwork Sancta civitas to the Proms.

An action-packed, generous concert by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Mexico UNAM conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig at the Cadogan Hall.

James Gilchrist and Royal Northern Sinfonia conjure up the hills of Yeats' Ireland and Housman's Shropshire in a Late Mix concert at Sage Gateshead.

Driven by a folky score, and on a stunning set, the Glasgow Conservatoire students had bags of fun with this Merry Wives tale, positively bursting with energy.

Both new works by Michael Williams and James Ledger rose to the challenge of marking Anzac Day admirably with personal and intense responses to the tragedy of war.

In front of an enthusiastic Montréal crowd, Yannick Nézet-Séguin led his orchestra through the varied atmospheres and moods of works by great English composers of the early 20th century.

Sometimes the small details make all the difference. They certainly did in this rendition by the CBSO and Steven Osborne under the baton of Andrew Manze that won you over with an unpretentious and all the more captivating performance.

The Gallipoli landings are etched indelibly into the Australian psyche. The Australian Chamber Orchestra offers an exploration of the campaigns which is enthralling and frustrating by turns. 

Just occasionally a regular concert-goer experiences a performance that is truly special.  When he is not anticipating this it can be an overwhelming experience. The BBC Philharmonic’s concert at the Bridgewater Hall, also broadcast on BBC Radio 3, proved to be such an experience.

As part of the Festival Hall’s Sunday matinee series, John Wilson programmed three inspirational works by Bax, Walton and Vaughan Williams. 

This candlelit evening at the atmospheric Sam Wanamaker Playhouse with the Chilingirian String Quartet and friends had more of a cosy Christmas feel than yet another World War I commemoration.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's Passchendaele, his WWI-themed piece, received its UK première this evening, in a concert given by the CBSO Youth Orchestra. 

Seven works by English composers created a journey from beauty to death as Remembrance day approaches. There wasn't much dwelling on the horrors of war itself, but plenty of human emotion and a sense of life sadly lost.

As Autumn sets in, the City of London Sinfonia give us a final taste of Midsummer in a charming and diverse concert. 

Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony is anything but "lambkins frisking", drawing on the composer's experiences in the First World War. In this poignant concert, it was partnered by a trio of works by composers - from both sides of the trenches - who died in action. 

This concert seemed to be an object lesson as to why Vaughan Williams is a great composer. It contained three contrasting pieces, each one demonstrating the composer’s ability to create atmosphere and capture the attention of audiences by the scruff of neck.

Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia ravishes, but BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Mahler Nine was unsettled as it was unsettling. 

Jamie Phillips and The Hallé orchestra brought an evening of mystery and magic to Manchester in a programme of English classics.