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Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO give a poignant, haunting performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, foreshadowed by Takemitsu’s miniature Requiem. 

Richly-coloured performances from Kahchun Wong and the BBCSO evoke powerful expressions of personal resolve.

Disciplined playing from the Japan Philharmonic brought mixed rewards in a programme that inspired only fitfully.

A fine Planets from Eiji Oue and the Belgrade Philharmonic crowned a splendid concert despite a flawed “Neptune” after Simone Rubino had explored the music of the Earth.

Is the very, very good the enemy of the great? It is hard to fault a performance as fine as this – except perhaps against a benchmark no longer recognised.

Starting a concert season with two works with Requiem in the title might sound rather gloomy, but not when one of them is Brahms’ beautiful, consolatory German Requiem, and particularly not when it’s placed in the hands of Thomas Zehetmair, who unfailing brings out the warmth and humanity of Brahms’ music from the musicians of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Una clarividente unión y equilibrio entre Stathis Karapanos, Andrés Salado y la OEX resultaron en una magnífica lectura de Takemitsu, Nielsen y Elgar.