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Making its fourth Proms appearance this season, the BBC National Orchestra transported the audience from the Orient in Nielsen’s Aladdin, to Ancient Greece for a world première, then to heaven in Mahler’s Symphony no. 4.

A lovingly crafted performance Franck’s Symphonic Variations glows under the advocacy of Benjamin Grosvenor while Gianandrea Noseda steers the BBCPO through a magnificent Saint-Säens’ Organ Symphony. 

For its last classical concert of 2011, Perth welcomed back international trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom to St John’s Kirk, this time with David Goode on organ, for an imaginative and challenging programme of music. Balsom, awarded Best Female Artist at this year’s Classical Brit Awards, is no stranger to the town, and a sizeable crowd filled the church for this recital.

A "riot of orchestral colour" was promised, but little of it was allowed to flourish.Elgar's Cockaigne Overture, written during the winter of 1900-01, is a portrait of a busy London, conjuring the hustle and bustle of everyday, metropolitan life.

As you round the corner of Prince Consort Road, you raise your head to catch a glimpse of the tip of the Royal Albert Hall dome. But just as you do…SMACK! You’ve collided with a stranger’s back. Reorienting yourself you realise there’s a queue a mile long, winding down the steps outside the Royal Albert Hall and stretching all the way to bus stop down the road.