Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Violin Sonata no. 2 in G major

Sonatas by Ravel frame Renaud Capuçon and Jean-François Heisser's recital in the Basque seaside town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. 

Powerfully communicated accounts of early 20th century, Gallic-permeated music combining the familiar with the rarely heard. 

How do violinists devise their recital programmes? The conventional format has been to choose a violin sonata from each musical era, or to focus on a particular composer or national style.

A century on from its birth, one of Switzerland’s leading orchestras finally makes its Proms debut in a scintillating programme of French and Russian music.

The artistry of Maxim Vengerov is an uncommon phenomenon: it represents a rare amalgamation of repertoire spanning both traditional and modern, of musical interests firmly single-minded at times but broadly versatile elsewhere.

On Monday, Hampstead Arts Festival hosted the long-overdue debut recital of Paris-based Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji. 

Ravel and Bartók shared the program with Gershwin, Brubeck, Thelonious Monk and others in this imaginative program.

Janine Jansen's International Chamber Music Festival offered a special treat this year: scratchcard concert, where a scratchcard determined which concerts one got to see.

Taking a “transatlantic bridge” as their theme for the evening, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center featured music by Ravel, Gershwin, Korngold and Antheil. 

On Monday lunchtime, the rising Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang and the Tashkent-born pianist Michail Lifits launched this year’s Proms Chamber Music series in the relatively intimate space of Cadogan Hall.

Violinist Alda Dizdari may just have taken a while to settle in to the performance, but the opening Debussy Sonata did not come across particularly well. Piano and violin didn’t quite lock in together and the Debussy ‘wash’ of sound, akin to an impressionist watercolour, was not apparent – the tone was harsh and rhythms angular.

Young violinists come in different shapes and styles, and this closing concert of the series of afternoon concerts by young performers in Gstaad Chapel was very different from yesterday’s. Where Albrecht Menzel was all about flamboyant virtuosity, this performance by 22-year old German Lukas Stepp was a far more thoughtful affair.

What’s in a name, or for that matter, a label? Why does music “sound” German, American, French, or Russian? Violinist Cho-Liang Lin and pianist Jon Kimura Parker presented a duo recital at Fort Worth’s Bass Hall Tuesday evening, titled “An Evening in Paris”. Their thoughtful program consisted of works by French composers of the early twentieth century, and also by (long-time Parisian) Stravinsky.

Violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien formed their duo partnership when they were both BBC New Generation Artists and have since been hailed as the up-and-coming duo, but Thursday’s recital at Wigmore Hall showed the amazing maturity of their partnership.

De Beethoven à Ravel avec un écart vers Perkinson, le violoniste et le pianiste ont proposé un récital varié et toujours maîtrisé.

Maxim Vengerov et Roustem Saïtkoulov ont proposé au public genevois un programme qui, tel un diamant exceptionnel, a été serti somptueusement, offrant un style adéquat à chaque pièce, rehaussant l’éclat du tout d’une musicalité impériale. Toute critique du détail, en reviendrait à perdre la vision d’un tout magistral. 

Flamboyante Janine Jansen qui entraînait son cavalier Itamar Golan dans une danse étourdissante sur une piste aux mille couleurs.