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Andreas Scholl and Collegium 1704 team up for a refreshing treatment of an early repertoire.

Picture a warm May evening, walking the narrow, silent, cool streets of the ancient capital of Malta, then sitting amongst a magnificent collection of 17th- and 18th-century art with a promise of secrets!This was the setting for a concert – no, in fact, a spectacular – held on Friday 10 May at the Cathedral Museum, Mdina.

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is no stranger when it comes to working with world-renowned soloists – their earlier collaborative roster includes the likes of Sviatoslav Richter, Menuhin, Rostropovich et al, but their rapport with Emmanuel Pahud is something that transcends musical partnership and wanders into the organically-knit companionship territory.

22 November 2012 would have been Benjamin Britten’s 99th birthday. Wigmore Hall marked the occasion with the first concert in a series of nine events in November and December. However, rather than focusing exclusively on Britten’s music, it built towards the climax that saw Britten’s angst-ridden late masterpiece Phaedra searingly performed.

The countertenor voice seems to polarise opinion like no other - you either love it or hate it, there is little middle ground - and even amongst the aficionados (in whose number I count myself), there can be strong, almost tribal allegiances to one school or another and sometimes to individual proponents.