Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op.36

Technical finesse and lively interpretations of dance suites showcase both the conductor's and the orchestra's strengths.

Andris Nelsons launches a Beethoven cycle with riveting performances of the first two symphonies. 

Gift-bearing Ukrainians offer up warmth, joy and passion at Cadogan Hall.  

Vassily Sinaisky, Natalya Romaniw and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra take a crude, casual approach to music by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali is the latest potential candidate to audition as the New York's Phil's next Music Director. 

Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe bring to a triumphant end their Beethoven cycle in Baden-Baden with coruscating performances of the Second and Third Symphonies.

An all-day Beethoven experience European style with both highs and lows: much diversity revealed and exploited but of variable quality.

The longtime chief conductor proves his mettle once again, delivering an exciting and memorable Beethoven Second Symphony. 

The performance recalled Jos van Immerseel's remark that Beethoven’s music sounds less modern on the instruments of our time than it does on those of the early 19th century.

If there had been an audience, they would have toasted the concert with the Kölsch beers the composer loved best.

Lightness of touch and attention to detail from Benedetti, and tight ensemble and grace from Kuusisto and the Philharmonia in the Second Symphony.

At Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Andris Nelsons launch a chronological cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies with the first three sticks of dynamite.

Daniel Pioro reminds us of the qualities of Oliver Knussen's Violin Concerto, while Vasily Petrenko and the LPO see a pair of second symphonies in very different ways.

To mark #Beethoven250, the Australian Chamber Orchestra plays his first three symphonies in concert. But can one eat three delicious desserts in one sitting? 

Nine symphonies, five orchestras, two days: an immersive weekend as part of the Barbican's Beethoven 250 coverage featuring some of the UK's finest orchestras. 

Norrington was at the forefront of the period instrument revolution in Beethoven performance practice. Here, he returned to the Queen Elizabeth Hall with two major key symphonies. 

The SCO’s Beethoven cycle continues with a meaty menu of three symphonies

A new work by Steve Reich shared the stage with two Beethoven favorites. While neither composer particularly illuminated the other, they shared their program nicely.

This lightweight, combustive account lacked bluster, sourcing tension from its forward momentum.

Playing under its music director Gábor Takács-Nagy, the VFCO radiated joy for music-making; the very thing Verbier – and now Tsinandali – is all about.

Nézét-Séguin draws limpid playing of extreme clarity from the BRSO to provide a telling account of Shostakovich's Fifth.

The Greek conductor and his hand-picked Russian orchestra offer high-voltage Beethoven that crackles.

Carlo Rizzi and Elizabeth Koch Tiscione perform exquisitely in Mozart’s Oboe Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

A night to remember in Antwerp as Salonen and the Philharmonia demonstrated once again that, in the right hands, familiar repertory can still prove compelling and even surprising.

Blomstedt’s lean and athletic performances of Beethoven’s and Sibelius’ second symphonies go to show that age really is just a number. 

Radu Lupu produces Mozart so sublime as to delight the angels, Saraste and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra give us a lesson in poise, balance and blended sound.

Stunningly fresh performances of ubiqitous classics from Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s first evening of the season at the Blossom Music Center also included a performance of Beethoven’s Second Symphony that was both sparkling and appropriately dramatic.

Adès brought a freshness and originality to Beethoven's earliest symphonies, and a sharp portrait of the composer was given courtesy of Gerald Barry.

Symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven bookended a Mozart horn concerto featuring CSO principal Daniel Gingrich.

Giovanni Antonini conducts the Tonhalle Orchestra in an appealing programme of works by Beethoven, Bach and Vivaldi that marked the Zurich debut of the dynamic Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital.

An overall commendable performance dampened only by a ho-hum Beethoven. 

The Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment celebrates its 30th birthday this season. Sunday's concert at the Royal Festival Hall displayed it in its full vitality.

A perfectly oiled machine, the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle performed an unforgettable concert of Beethonven's symphonies with astonishing artistry and sublime musicality.

On a rare visit to Milan, a programme of Gaspare Spontini and Beethoven exhibited a sound that was sometimes rough around the edges but brimming with creative energy. 

Lively performances Beethoven’s First and Second Symphonies demonstrating that composer’s compositional development, plus Hindemith’s colorful Symphonic Metamorphosis, made for an enjoyable evening at Severance Hall. 

Jonathan Nott and the London Symphony Orchestra deliver an energetic, precise and intense performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony. 

The OSM opened their 2014 offering with an evening of Beethoven. Kent Nagano was at the helm with pianist Radu Lupu as the soloist in the Fourth Piano Concerto.

Ludwig van Beethoven once said: “Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.” On 19 September, 2013, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra performed three works by the late Classical and early Romantic composer: the overture to Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, and his first two symphonies.

“Synesthesia” is a neurological condition that causes an involuntary sensory experience to be provoked from an initial stimulation of a different sensory or cognitive pathway – for instance, automatically associating colors with numbers, letters, or sounds. Olivier Messiaen, a 20th-century French composer, organist, and ornithologist, “heard” colors in all music, whether tonal, modal, or serial.

Unity over division, peace over war, a higher cause for humanity: no symphony better expresses the mission of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra than Beethoven’s Ninth, and no orchestra plays this symphony with greater emotional power. With Daniel Barenboim on the rostrum, this symphony’s composed, collective redemption becomes at once entirely natural and entirely miraculous.

Sharing a concert with Beethoven can be a tough assignment. The old stalwart is, with good reason, still a popular draw to the concert hall. As part of its centenary celebration of Witold Lutosławski, the LA Phil chose to pair music of Beethoven with that of the Polish composer.

Why would you ever perform Beethoven 1 and 2 today? Beethoven wrote seven later symphonies which are clearly better. That's kind of the point of Beethoven. Looking back on these two quite early works given knowledge of those masterful symphonies yet to come, it's hard to justify their performance except as stages in a story – a story which, if truth be told, is pretty familiar.

This opening concert to Vienna OsterKlang festival was a reproduction of sorts: on 5th April 1803 a slate of Beethoven works including the first and second symphonies, the third piano concerto and the oratorio Christus am Ölberge was performed in this very theatre.

The second instalment in The Hallé Beethoven cycle was led by Principal Guest Conductor Marcus Stenz, and also featured the striking Nordic colours of Jean Sibelius and Magnus Lindberg.Sibelius’ Symphony No.

Giving its concert on April 9th the subtitle “Sing Mozart Sing” and promoting it with a tongue-in-cheek portrait of the mischievous genius with his mouth half open in a wry smile, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra probably intended the audience to expect an evening of cheerful and light entertainment. The programming suited this intention down to a tee.

Tras el anuncio hace unos meses de Sir Mark Elder como director musical de Les Arts, el presente concierto sirvió de presentación y, quizá, de reflejo de sus futuras líneas maestras.

Mit Beethoven und Brahms beglückte Herbert Blomstedt das Bamberger Publikum.

La Sinfónica de Galicia con Dima Slobodeniouk en la dirección llevaron un programa con Strauss, Grieg y Beethoven a pequeñas localidades de Galicia.

Pas impressionné par le challenge, le jeune chef portugais a dirigé une Neuvième Symphonie impressionnante, où le Monteverdi Choir a brillé de mille feux.