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Zubin Mehta, Siobhan Stagg and the players of the AWO were on top of their game in works by Webern, Debussy and Brahms, where the connections were as potent as the contrasts.

True to himself, Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO offered a mouth-watering programme of contrasts. The first half pointing clearly to the modern world worked better than the backward glance at a great Romantic symphony.

An enjoyable first live stream of the 2021 edition of the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg's Laeiszhalle.

Listening to arrangements of Bach is like Dostoevsky’s challenge not to think about polar bears. It’s best to put the Bach out of your thoughts, even if “the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's beautifully curated selection of Mann-themed music enjoys mixed success. 

The French pianist reveals the hidden depth in variations by Beethoven, Schumann and Webern.

Frank Peter Zimmermann dazzles in an angelic tribute, while Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester emphasise clarity at the expense of warmth.

As part of the LPO’s 2020 Vision series of concerts, a hotchpotch of works were gathered together to produce a rather mixed bag of an evening. 

Zubin Mehta returns to Disney Hall, demonstrating the multifaceted implications of Wagner and his “music of tomorrow”.

Erich Korngold's luscious String Sextet provides the musical highlight of Erkki-Sven Tüür's Pärnu programme. 

A giant step in Hong Kong's Sinfonietta's journey to musical maturity with this programme of Webern, Beethoven and Mozart.

In the last program at home before an international tour, Franz Welser-Möst led The Cleveland Orchestra in an imposing performance of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, prefaced by works of Schubert and Webern.

In a magical and widely-varied programme, the Zurich Ballet pays homage to the celebrated Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián by performing four of his extraordinary works together for the first time.

A pair of A minor sonatas demonstrate the composer's evolution over his lifetime; the Wanderer Fantasy shows the pianist's mastery of phrasing.

Early works by Schoenberg and Webern filled out an austere program.

In a fin de siècle programme, Salonen and the Philharmonia demonstrated visceral excitement, and found ways to reinvent. 

Hugo Ticciati and Víkingur Ólafsson explore notions of time, but a lesson in mindful performance comes from the gravity-defying Sanddorn Balance act.  

A performance that sacrificed a degree of Gallic fragrance in its pursuit of precision.

Experiments in music and ideas brought together by the London Sinfonietta and guests at a special concert all about space and time.

Royal Northern Sinfonia's popular Conductor Laureate Thomas Zehetmair makes a well-received return visit to Sage Gateshead, with symphonic music ranging from an exquisite jewel by Webern through to a fizzing performance of Schubert's "Great" Ninth.

Stravinsky's Firebird leads a survey of the musical avant-garde at the outset of the modern era by François-Xavier Roth and the Boston Symphony.

Barbara Hannigan joined pianist Reinbert de Leeuw for a Second Viennese School recital at the Park Avenue Armory.

Impeccable musicianship from the string soloists of the Oxford Philhamonic in stirring accounts of Brahms' String Sextet in G major and Strauss' Metamorphosen.

An exploration of expression within controlled structure from Van Wauwe and the Quatuor Van Kuijk, in passionate Webern, tense Durupt and spirited Mozart.

An absorbing programme of violin and piano duos from Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Polina Leschenko saw captivating performances of Webern, Bartók and Ravel with an interesting edge in Schumann.

Viennese classics from the Brodsky Quartet in Leamington Spa. 

A nameless octet competes with the big names and easily wins the silver medal in Salzburg.

Bright and energetic Walton and a promising, highly lyrical Concerto from Watkins, followed by taut Webern and commanding Brahms from Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

The CBSO conducted by Nicholas Collon grapple with the collision of love and death in works by Mahler, Webern and Brahms

The Kodály Quartet fascinates with strong ensemble and blind trust.

Dance, when fulfilled by such artistry as seen this evening, requires no embellishment. 

The concert, which was part of Mostly Mozart’s “A Little Night Music” series of late-night events, was comprised of six preludes, six canons, and George Benjamin’s 2001 composition Shadowlines, six canonic preludes for the piano that were written for Aimard.

The Edinburgh Quartet in a programme of early works showing promise - then and now - and radical change of direction. 

In the post-Wendy Whelan season, it’s Ashley Bouder’s New York City Ballet.

Barbara Hannigan joined the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle for performances of Berg’s Three Fragments from Wozzeck and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre. 

The Zürcher Kammerorchester (ZKO) plays selections by Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, in the context of a first-rate exhibition.

Nikki Chooi makes something less than a fantasy out of Bruch but the Auckland Philharmonia shine in Schumann.

They whistle, they compose, they parody and they certainly can play. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Amarcord Wien are kings of their realm.

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

Bernard Haitink and Leonidas Kavakos join the New York Philharmonic for a programme of Webern, Berg, and Beethoven.

This Winchester Chamber Music Festival programme made a stab at being eclectic, with two sets of early 20th century Webern miniatures to start. Yet the meat was in two substantial Romantic works by Schumann and Brahms. 

The Bennewitz Quartet perform works by the Viennese masters Schubert and Webern, and by their Czech compatriot Dvořák, with varying degrees of success.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Christine Brewer close Wagner bicentenary celebrations at the Barbican by showing his influence on Strauss, Webern and Berg on December 20th.

How lucky I am to live in a city where I can head over to Lincoln Center and catch an entire evening’s worth of Balanchine ballets, performed by the stellar artists that make up New York City Ballet. This gift is not lost on me; I may be becoming a jaded New Yorker, occasionally cynical and impressed by little, but I feel quite a thrill attending the ballet.

A concert programme can resemble a puzzle; searching for links and contrasts often results in a more enjoyable, unified experience. I therefore strove to arrive in sufficient time for a careful reading of the programme notes for this performance by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Usher Hall, part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

This Sunday, pianist Karim Said returned to the Southbank Centre to put Arnold Schoenberg under the microscope for a third and last time. Performing as part of the International Piano Series 2012/13 and the cataclysmic Rest is Noise festival, Said’s concerts have focused on the genesis of the Second Viennese School.

François-Xavier Roth conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a varied programme of Mozart, Webern and Strauss, concluding with a powerful performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra at St David’s Hall in Cardiff.It was hard to spot a linking factor between the programmed works, but they seemed to complement each other nicely.

The Philadelphia Orchestra was visibly enjoying their evening at Carnegie Hall with Sir Simon Rattle, their frequent guest conductor who nearly became their music director. In a program of early modern classics and a perennial Beethoven favorite, energy and spirits were high and in good supply.

It wasn’t only Mitsuko Uchida’s hands that were agile. Her arrival on stage was accompanied by the deepest bow imaginable, bending from the waist until she resembled a tuning fork. Such Japanese formality was paired with a warm, glowing smile and a real connection with players and audience alike.

For the last concert of her Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall, Renée Fleming assembled one of the least coherent concept programmes imaginable. Billed as “Vienna: Window to Modernity”, it was never clear what was specifically Viennese about the music on show, nor what was particularly modern, nor what windows had to do with anything.