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Fire and ice. When the cool, steely tone of Joshua Bell ‘Huberman’ Stradivarius met the feverish impetuosity of Pablo Heras-Casado at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra for the final leg of its International Violin Festival, it wasn’t always a case of opposites attracting.

Virtuosic playing from the LSO under the decisive leadership of Marin Alsop enlivened the divergent soundscapes of Bartók, Korngold and Rachmaninov. 

Sunday night's concert saw the LSO on top form, however their partnerships with Christian Tetzlaff and LSO Chorus on either side of the interval produced mixed results. 

“A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. That description could apply to Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony. It would also describe Valery Gergiev’s conducting.

While Britain was still at the polls, birthday boys Brahms and Tchaikovsky slugged it out in friendly battle at the Barbican. 

A fine account of the Szymanowski Violin Concerto no. 1 from Nicola Benedetti lights up a concert in which the LSO are on top form and young conductor Krysztof Urbanski impresses.

Baiba Skride and Tugan Sokhiev joined the LSO at the Barbican for Messiaen, Bartók and Tchaikovksy. It was a memorable evening that demonstrated why the best performances are not necessarily the most faultless ones.

Mardi 2 juin, Janine Jansen jouait le Concerto de Mendelssohn avec le London Symphony Orchestra, et Daniel harding dirigeait en deuxième partie la Symphonie n°5 de Mahler. Un moment inoubliable, d'une intensité exceptionnelle.