If Mr Barkhatov’s staging made light work of the Simon Boccanegra libretto’s complexities, it was Mr Bignamini’s unforced but consistently well-judged reading that allowed Verdi’s score to flourish.

The main attraction was the German première of Mr Salonen’s Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra, which was completed and given its first performance (in Katowice) only six days ago.With Olivier Latry on the Karl Schuke organ of the Philharmonie and spirited direction from the composer himself, the new work provided a compelling centrepiece to an evening that never lacked excitement.

It was neither the spirited playing of the orchestra, the enthusiasm of the singers, nor even the restrained splendour of the staging that could claim sole responsibility for the success of the production: it was rather the perfect balance between its various elements that transformed this 'Mitridate' into a subtle, stylish, and thoroughly engaging evening

This 'Fidelio' was a production that felt uneasy less for the implied violence of the libretto (or the real violence of the staging) than for a hurried pace that left little room for reflection

'Il Giustino' was written first and foremost a vocal showcase, and the staging acknowledged this by turning the area around the orchestra pit into a platform, allowing the singers to deliver their arias directly to the audience without an excess of projection that might have ruined the delicate balance between voice and instrumental ensemble

For all that Mr Tcherniakov was willing to drag the themes of the Ring far beyond their normal context, the four evenings of the cycle were balanced by performances that brought out the intoxicating musical qualities that have drawn generations of listeners into Wagner’s world

The evening was first and foremost a musical triumph, with high-quality performances from all of the soloists, although was the first time in the cycle where one was not entirely convinced that all the components of the staging fit into a rigorously conceived whole.

If 'Rheingold' is a purely mythological spectacular, 'Walküre' marks the beginning of the cycle’s shift in the direction of human drama, and in place of continuous set changes, Mr Tcherniakov devoted his energies to extended scenes examining the passions and madnesses that drive the characters

Whatever you were expecting, this probably wasn’t it.Dmitri Tcherniakov’s productions for the Staatsoper Berlin over the past decade have made a point of pushing operatic texts outside their comfort zones in ways that open up new avenues of meaning while retaining the emotional essence of the original

The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig presented a programme of stark contrasts in which the quiet anguish of Shostakovich’s 'Chamber Symphony' and the cataclysmic force of Sofia Gubaidulina’s 'Der Zorn Gottes' were held in fine balance by unshakable optimism of Beethoven’s 'Seventh Symphony'