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BBCNOW/Widmann review – explosive, inquisitive and exhilarating concerto is a family affair

Jörg Widmann conducted his own concerto with dynamism alongside virtuosic playing from his sister Carolin, while the BBCNOW were on incendiary form for Mendelssohn and Mozart

Anna Lapwood review – charismatic organist has a packed Royal Albert Hall eating out of her hand

The social media star allies her virtuosity in pieces written for her by Kristina Arakelyan and Max Richter with movie soundtracks and an infectiously winning enthusiasm

LSO/Dudamel/Rebeka review – relentless orchestral fireworks and bright moments

Starry conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra saw Strauss and Ravel given explosive power but limited depth

For Dieter: Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau album review – a heartfelt tribute to a lieder legend

The great baritone’s final student emulates his late mentor’s attention to verbal and musical detail in a 32-song centenary homage featuring plenty of Schubert

Scriabin: Vers la Flamme album review – Sudbin masters and humanises fourth and 10th sonatas

The pianist showcases Scriabin’s creative journey from Chopinesque preludes to utterly original modernism, shining bright in his exquisite treatment of the early works

Trial by Jury/A Matter of Misconduct! review – gags and Spads in Scottish Opera’s sparkling double bill

Gilbert and Sullivan’s 150-year-old comic opera gets a lively update, while there is plenty of fun to be had at the expense of politicians in Toby Hessian’s pacy new operetta

Giulio Cesare review – concert staging with plenty of sublime, and ridiculous, moments

Harry Bicket and the English Concert’s performance of Handel’s opera was full of compelling performances, most notably Louise Alder’s Cleopatra, Christophe Dumaux’s Caesar and John Holiday’s Ptolemy

Grisey: Vortex Temporum album review – bold, assertive interpretation of a masterly score

Gérard Grisey’s extraordinary expressive work, performed here by Ukraine’s leading new-music group, is one of the finest compositions of the late 20th century

Brahms: Complete Symphonies album review – period-instrument plushness with modern-instrument refinement

In recordings taken from live performances, John Eliot Gardiner conducts the RCO in taut and purposeful readings

The Excursions of Mr Brouček review – Simon Rattle embraces Janáček’s baffling but beautiful opera

Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra’s survey of Janáček’s operas arrives at the zany Mr Brouček. With Peter Hoare in the lead role and the likes of Lucy Crowe and Aleš Briscein, the performances could not be bettered

BBCNOW/MacMillan/Childs review – James MacMillan’s nostalgic celebration of the euphonium

The composer conducted his new work Where the Lugar Meets the Glaisnock, beautifully played by the virtuosic David Childs

Pimpinone review – hot-to-trot comic opera from the underperformed Telemann

Isabela Díaz has great fun as chambermaid Vespetta and Grisha Martirosyan is laugh-out-loud funny as nice-but-dim Pimpinone in a tale of sexual politics not a million miles from our own time

Britten Sinfonia/Sinfonia Smith Square review – quiet fervour and formal grace

Conducting duties were shared between Nicholas Daniel and Benjamin Nicholas in a sombre and moving programme whose main work was Messiaen’s great memorial to the dead of both world wars

Elgar: The Kingdom review – respectful and admirable, but this is still a work hard to love

An excellent choir and impressive soloists do justice to Elgar’s rather inert oratorio but don’t quite match existing recordings

Kurtág: Játékok review – Aimard is perfect guide to major set of piano miniatures

Kurtág himself approved Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s selection of 81 pieces from the composer’s 10 volumes of miniature pieces, now among the past half century’s great achievements

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  • Siegfried review – invigorating and mesmerising staging, with Schager outstanding as Wagner’s hero
  • Wu-Tang Clan review – still bringing the ruckus even on their farewell tour
  • The Kingdom: Oxford Bach Choir, BSO/Nicholas review – Elgar’s unloved oratorio sounds expansive and convincing
  • Sinfonia of London/ Wilson/ Kantorow review – pushing the limits of the well-oiled orchestral machine
  • BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Oramo/ Son review – rainy days, rolling hills and enchanted creatures
  • BBCNOW/Djupsjöbacka review – Tower’s Love Returns is an uncommonly appealing piece
  • Hallé/Chauhan/Helseth review – Muhly paints doom with Helseth’s gleaming trumpet
  • Elisabeth Leonskaja review – piano legend’s unerring sense of architecture reveals connections and kinships
  • Diagonale des Yeux: Madeleine review – wacky multilingual outsider pop with winning quieter moments
  • James Blake: Trying Times review – platitudes about politics and Kanye can’t detract from an excellent album
  • Joseph Nolan: The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol 1 album review – seething with quasi-orchestral colour
  • Nemanja Radulović: Prokofiev album review – thrills and spills from a fearless violin virtuoso
  • Philharmonia/Alsop/Weilerstein review – tricky acoustic mutes the sonic drama
  • The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers review – pathos and profanity elevate peerless rock’n’roll pastiche
  • Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/Whelan review – St John Passion of drama and authority
  • Golden Plains 2026 review – Basement Jaxx turn a regional farm into a surreal and heaving club
  • Echo and the Bunnymen review – Ian McCulloch leaves it to the crowd to sing these timelessly great songs
  • Harry Styles review – Netflix concert is a communal love-in with some big pop moments
  • LSO/Hannigan review – intensely fluent soprano switches into full command as conductor
  • Morrissey: Make-Up Is a Lie review – nostalgic, sentimental and dull, he is a shadow of what he once was
  • Feshareki/BBC Singers/Goddard review – goddess-inspired soundscape stuck in the great unknown
  • Hallé: Huw Watkins album review – Covid-era commissions capture energy and hope after lockdown
  • Simo Cell and Abdullah Miniawy: Dying Is the Internet review – a virtuosic voice cuts through digital noise
  • Waterbaby: Memory Be a Blade review – stellar singer-songwriter pieces post-breakup life back together
  • Mitski review – pop meets performance art in a masterful spectacle
  • Squeeze: Trixies review – finally completed first album proves teenage dreams are hard to beat
  • Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu: Live at the Met album review – electrifying renditions make the momentous intimate
  • 10cc review – 70s legends reprise a dazzling string of pop classics
  • Dave review – prodigiously skilled rapper conjures thrilling intimacy on a grand scale
  • Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally review – nice all the time. Good, occasionally

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