Performer: Simone Kermes

A tremendous performance of one of Rameau's great stage works, but one that raised questions about the plot in concert form.

Out of the swamp: Marcel Beekman rocks the house in Robert Carsen’s glittering take on Platée.

Programming is one of Simon Rattle’s fortes, and this was clearly evident her. Both works on the programme, Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates and Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time are large-scale oratorios dealing with difficult subject matter.