Instrument: Leader

Who needs a conductor? The OAE under the direction of Matthew Truscott reveal the delightful range and character of Haydn, from his symphonic beginnings to the very end.

Candida Thompson’s performance of Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel with understated beauty, immaculate phrasing and restrained emotion, steals the show.

Joshua Bell plays and directs The Philadelphia Orchestra in Bruch, Mendelssohn and Price. 

Composer Massimiliano Matesic wows the Tonhalle audience with his orchestral arrangement of Schubert’s great song cycle.

The impressive Amsterdam Sinfonietta showed lucidity and depth in Britten and Shostakovich, with tenor Ilker Arcayürek and horn player Felix Klieser adding much to the quality.

A splendid cast led by Ann Hallenberg does justice to an integral version of Handel’s masterpiece under the baton of Ian Page.