A golden Turangalîla-Symphonie to celebrate the Brighton Philharmonic’s centenary

Warm Vaughan Williams and energetic Richter and Vivaldi from MacGregor and the BPO strings, with an astonishing performance of Tavener’s The Protecting Veil from Guy Johnston the highlight. 

After the overture, whose two movements, fast and slow, were adequately dispatched by a suitably small orchestra, the audience mistook the arrival of an orchestral horn player as that of the soloist himself, and burst into applause, which turned to laughter as the mistake became obvious.

Joanna MacGregor's 'Exotic Birds', in an imaginatively programmed Auckland Philharmonia concert, gets our reviewer all aflutter.

Pleasantly enough, Britten Sinfonia went down a thoroughly unconventional route in celebrating their 20th birthday at the Barbican on Saturday, with a brilliantly varied range of new pieces mixing with chamber orchestra classics.

Despite knowing what was going to happen, it was a still surprising when, amid the chatter and bustle of the audience before the concert (there was a distinct lack of communal coughing before it started), the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain began Tuning Up.

As the programme put it, Prom 16 had a "distinctly watery" theme. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales took its audience on a trip to the Italian and French rivieras, with a staycation in the form of Hugh Wood's thrilling Piano Concerto. It was a challenging programme, which showed in the orchestra's playing more than once, but it was nevertheless an enjoyable experience.