Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor, Op.16

Seong-Jin Cho’s premise in Prokofiev is compelling – to reconcile Russian gravitational attack and monumental construction with clarity, colour and contrapuntal legibility.

Yuja Wang and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra frame Chopin’s E minor concerto with two Prokofiev works, the First Symphony and Second Piano Concerto.

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

Can one be artful and musical while playing at maximum volume? In a program of López, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, Rafael Payare and the Pittsburgh Symphony answer a resounding yes.

If Prokofiev’s original intention in his Second Piano Concerto was shock and awe, Yuja Wang gives exactly the right performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Prokofiev opens Seong-Jin Cho’s LSO Artist Portrait series, sandwiches between symphonies by Shostakovich and Beethoven. 

Yuja Wang’s verve and panache, combined with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra’s fearless, youthful energy, forge an incandescent, explosive performance.

Story time with Uncle Iván as the BFO plays music from the ballet Cinderella to crown an all-Prokofiev evening. 

Wit, tragedy, and the weight of history in Santtu-Matias Rouvali's program of Prokofiev and Shostakovich at the Wu Tsai Theater. 

Stepping in for an indisposed Jonathon Heyward, Antonio Méndez conducts the BBCSO at their most colourful and joyously virtuosic. 

Making her debut on the conductor’s podium, Han-Na Chang’s enthusiastic musicality makes a strong impression at the Sydney Opera House, in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.

The French pianist gives a performance of Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto to remember; Tugan Sokhiev and an inconsistent Santa Cecilia thrill in Tchaikovsky. 

Two powerful, virtually contemporaneous statements from Prokofiev and Nielsen: Denis Kozhukhin is a commanding soloist in the concerto and Jukka-Pekka Saraste with the BBC SO convincingly ride the waves of the symphony.

"Is the Vienna Philharmonic coming or not?" This had been the talk of town amongst classical music fans in Japan since September, when its concert scene regained some semblance of normality.

Pastoral repose and granitic grandeur in an awe-inspiring performance of Sibelius' Second Symphony. 

The CBSO Youth Orchestra under Andrew Gourlay both succumb to and transcend imperfections in their performances of Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

Technically impressive pianism from Denis Matsuev doesn't click with Noseda and the LSO, but Shostakovich 6 is delivered with verve.

Stanislav Kochanovsky, Nikolai Lugansky and the Belgian National Orchestra impress with an all-Russian triple bill.

The Hungarian conductor is a late replacement for a satisfying mixed programme in which pianist Anna Vinnitskaya makes a blistering debut. 

Making his Proms debut, Cristian Măcelaru opened the evening with music from his countryman, Constantin Silvestri, before tackling Prokofiev and Rachmaninov.

Kochanovsky has been making waves around Europe and beyond, and we now heard just why.

In his first Cleveland Orchestra engagement since 2006, MTT offered a powerful Russian evening of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and a Prokofiev concerto with Daniil Trifonov.

A night of big names: Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev, The Mariinsky Orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov. 

Youth was a hindrance rather than a virtue in this testosterone-driven performance which sought more than anything to sock the audience between the eyes

Andris Nelsons has been a frequent visitor to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2008, often conducting the symphonies of Shostakovich. 

A Liszt tone poem, a Prokofiev piano concerto, and a Dvořák symphony made for a high-octane CSO program with conductor Emmanuel Krivine and pianist Denis Kozhukhin.

The energising figure of Vladimir Ashkenazy presided over this all-Russian programme in a concert that showcased the prodigious gifts of Denis Kozhukhin.

Sibelius and Nielsen still in very good hands at the LSO, but whence comes such a gift as that of Daniil Trifonov?

Though the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s programme used all the traditional ingredients for a concert of Russian music, it improved the recipe considerably with very special flavours.

Valery Gergiev led an athletic pilgrimage through composer-pianist Sergei Prokofiev’s five Piano Concerti, in numerical order, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

What on paper might have looked like a circus act – wheeling out three pianists to plough through Prokofiev’s five piano concertos – turned out to be a fascinating opportunity to compare and contrast.

Sunday night is fiesta night, or so it seemed at the Barbican, where the London Symphony took us on a whirlwind tour from Seville in Andalucia to the Asturias. 

Thanks to wild talent of soloist and conductor, a strikingly new take on some familiar work and a standout concert in Houston Symphony's season so far.

Whilst tonight's performance of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony was polished and highly accomplished, it was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 2 that really quickened our pulses.

Conductor and wunderkind Yannick Nézet-Séguin returned home to Montreal to lauch the 33rd season of L’Orchestre Métropolitain with a concert dedicated to compositions written or created a century ago in 1913.

Prom 30 saw the return of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under its Conductor Laureate Gianandrea Noseda with a Russian-themed programme. Prokofiev, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were played alongside Edward Cowie’s BBC commission and world première Earth Music I – The Great Barrier Reef.The Borodin overture and Polovtsian dances from Prince Igor served as an energy-injection to the start of the evening.

If the graphic design of a concert programme can be said to shape our expectations of the event then the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2012/13 booklet, on which the press verdict “blazing originality” is encircled by red-hot flames, had perhaps set its sights rather high. Thursday’s concert, however, did not disappoint.

If the craft of the conductor has ever been a mystery to you – for it can certainly be a mystery to the orchestra – there couldn’t have been a finer explanation than this showcase concert.

The Robeco Summer Concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam have for years now allowed lovers of classical music to still enjoy live music in the middle of summer when most orchestras are travelling or on a break. This year’s line-up is as impressive as ever, with many international orchestras gracing Amsterdam with their presence.

The pictures in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance on Friday, dubbed “Pictures from Russia”, were clear, perfectly hued and daubed with rich colour. The command that conductor Carolyn Kuan held over the Orchestra produced an evening of electric excitement.

Bemerkenswerte Debüts sowohl des südkoreanischen Pianisten Seong-Jin Cho als auch des finnischen Dirigenten Santtu-Matias Rouvali beim Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Excelente concierto en Ibermúsica en el que Jan Lisiecki mostró gran personalidad junto a la Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, la cual, liderada por Jurowski, llenó el Auditorio Nacional de sonido pleno y sutil.

Quelle générosité de couleurs dans ce programme russe que nous offre l'Orchestre de Paris pour sa reprise tant attendue des concerts avec public !

Ante la cancelación del insigne Vladimir Fedoseyev, el joven José Antonio Trigueros al frente de la OSG encaró un programa complejo, Shotakovich y Prokofiev, para el que contó además con la presencia de la pianista Varvara.

La saison s'est ouverte sur un concert réjouissant. Au côté de l'Orchestre Philharmonique dirigé par Mikko Franck, Nikolai Lugansky a délivré une interprétation éblouissante du Concerto pour piano n° 2 de Prokofiev.

Sous la direction de Marko Letonja et avec l'extraordinaire pianiste Nikolaï Lugansky, l'ouverture « russe » de la saison de l'Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg a donné lieu à un concert des plus réussis.

Mit Werken von Rimsky-Korsakow, Prokofjew und Schostakowitsch läutet das Riga Jūrmala Festival das letzte Wochenende seiner ersten Saison ein.

Die Musik hat als solche beeindruckt, und ein bleibendes Erlebnis war das Konzert für die Musizierenden allemal.

L’Orchestre Pasdeloup revient à la Philharmonie dans un programme varié qui mêle la musique de Kaija Saariaho à Prokofiev et Beethoven. Au pupitre, le chef ukrainien Mykola Diadiura, avec le pianiste Abdel Rahman El Bacha.

Voilà quelques années que Valery Gergiev a marqué cette musique au fer, et le jour viendra bientôt où maestro voudra faire entendre les cinq concertos au cours d’une même soirée. Pour l’heure, il s’en tient aux trois premiers...