Le Roi d’Ys review – the floodgates open to Lalo’s thrilling tale of love, rage and war
Chelsea Opera Group were at their best and conductor Paul Wingfield drove the score hard in this rare outing for the French composer’s startlingly original work
Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez review – still refreshingly alien
The hands of pianist Tamara Stefanovich executed a mesmerising ballet as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins saluted this revolutionary composer
The Tallis Scholars review – inspired pairing of Palestrina and Pärt brings shining warmth and clarity
The consummate vocal ensemble beautifully highlighted symbolic connections between the 16th-century Italian composer and soon-to-be 90 Arvo Pärt
DiDonato/Emelyanychev review – ingenious artistry brings Schubert’s bleak Winterreise to life
Joyce DiDonato’s theatrical skills enabled her to feminise the cycle in a particularly original way, before Strauss’s Morgen! gave us all hope
The week in classical: Arias Reimagined; Rhythm of the Seasons; Out of the Deep; Turandot – review
In a good week for baroque experiments, Handel meets Britney Spears and AI, while a whirlwind percussionist unpicks Vivaldi
Tales of Apollo and Hercules review – Handel double bill channels Don Draper and Hollywood musicals
An imaginative melding of a 1710 Handel cantata and a 1751 oratorio results in a nifty two-act opera-ballet – and a dazzling cornucopia of images
Errollyn Wallen: Orchestral Works album review – momentum and drive from the Master of the King’s Music
Dating from 2000 to 2023, referencing folk dance, spirituals and house music and including works for voices, there’s real of variety and quality here
Dvořák and Price String Quintets album review – a pairing of passion and sparkle
Dvořák’s Quintet No 2 in A major is full of charm, while Florence Price’s Piano Quintet in A minor is fleet of foot; this dream-team of chamber music makes them an excellent match
Britten Sinfonia/Berman review – haunting premiere about memories of the Holocaust
Michael Zev Gordon’s new piece about his Polish Jewish ancestors, for two narrators, a baritone and string orchestra, was performed with nuance, solemnity and intensity
Alexandros Kapelis/Berliner Barock Solisten review – ravishing period immersion in Bach’s keyboard concertos
The Solisten’s historically informed style played on modern instruments, with Kapelis’s crisp piano articulation, made for a musical equivalent of Bridgerton
Mishka Rushdie Momen review – the poignancy and power of Schubert unleashed
The pianist captured the vast dynamic contrasts of Schubert’s sonatas; and her fine playing of William Byrd was a refreshing foil foil
ACO/Tognetti review – a masterclass in chamber music-making
The Australian Chamber Orchestra played with fearlessness, curiosity and style in music by Bach, Shostakovich and, most poignantly, Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this month
The week in classical: Le nozze di Figaro; Die Zauberflöte – review
In uncertain times, future stars shine in two new Mozart productions – a fizzing 80s Figaro and a hospital-set Magic Flute that strikes one uneasy note…
Ravel: Fragments album review – Chamayou’s piano dances and dazzles in a luminous birthday celebration
A must-listen for Ravel lovers, large-scale works such as Daphnis et Chloé shine alongside miniatures by contemporaries and more recent admirers
Boulez: Livre pour Quatuor album review – first complete recording illuminates its vertiginous contrasts
Moments of stillness and animation, spareness and exuberance, are highlighted in a confident performance of a work started in 1948 – now finally recorded with its fourth movement