Vladimir Jurowski had pointedly opted for an orchestra of modest proportions for this evening of Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Mahler, and the lay-out of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with woodwinds, brasses, and basses tiered at the centre of…

London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/ Whitacre Barbican Hall Eric Whitacre made us wait for the choral moment that has so quickly become a global phenomenon. Lux Aurumque (Light of Gold) went viral on YouTube launching Whitacre’s “virtual…

Simon Keenlyside/ Julius Drake Temple Church There were moments in Schubert’s song Verklärung (“Transfiguration”) where the splendour of the declamation and the whispering of spirits from the next world seemed almost too vivid to be true. “The…

Steffani Niobe, Regina di Tebe Royal Opera House Agostino Steffani (who?) may have been consigned to a footnote in musical history but here’s why he was such a big deal in the realm of 17th century courtly…

Bizet Les Pecheurs de Perles Royal Opera House The mis en scène of some operas really is best left to the imagination. Penny Woolcock had a good crack at Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at ENO last season…

London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Jurowski Royal Festival Hall As if it wasn’t enough to open a new London Philharmonic season with a simply tremendous performance of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony, Vladimir Jurowski could not resist adding a preface. And…

SATURDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 2010 PROM 66: BERLIN PHILHARMONIC/ RATTLE Royal Albert Hall The Mahler had come the night before – this second Berlin Philharmonic Prom imaginatively chronicled the before and after. Foundations were laid in the sustained…

WEDNESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 2010 PROM 62: GUSTAV MAHLER JUGENDORCHESTER/ BLOMSTEDT Royal Albert Hall Like the Matthias Grünewald paintings that inspired it, Paul Hindemith’s Symphony “Mathis der Maler” sounds somehow, and quite miraculously, to be illuminated from within.…

SUNDAY 29TH AUGUST 2010 PROM 58: CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA/ GARDINER Royal Albert Hall If you didn’t know who was playing, the second theme of Dvorak’s Carnival Overture – clarinet in songful counterpoint with the homeliest of tunes…