John Williams at St George's Bristol

Looking at its past, its present and its future, the Boston Symphony returns to Symphony Hall after the Covid hiatus. 

On entering St George’s Bristol, we were given a sheet of paper with a biography and the names of a handful of composers – the programme hadn’t been announced beforehand, and was only revealed during the concert by John Williams himself. He introduced each piece with a little context, varying from a piece’s personal relevance, to its historical background.

In a recent interview, BBC Radio 3 Controller Roger Wright was asked "What music would you want played at your funeral?" His reply: "Spanish guitar music, because I wouldn’t be there to hear it. If you ask my colleagues they’d say Spanish guitar music is one of my blind spots."Full marks to Wright for laying his cards on the table, perhaps.

Fragments by Brahms, Schoenberg and Schubert orbit Beethoven's Waldstein and Schumann's Carnaval in another masterful recital from Sir Stephen Hough.  

In Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, Yulianna Avdeeva commands attention through sheer innate charisma, anchored in intense engagement.

Nightfall in Sheffield General Cemetery provides the perfect atmospheric backdrop for Ensemble 360’s exploration of chamber music by Mozart, Weber and Korngold.