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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Hisaishi review – frothing strings and quacking brass as Studio Ghibli’s composer debuts

Switching between podium and piano, Joe Hisaishi’s suite from The Boy and the Heron sparked joy, but Reich’s demanding Desert Music was vibrant and hypnotic

BBCSO/Ollikainen review – Stravinsky’s sacrificial dance had serrated edges

An exhilarating Rite of Spring and a cool-as-ice Bolero were high points in a Prom that also included the UK premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s luminous Cello Concerto

Petrassi: Concertos for Orchestra Nos 7 & 8 album review – dramatic power from rarely heard Italian master

Francesco La Vecchia draws out the fierce contrasts of Goffredo Petrassi’s later music in this new recording of his final two concertos.

Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works II album review – Mallarmé miniatures shine brightly

Ludovic Morlot creates a shimmering web around soprano Fleur Barron’s lucid vocals in Trois Poèmes, on an album that also showcases Shéhérazade and Don Quichotte

Orpheus and Eurydice review – acrobatic Gluck is haunting, dizzying and gasp-inducing

Iestyn Davies is outstanding as the tortured Orpheus in Yaron Lifschitz’s stark and imaginative staging

La Clemenza di Tito review – Emelyanychev and SCO spark magic with enthralling Mozart

With a luxury cast bringing anguish, believability and vocal perfection to Mozart’s opera of love and divided loyalty, this concert performance was flawless

LPO/Gardner/Akhmetshina review – Tippett’s rose lake sounds glorious

Star mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina shone in Ravel’s Shéhérazade, part of a vivid London Philharmonic programme of music evoking fairytales and far horizons

Helen Grime: Chamber Music review – clarity and colour from one of Britain’s most exciting young composers

Informed by Ted Hughes, TS Eliot and the natural world, Grime’s smaller-scale chamber pieces are alive with instrumental texture

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3; Two Scherzos album review – deft execution of the Russian’s early exuberance

Capturing the momentum of two of Shostakovich’s first Soviet-era symphonies, this performance adds a pair of scherzos that pre-date even them

Budapest Festival Orchestra / Fischer review – palpable joy in a vivid Prom pairing of Beethoven and Bluebeard

Conductor Iván Fischer and his players teased out the tiny details in a stirring Seventh Symphony, while Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle was full of grisly Hungarian intensity

BBCNOW/Venditti review – ​20th-century British classics shine at a potent patriotic Prom

Including a sugary Rutter premiere, the rarities were a slightly mixed bag, but the classics – The Lark Ascending, Enigma Variations and more – simply soared

BBCSO/Lintu review – ​there’s a good reason these Boulez and Mahler works aren’t often performed

Despite eye-catching percussion and deluxe orchestral playing, these strange, overlong pieces are for die-hards only

Káťa Kabanová review – furtive groping and a wing-bloodied angel stalk flawed staging of Janáček’s opera

Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic in this finely sung but inconsistent revival of Damiano Michieletto’s 2021 production

Hallé/Wong review – new conductor commands an utterly gripping performance

Conducting without a score, Kahchun Wong beguiled as he maintained ultraprecise coordination and built to a powerful, cosmic-scale finale

The Veil of the Temple – powerful expressive talents on display in eight-hour choral epic

The opening concert of this year’s Edinburgh international festival saw conductor Sofi Jeannin put in a remarkable shift marshalling combined choirs

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  • Tosca review – Natalya Romaniw is riveting in WNO’s season-opener
  • LSO/Pappano review – big, bold and filled with blazing conviction
  • Mozart’s Women: A Musical Journey review – Lauren Laverne helms an insight-free night that goes out with a bang
  • Last Night of the Proms review – star turns, good-natured flag waving and a rich Rule, Britannia!
  • Sinfonia of London – weapons-grade energy and contagious dynamism
  • Sarah Connolly/Joseph Middleton: The World Feels Dusty album review – powerful narrations spanning Ella Fitzgerald to Emily Dickinson
  • Tosca review – punchy new Puccini rises above the ‘Shame on you’ Russian soprano protests
  • Cerys Hafana: Angel review – tracing the life cycle with the Welsh triple harp
  • Mark William Lewis: Mark William Lewis review – A24’s first musical signing’s cinematic south London scenes
  • Ed Sheeran: Play review – subcontinental sounds and shards of darkness – but still unmistakably him
  • The Kanneh-Masons: River of Music album review – a fond familial affair
  • Belinda Carlisle review – gleeful veteran lassoes devoted audience with ageless hits
  • Vienna Philharmonic/ Welser-Möst review – mighty ensemble strike gold with Bruckner
  • Justin Bieber: Swag II review – more filler with an occasional pop killer
  • Jade: That’s Showbiz Baby! review – former Little Mix star thrives in chaos on an idiosyncratic debut
  • Chineke! Orchestra/Heyward review – kaleidoscopic concert combines energy and complexity
  • Lewis Capaldi review – an emotional return to the spotlight for pop’s most heart-on-sleeve star
  • Patrick Wolf review – a moon-lit marvel lights up the Minack theatre
  • Suede: Antidepressants review – edgy post-punk proves reunited Britpoppers remain on the up
  • L’heure espagnole/The Bear review – Scottish opera pairs Ravel with Walton in pacy pantomimic staging
  • Sacred Lodge: Ambam review – heady, hypnotic beats inspired by the hollers of Equatorial Guinea
  • Big Thief: Double Infinity review – folk-rock perfection will restore your faith in humanity
  • Nielsen: Clarinet Concerto; Helios; Symphony No 5 album review – suavity and elegance from Gardner’s Bergen Phil
  • Mozart: Six String Quintets album review – deep understanding of these under-appreciated works
  • David Byrne: Who Is the Sky? review – great songs, if you can withstand the wacky jokes and miaowing
  • BBCSO/Adès review – Adès held the orchestra as if under a spell
  • Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District review – semi-staged Shostakovich is vivid and claustrophobic
  • End of the Road review – from industrial rackets to pristine folk, festivals don’t get more varied or vital
  • Norwegian Chamber Orch/ Kuusisto/Barruk review – Proms first as Ume Sámi songs take centre stage
  • Gorillaz review – after 25 years, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band are still riveting and relevant

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