Performer: Stanislav Kochanovsky

There is something peculiarly Russian about the capacity for suffering as exemplified in the music of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. Maria Ioudenitch, Stanislav Kochanovsky and the Dresden Philharmonic are excellent interpreters at Cadogan Hall.

Without bite and grit, Bartók's music loses some of its uniqueness. Kochanovsky and his Hannover players still have some way to go, but Valeriy Sokolov delivers an impassioned Second Violin Concerto.

Multi-sensory music? Scriabin's Prometheus, Poem of Fire tickles the senses in an ecstatic performance under Stanislav Kochanovsky.