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Good, bad, but never ugly, a curious evening unfolds at the Barbican, inspired at times, ill-judged in places.

Daniel Barenboim's absence may have confounded the all-Debussy programme but it left the Aix audience with a beautifully balanced recital.

The Rite of Spring provides the centrepiece of Alice Sara Ott and Francesco Tristano's "Scandale" programme, an often fatiguing programme, but thrillingly performed. 

Michel Plasson returns to l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in a program of French music and Karina Gauvin resplendent in Britten's Les Illuminations. It was an object lesson in how to capture the essential essence of French music.