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Boreyko and the LPO shine in Victoria Vita Polevá's tribute to Ukraine and Elena Langer setting of Edward Lear, and give a dazzling performance of Shostakovich 5.

A poisoned rat, sugary girls and just the small matter of a man's soul. Berlioz's légende dramatique deals minor to the major and in the hands of Edward Gardner and a superb cast, the work truly comes to life and brings the composer's unique flair to the fore.

Tan Dun conducts the LPO in the UK premiere of his Buddha Passion, hyped as “without precedent in the Western concert hall”. 

With a powerful but not world-beating team of soloists, Gardner and the LPO tackle Schoenberg's sprawling cantata with aplomb – except for one near-catastrophic misstep.

Elgar's oratorio is treated as a rousing evening’s entertainment rather than an offshoot of the Catholic liturgy, with three stellar soloists. 

The constituent parts made up a contrasting and stimulating whole: works by Lili Boulanger, Messiaen and Brahms, united by biblical inspiration. Edward Gardner marshalled the collective London Philharmonic forces.

The LPO and London Philharmonic Choir are on outstanding form for a new major choral work to tell the Christmas story.

An incandescent concert performance of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage launches a new era for the London Philharmonic under principal conductor Edward Gardner.

Bertrand de Billy made his debut with the LPO in an all-French programme headlined by Fauré's Requiem and preceded by a rewarding pairing of Poulenc's Organ Concerto and Sept Repons des Tenebres

Impressive control from Vladimir Jurowski and his LPO forces in Mahler's great work about death and resurrection, but with obvious clinical detachment too.

London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir paint a terrifying picture of hell and damnation at the Royal Festival Hall.

John Luther Adams piece unfolds with the patience and weight of the geological time, leaving a powerful mark.

Michael Spyres' long lyrical line in the Sanctus was outstanding, his tone ardent and ringing.

On the 100th eve of the Armistice, Vladimir Jurowsky led the LPO in four radically different meditations on death and eternal life.

A quartet of superb soloists shine through an orchestral and choral performance of great precision to bring out Verdi’s powerful evocation of the terror of eternal damnation.

Glistening performances by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and combined forces under Thomas Adès bring to life Stravinsky’s Perséphone, with fiery premières of works by Adès himself and Gerald Barry.

Rachmaninov had a strange fascination with the Dies irae chant. For last night’s concert, Andrés Orozco-Estrada prefaced the Symphonic Dances with a rendition of this Gregorian Chant.

Sir Mark Elder's 70th birthday Gurre-Lieder threatens to dislodge the roof in Manchester with the combined forces of the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic

Concluding its "Belief and Beyond Belief" series, the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yazushi Ono also completes its 2016-2017 concert season. 

Reflections on mortality provided by the French contralto Nathalie Stutzmann conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in two works by Richard Strauss and Mozart.

At 82, Sir Roger Norrington may have slowed down his conducting career but I’m very pleased to report that he still loves stirring things up at his concerts.

The silence of the Cenotaph was swept away by the greatest howl of anguish in music.

Democracy and collectivism were hard at work as Jurowski’s decidedly undictatorial style fostered a strong on-stage community amongst the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, who ultimately conjured Elysium itself.

Weaknesses in the staging did little to dim the musical pleasure of hearing Sir Mark Elder conduct Weber's masterpiece with OAE forces and an impressvee cast

Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra produced an intriguing programme with some rare Taneyev, invigorating Tchaikovsky and fresh Sibelius.

Saint-Saens' “Dance of Death” and Orff's gaudy, medieval satire framed a stunningly-realised new commission from Guy Barker, with Alison Balsom playing against type. 

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

Czech conductor energises the London Philharmonic in three contrasting works, including one of the 20th century's greatest choral masterpieces.

The world première of Julian Anderson's In lieblicher Blaue and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé make for a colourful programme from the LPO.

Erratic tempi and unclear textures marr an otherwise engaging opportunity to hear a rarer Rachmaninov work alongside his evervescent Piano Concerto no. 2.

Alice Coote and Elizabeth Watts soar gloriously from the emotional heart of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in a powerful performance from the LPO directed by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

Bold choices married with family favourites for Proms Plus Family concert, but programming was not always matched by expression.

Neville Marriner conducts Christopher Palmer’s arrangement of a Walton film score, while Joshua Bell delivers magic with Max Bruch and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Southbank Centre's The Rest is Noise festival came to an end with John Adams' oratorio El Niño, composed in 2000. The London Philharmonic Orchestra suited the piece well, and this was a performance to cherish.

It is pleasing to see concerts of music by living composers well attended, and such was the case at “A Timeless Beauty”, part of the Southbank Centre’s year-long celebration of contemporary music The Rest is Noise. This concert’s theme was “Politics and Spirituality”, and looked to the former Soviet Union for inspiration.Two composers on the programme provided contrasting examples.

The early 1950s were marked by the world premières of Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 7 (1952), Poulenc’s Piano Concerto (1950) as well as his Stabat Mater (1951). The most recent offering of The Rest is Noise series at the Southbank Centre encouraged us to place these pieces not just in the 1950s, but also in a wider political and cultural context.

Composed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is a monumental setting of the words of the Latin Mass, interspersed with the poignant poetry of Wilfred Owen.

Adoring and knowledgeable fans, lots of good humour and a tendency to wear silly hats: this description could fit any Proms audience, but Prom 2 was not quite the usual Prom. For one thing, the silly hats were mostly fezzes, and the audience’s expert knowledge extended to being able to identify the weird alien life forms that had invaded the Royal Albert Hall.

Southbank Centre’s The Rest is Noise festival has a number of strands of thought permeating its concerts. It explores the effects of war, sex and sexuality, politics, and race on some of the 20th century’s most important musical output.

The inter-war years produced some of the most dynamic and popular choral works that have been composed since the 18th century. Tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert, conducted by Hans Graf, combined two very different results of this flowering. Both masterpieces in their own way, they unexpectedly complemented each other and made for an entertaining concert.

A German Requiem and two German composers sounds like your standard concert menu, but this concert was an interesting juxtaposition of two very different halves, the first filled by German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s little-heard Ecclesiastical Action, and the second by the much-loved, much-performed German Requiem by Brahms.

The music of Herbert Howells has long been a fixture in British churches but continues to be absent from our concert halls. It’s true that much of his output, and almost all of his most popular works, are for unaccompanied choir or choir and organ, but his orchestral works include two piano concertos, a fantasia for cello and orchestra and several works for string orchestra among their number.

If you’ve never been to a grand-scale choral work at the Royal Albert Hall, I’d urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity. This wasn’t my first visit to the Proms, and I’ve experienced oratorios, requiems and passions galore in other places, but to hear hundreds of accomplished singers filling this vast circular space was new territory for me. The hall seemed made for the occasion.

Mention Beijing in London at the moment and some allusion to opening ceremonies, sports or medals will undoubtedly follow (with an optional grumble about the transport system tagged on the end).

Before the concert began, Yannick Nézet-Séguin gave a short introductory speech that, in effect, would have the Royal Festival Hall consecrated for the evening as a place of worship.

The last of this season’s Proms Choral Sundays featured one of the most complex of all choral works, Beethoven’s massive Missa Solemnis, written around the time of his 9th symphony. Sir Colin Davis likened performing it to “Failing to reach the top of Mount Everest”, and Sara Mohr-Pietsch (in her excellent Proms Plus talk) mentioned the description of “the most famous work you have never heard”.

Prom 15 given by Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra was billed as a “Hungarian Prom” and featured music of Kodály, Bartók and Liszt.

The Proms Choral Sundays series moved from last week’s dramatic opening (Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony) to the more familiar but no less spectacular territory of Verdi’s Requiem. Since 1956, this has been a Proms regular, with 16 previous performances, including a run of five in the eight years from 1956 to 1963.

A powerful voice in classical music, American conductor Marin Alsop, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, challenged audiences at the Royal Festival to engage with contemporary classical music in an imaginative way.