Bohemian rhapsodies

Feelings burn brightly in Bohemia, and no-one understands that like Mark Elder – a conductor whose theatrical flair makes everything he touches catch fire. Janáček’s overture Jealousy lights the touchpaper, before Steven Isserlis plays the greatest of all cello concertos: written in the New World but blazing with nostalgia for Europe. And it gets more intense after the interval, with Janáček’s sensational orchestral melodrama Taras Bulba. If Taras Bulba was a film, it would be directed by Tarantino; but for Janáček, this bloody medieval tale of war and betrayal is simply an excuse for some serious sonic thrills. Hold tight.