Ben Goldscheider/ Richard Uttley review – a horn, a piano … and a braying donkey
This was a richly satisfying and moving concert of music that ranged from Mahler and Schumann to Simon Holt’s the Bell and Oliver Leith’s Eeyore
LPO/Jurowski review – Mahler’s 10th is full of colour, and the composer’s pain, in Barshai’s completion
Rudolf Barshai’s audacious completion of Mahler’s final unfinished symphony slathers on the colour, and its diverse timbral details came over loud and clear thanks to the LPO’s playing and Vladimir Jurowski’s textural lucidity
BBCSO/BBC Singers/Brabbins: UnEarth review – Wolfe faces the climate crisis head on
Julia Wolfe’s oratorio, here in its UK premiere, is evocative and striking, but its thudding final movement felt heavy-handed
Riot Ensemble review – from meditations to mariachi in new music of maximal difference
The new music group’s engaging programme of works by Corie Rose Soumah, Anna Meredith, Alex Paxton and Eden Lonsdale moved from the swaggering to the subtle
Havergal Brian: The Gothic album review – Ole Schmidt tames a vast, eccentric score
A 1980 live recording reveals the Danish conductor’s assured handling of a colossal symphony – a balance of architectural clarity and gothic extravagance
Bach: Sonatas & Partitas album review – Capuçon brings warmth, restraint and reflection
These performances of Bach’s solo works are elegant and persuasive – balancing a modern tone with an alert awareness of period style
GBSR Duo: For Philip Guston review – Feldman’s marathon minimalism rewards deep listening
At over four hours without a break, Morton Feldman’s work dedicated to his artist friend is challenging, but in a rare live performance, the concentration of its performers made it an unforgettable experiencence
BBCSO/Schuldt review – Phibbs cello concerto brings cohesion to uneven programme
Clemens Schuldt kept the volume high in an inconsistent evening in which the BBC Symphony Orchestra ranged across Tchaikovsky’s Hamlet, Mel Bonis’s Ophélie and a suite from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
Death of Gesualdo review – a creepy and compelling combination of beauty and horror
The twisted life and sublime music of the murderous Renaissance composer is examined with style
CBSO/Yamada review – Moore’s trombone adventures into Fujikura’s sonic oceans
Dai Fujikura’s elusive trombone concerto was given its UK premiere by Peter Moore, who made its colours and textures sing; a persuasive but perhaps too sunny reading of Mahler’s first symphony followed in the concert’s second half
Brahms: Late Piano Works album review – Anderszewski leans into the sorrow of these intimate miniatures
Darkness hangs over a fluid and distinctively emotional take on a dozen introspective works
Igor Stravinsky: Late Works album review – kudos to Reuss for bringing this spellbinding music to life
Noord Nederlands Orkest and Cappella Amsterdam breathe colour and light into work from the composer’s most austere period
The Makropulos Affair review – Simon Rattle leads a sensational and thrilling semi-staging
The tension barely let up for two hours as Rattle led the London Symphony Orchestra and a commanding cast through this vital account of Janáček’s opera.
Are ‘Friends’ Electric? review – Elaine Mitchener redefines what singing means in virtuoso tour-de-force
The vocalist travels the full spectrum of the human voice, from subdued sounds of mouth and breath to an exhilarating remix of her own hyper-exuberant electronic soundscape
An English Song Winterreise review – Roderick Williams masterfully mirrors Schubert’s iconic song cycle
The baritone has refined his playlist to include Vaughan Williams, Ina Boyle and Gerald Finzi, lending this enthralling cycle deeper melancholy than the original