Instrument: Trombone

Higgins never forgets that the concerto form has a playful element

Some 15 minutes long, in a slow-fast-slow form, Le Tombeau de Napoléon wraps a taxing solo part for tenor trombone in a dramatically compelling and sonically thrilling orchestral canvas.

There were memorable moments, as Noseda continued his advocacy of Sir James MacMillan and Shostakovich symphony cycle. Yet Noseda’s maximalist approach had its costs, as it was only in the opening Kodály that found Noseda at his best.

Spanish composer Elena Mendoza presents a hermetic piece of contemporary theatre that is at the same time a disappointing opera and a worthy musical exploration of literary universe of Juan Carlos Onetti

Carl Vine's Five Hallucinations received its world première with dedicatee and CSO trombonist Michael Mulcahy. Gaffigan's diverse program also included a Franck tone poem and Prokofiev's Cinderella.

Tan Dun, Keiko Mitsuhashi, and the Tokyo Philharmonic deliver an homage concert to Toru Takemitsu, utilizing orchestral music as a “garden” and a “theatre."

Playing repeatedly in my mind as I walked home on 24 July was the spine-chilling orchestral performance of the "Dance of the Knights" from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in the Franz Liszt Academy’s superb Solti Hall.