Trio Mediaeval at LSO St Luke's

The title for this Barbican event certainly threw up some interesting questions. Having failed to attend a riotous dinner party that was characterised by one attendee as “a scream and an outrage”, Nico Muhly set about curating a series of concerts under this title. However, no screams or outrages occurred this weekend.

It's not often in classical music that the performers themselves are the main focus of our attention; more often than not they are at the service of the composer. But this evening was an exception to the rule, showcasing the multi-talented Joanna MacGregor and Arve Henriksen.

The music of Glinka, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky fills Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with mystery, intrigue and jollity. 

The contrasting delights of Schumann, Brahms and Dvořák are powerfully evoked in performances of charm, eloquence and high drama from the Philharmonia, continuing the orchestra’s 80th anniversary celebrations. 

Seong-Jin Cho’s premise in Prokofiev is compelling – to reconcile Russian gravitational attack and monumental construction with clarity, colour and contrapuntal legibility.

From Haydn and Beethoven to Weinberg and Rachmaninov, Marc-André Hamelin reveals the piano sonata as a form of breadth, flexibility and expressive power.