Period: 20th century

Celebration and infectious joy in Bennett and Gershwin, with silky textures and delicate precision in Ravel from John Wilson and the LSO.

Not one, but two piano concertos in the Malmö Live Konsertsalen, with a Finnish filling in Patrik Ringborg's Shostakovich sandwich.

A lovely recital of Schubert, Debussy and Beethoven by the Portuguese pianist in Aix’s Théâtre du Jeu de Paume.

The RLPO and Vasily Petrenko gave a fine concert of lesser-known Stravinsky to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, including the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments with Steven Osborne as soloist. 

The players gathered at the bar for a Scotch as the credits rolled. After three hours and twenty minutes of note-taking, I decided to follow suit.

All the music in their joyous concert was composed to delight the ear, and during a distressing pandemic there can be no higher calling.

Stravinsky came off more like a distillation of Mozartian than Bachian abstraction and the musicians responded with glee to the music's circus atmosphere.

The Scottish conductor held the podium and the piano bench in an expansive program that included Wagner, Britten, Debussy and the Georgia-based composer Carlos Simon.