BBCSO/Stenz review – Glanert’s subversive Strauss celebration
Splenetic woodwind solos and pulsing accompaniments were the order of the day in Detlev Glanert’s hugely energetic Frenesia, composed as a riposte to Strauss
Total Immersion: Andriessen review – a joyous, uplifting experience
Compelling performances by the BBCSO of two UK premieres, La Commedia and Mysteriën, highlighted Louis Andriessen’s fresh and economical approach
BBCSO/Oramo/Fleming review – precision and exotic colour
Vocal works by Holloway and Hillborg were beautifully performed by US soprano Renée Fleming and the BBCSO under Sakari Oramo
Chagrin: Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 CD review – defining works by an intriguing creative figure
From Dukas to Doctor Who to a champion of New Music, Chagrin deserves more attention after almost being forgotten
BBCSO/Oramo review – sweeping, shattering, and totally at home
Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony explored the darkness in Elgar’s Second and Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad, while the UK premiere of Anna Clyne’s The Seamstress injected a delightful freshness
BBCSO/Bychkov review – Glanert’s tightly packed Brahms tribute, and then the real thing
Semyon Bychkov’s account of Brahms’s first symphony was imposing but lost its way, while Paul Watkins was a model of directness and virtuosity in Haydn’s cello concerto
BBCSO/Gardner review – a work of urgent relevance superbly realised
Edward Gardner captures the compassion and fury in Tippett’s A Child of Our Time; Knussen’s The Way to Castle Yonder is performed scrupulously
BBCSO/Oramo review – mountainous programme remains at sea level
Nothing was clear in Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s disappointing last appearance together this year
BBCSO/Alsop review – ferociously precise performance of MacMillan premiere
The exemplary UK premiere of James MacMillan’s apocalyptic scene was followed by angelic visions and a high-voltage blaze of optimism
Opera Zazà review – a knockout concert performance
Ermonela Jaho was brilliant in the title role, part of a staging that redeemed Leoncavallo’s underappreciated opera about a singer in a French music hall
Daniil Trifonov; Angela Hewitt; Total Immersion: Górecki review – fireworks and finesse
The young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov leaves our critic struggling for superlatives
BBCSO/Volkov review: charming, witty and disconcerting
Never one to shy away from the strange and surreal, Volkov offset this Richard Ayres premiere with something completely different
Total Immersion: Henryk Górecki review – from merely histrionic to magical
The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s evening concert, under Antoni Wit, highlighted the best of and worst of the Polish composer
Last Night of the Proms review – Alsop controls the crowd with ease
Marin Alsop conducted the BBCSO through a glamorous evening of classical barnstormers, singalongs, politics and knicker-throwing adulation
BBCSO/Litton – it made us think differently about Nielsen and Ives
This well-conceived Prom with a generous range of choral forces placed the major works by Nielsen and Ives alongside the popular roots of their writing