Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Tapiola, Op.112

Klaus Mäkelä opens his London Symphony Orchestra debut with Tapiola, gripping from its very first bars. 

Sakari Oramo, Anu Komsi and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson take a deep dive into the world of Sibelius' tone poems in two concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

After their magnificent recent Sibelius Seventh, the LSO returns to the Finnish composer for a pair of tone poems, followed by Bruckner's Seventh. 

Yuja Wang lives up to her superstar status in Liszt and a couple of operatic encores, while the Oslo Philharmonic show icy clarity in Sibelius and orchestral colour aplenty in Strauss.

Pianist Sunwook Kim returns to the RSNO, while conductor Jonathan Stockhammer builds a coherent triptych out of three highly contrasting pieces.

John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic offer an intriguing autumnal programme of freezing delights. 

Thomas Adès conducts three pieces on the subject of death, concluding with his own Totentanz. Despite the lugubrious subject matter there was a great sense of joy in the music making.

The Finnish forests, the creation of the world and a mythical hero were vividly brought to life in the opening concert of the 15th Sibelius Festival in Lahti

Beethoven may have been the main catch of the day for some but Sibelius, Leifs and Hillborg will have netted many new admirers thanks to Sakari Oramo.

Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra find icy perfection in Sibelius last work.  

Tuesday evening’s concert was technically the start of a short residency for Mark-Anthony Turnage with the London Symphony Orchestra, but a smouldering performance on the podium from Daniel Harding came close to drawing attention away from the featured composer.

The program opened with Tapiola, Sibelius' symphonic poem and his last major work. Tapio is the Finnish god of the forests and Sibelius' score is prefaced with these lines:Wide-spread they stand, the Northland's dusky forests,Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams,Within them dwells the Forest's mighty God,And wood-sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets.

Le compositeur et chef d'orchestre britannique enfilait ses deux casquettes dans un programme qui plaçait ses œuvres – dont la création française d'In Seven Days avec Bertrand Chamayou – en dialogue avec des partitions de Sibelius.

Dans le rôle de Hunding, Stephen Milling a fait forte impression lors d'un premier acte de La Walkyrie qui a donné envie d'en entendre davantage...

En un week-end, l'orchestre londonien et son directeur musical ont parcouru un vaste et passionnant répertoire, aux allures de rétrospective de quarante ans de carrière du chef anglais.

En deux concerts aux programmes passionnants, le London Symphony Orchestra et son directeur musical ont montré l'étendue de leur talent et de leur générosité.