Allegri String Quartet: Beethoven and Payne in Durham

Richard Strauss' music has earworm qualities – this applies to his chamber music as much as his operas, as this evening with the Allegri Quartet proved.

Oxford’s Coffee Concerts are a perfect recipe for a slow-paced morning. Preceded by complimentary coffee in a nearby café or pub, the series brings chamber music to the historic Holywell Music Room and finishes in time to let the audience find a spot for Sunday lunch.

Durham University’s concert series Musicon has been moving around different venues in the city over the last few years, and this year has been putting on concerts in the College chapel of St Hild and St Bede.

Yuja Wang and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra frame Chopin’s E minor concerto with two Prokofiev works, the First Symphony and Second Piano Concerto.

A world premiere by Wang Chenwei, familiar Chopin and a rare outing for Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta make for satisfying fare in Jahcun Wong’s Singapore Symphony programme.

After a Rachmaninov concerto that resembles a harangue, an uneven Toronto Symphony programme comes into focus with a sharply characterised Shostakovich Ninth.