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Tugan Sokhiev leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in a powerful performance of Shostakovich’s haunting Fourth Symphony. Shorter pieces by Gabrieli and Britten offer an enjoyable prelude.

In its spic and span, acoustically resonant concert venue in Zurich, the superb Zürcher Kammerorchester returned to live performances with an audience with pianist Alexandre Tharaud.

A charming, if uneven, concert from Turnovsky Jubilee Ensemble in Auckland. 

In an excellent performance, two Dutch masters wow their audience with Mendelssohn's romanticism in a concerto not often performed, with a German orchestra barely playing back-up.

The adjective in the title of Britten’s 1934 Simple Symphony could refer to the ease with which listeners can spot each movement’s two contrasting themes. Attentive, lively use of tempo, dynamics, phrasing, colour enabled Peter Oundjian and the RSNO to make the most of young Britten’s diversity within impressive compositional unity.

David Curtis displayed his usual deceptively effortless ease on the podium. Perhaps this felt like a handy warm-up for the marathon that he would run, hard on the heels of this concert, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Orchestra of the Swan’s home territory.

A very striking wild-eyed hirsute man has been staring out at us across Scotland on posters for this concert tour, showing that the Scottish Ensemble has adapted well to the modern world of promotion, using titles, straplines and imagination. On the face of things, the choice of eight seemingly very disconnected pieces in the programme, from 1700 to the present day, was disconcerting.

Benedikt Zacher berichtet vom Konzert des Münchener Kammerorchesters, das zusammen mit Isabelle Faust mit gewohnt abwechslungsreichen Programm und einer pulsierenden Uraufführung von Fennessys Hirta Rounds aufwartete.

Dans le cadre du festival Toulouse les Orgues, l'Orchestre du Capitole magistralement dirigé par Tugan Sokiev et Yves Rechesteiner en liaison depuis la cathédrale Saint-Étienne nous offrent un magnifique concert.