Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Piano Concerto no. 2 in B flat major, Op.83

Late Brahms, early Schoenberg: under Lahav Shani and the Rotterdam Philharmonic draw tenderness from two monumental scores. 

Jonathan Nott and the OSR bring surgical precision to Debussy’s vivid sketches, while Khatia Buniatishvili’s Brahms evokes the soulful, improvisational warmth of a pre-war piano legend at the Elbphilharmonie. 

Leif Ove Andsnes joins the Vienna Symphony in the Musikverein's Golden Hall for a glowing account of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto before a terrific Tod und Verklärung. 

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its future Music Director revel in a Brahms piano concerto with ideal collaborator Daniil Trifonov and an energetic Dvořák 7. 

Kahchun Wong returns to Singapore, displaying definite ideas about Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, despite its ambivalence and seemingly open-ended message. 

Brahms vs Tchaikovsky, the final showdown? Perhaps not, but a close-run contest  between a deeply thoughtful Brahms Second Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Was there a winner? 

The best moments come at either end of this underwhelming LA Phil concert.  

An evening of two halves, each demonstrating different facets of conductor, soloist and orchestra in performances of Brahms and Vaughan Williams.   

Gianandrea Noseda’s awareness of colour, texture and detail repays dividends in the symphony, whereas Simon Trpčeski’s absence of muscle and full-blooded Romantic sentiment does Brahms no favours in the concerto.

Richard Farnes conducts Andrew Gourlay's symphonic suite drawn from Wagner's Parsifal as the Symphony Orchestra of India returns to Cadogan Hall. 

Garrick Ohlsson returns to the scene of earlier triumphs for breathtaking Brahms with Emmanuel Villaume and PKF – Prague Philharmonia.

Hisako Kawamura shows excellence and stamina in tackling two huge concertos, while Kazuki Yamada and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony give compelling Brahms but are less convincing in Amy Beach.

The astonishing Korean pianist faces a David vs Goliath contest in Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. 

Elim Chan and Igor Levit make successful Boston Symphony debuts performing Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. 

Kirill Petrenko's remarkable artistry and Boris Giltburg's vibrant piano-playing are the highlights of the Santa Cecilia's performance.

A sunlit performance of Brahms from Stephen Hough, with playful energy in Haydn from Mark Wigglesworth and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Ax, Rattle and the LSO make two weighty masterpieces feel airy, uncluttered and suitably uplifting.

Kirill Gerstein’s interpretation of Brahms' Second Piano Concerto appeared as a true homage to the great Romanian pianist Radu Lupu.

An excellent choice of programming, with Royal Northern Sinfonia and Lars Vogt performing Handel and Brahms, but disappointing in its execution. 

Simon Trpčeski gives a commendable performance of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, whilst Gabriel Bebeşelea conducts the Ulster Orchestra in a thought-provoking Sibelius Second Symphony.

Francesco Piemontesi performed Brahms’ monumental second concerto with captivating results, followed by Andrew Manze’s carefully considered interpretation of Mozart’s Jupiter symphony in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall.

A long four-movement concerto and a long symphonic work by two close musical friends, given by Pablo Heras-Casado, Francesco Piemontesi and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.

Bernard Haitink's annual visit to the Boston Symphony brought autumnal Brahms with the Second Piano Concerto and the Second Symphony.

What started with anomalies with the Hong Kong Phil ended in triumphant good cheer.

The increasingly effulgent conductor filtered Brahms’ tone through a chandelier of variously-shaped orchestral figures.

Bearded Brahms was prolific in the two works in this Boston Symphony program under Andris Nelsons. 

Brahms's Second Piano Concerto acts as the enlightening partner to Dutch avant-garde composer Reinbert de Leeuw's first symphonic work in 40 years, under the baton of Oliver Knussen.

Donald Runnicles in his farewell concert as Chief Conductor with the BBCSSO went out in style with a golden Brahms Second Piano Concerto and a glorious account of Mahler’s First Symphony.

An ambitious undertaking to perform both Brahms' piano concertos on the same programme, but not one that succeeded in this performance at the Royal Festival Hall.

More than today’s expert on Brahms, Ax promotes a revolutionary approach to the soloist persona: the soloist who is a chamber musician first and a diva second. 

An exciting rendition of Brahms Second Piano Concerto in the first half was offset by a less than engaging rendition of Hindemith's Symphony: Mathias der Maler in the second. 

Alan Gilbert leads a troublesome Beethoven and a gorgeous Brahms. 

The third movement waltz was a particular high point for sheer fun. Tchaikovsky's implied sinister undertones slipped under the radar.

When a back problem forced Gustavo Dudamel to cancel, the Tonhalle’s new chief conductor Lionel Bringuier picked up the programme and changed it to an all-Brahms escapade.

Yuja Wang playing cat and mouse with the Hong Kong Philharmonic in Brahms' B-flat second concerto.

Beautifully shaped performances of Nielsen and Sibelius scores, along with André Watts joining Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra in the Brahms Second Piano Concerto.

A mini-Brahms-fest, with both piano concertos, but no symphonies from The Cleveland Orchestra. 

A rapturous Second Piano Concerto and a towering Fourth Symphony made Bernard Haitink's all-Brahms concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe memorable. 

Lars Vogt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra bring freshness to a programme of German classics. 

Barenboim underwhelms as soloist in Brahms's two titanic piano concertos at the opening concert of the Berlin Festival, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Audience members were gifted with a rare treat Saturday night when Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Laureate Christoph von Dohnányi appeared as guest conductor with the San Diego Symphony.

Both Andris Nelsons and the Philharmonia Orchestra showed total commitment to and immersion in Brahms' music in this instalment in Nelsons' cycle with the orchestra. They were joined by Hélène Grimauld for the Second Piano Concerto, before the Fourth Symphony.

For anyone lucky enough to have witnessed the last Barbican residency from Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the striking, thoughtful and vivid accounts of Brahms they gave here should not be a surprise. In Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2, however, orchestra outdid soloist.

Tonight’s The Rest is Noise concert, featuring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas and Yefim Bronfman, took on one of 20th-century music’s biggest questions. Anyone who has been following this huge concert series – or indeed the accompanying BBC documentary The Sound and the Fury – will no doubt be acquainted by now with Arnold Schoenberg and his angry, radical ways.

The Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra is a regional orchestra that has 56 years of history in the province of Ontario. Led by music director Marco Parisotto, the Ontario Phil enjoys local community support to performances given chiefly at the Regent Theater in Oshawa, Ontario.

Sir Mark Elder opened The Hallé’s 2012-13 season with two large works whose darker and more introverted aspects were highlighted very effectively. A disappointingly small audience turned out (the hall was perhaps half full) but the music was very much full and energised.

While the connections between Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2 and Lutosławski’s Symphony no. 3 may appear tenuous at first, there is a beautiful symmetry here. In 1878, Brahms had finally started writing symphonies, and though the first was long in gestation the second and third followed fluidly.

Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto no. 2 and Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. Both solidly—not to mention stolidly—popular works. Safe programming choices. Maybe too safe. Both works are well loved. Well worn, too. Think of the Brahms. Every pianist of note that has ever lived (and will ever live) has recorded and played it.

Friday night's concert, entitled Majestic Brahms, was a concert of two very different halves, with Brahms' Second Piano Concerto comprising the first half and Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony the second. The Brahms is a Herculean piece with one of the most challenging solo parts in the repertoire. Lasting approximately fifty minutes, it is a concerto on a symphonic scale.