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A marvelous musician, Mikhail Pletnev, conveyed a fresh perspective on the inner works of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. 

Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra excelled in a fascinating exploration of post-revolutionary Russian music under the banner ‘Workers and the State’.

Gabriel Feltz and the Belgrade Philharmonic conjured up medieval Russia in the colourful and imaginative tale of Ilya Muromets in Glière's Symphony no. 3.

Vasily Petrenko and the RLPO perform an all-Russian programme, with an exceptional Rite of Spring and charismatic playing from solo harpist Catrin Finch. 

Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad opens with a programme of beautiful music and a pair of fine soloists, but a concert somewhat let down by a lack of rapport between soloists and orchestra.

Each year, BBC Proms provides a great opportunity for the UK regional orchestras (in particular for the non-BBC orchestras such as the Bournemouth Symphony, the Halle and the Liverpool Philharmonic) to showcase themselves. This year, I decided to sample Kirill Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony as I have been hearing good things about this partnership for a while.

The Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova is a true legend in the world of classical ballet. Her dramatic interpretations plumbed deep into the human soul and revealed its full gamut of emotion and poetic beauty.

Das Recreation-Orchester unter Andreas Stoehr lieferte weihnachtliche Werke von Tschaikowski und Rimski-Korsakow ohne Zauber, doch Emmanuel Ceysson sorgte an der Harfe für magische Momente.