Performer: Vladimir Fedoseyev

The touring Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra brings a 'Finnish Sandwich' to Leeds.

This was a rapturous celebration of creative instrumentation, virtuosity and brilliance that completely engaged and energized.

The night got off to a very classical, Viennese start when Vladimir Fedoseyev took the stage of the golden hall on Saturday night at the Musikverein.

It would be hard to count out every single thing that was Russian about this concert. The sounds of 19th-century Russia came to Colston Hall, as part of a big tour of the UK, with three giant Russian works and three encores, by all-Russian performers.The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio is a big orchestra with around 100 instrumentalists.

Before writing a note of Gogol, composer Lera Auerbach immersed herself in the writer’s complete works and over twenty books written about him. It would take similar efforts to begin to understand this opera: taking us inside the fevered mind of its title character, Gogol is less a biographical narrative set to music than a phantasmagorical, psychological investigation.

Das Gastspiel der Helikon-Oper Moskau am Theater an der Wien zeigt Beginn und Ende von Tschaikowskys künstlerischen Schaffens.