The Eighth offers perhaps the most fully-realised expression of Bruckner's vision, and when one is fortunate enough to experience a performance as great as the one given by Andris Nelsons and the Berlin Philharmonic, it is impossible to emerge from the concert hall unmoved

If the programme was held together by few common threads – save perhaps for the prominent trumpet and the moments of heavy drumming shared by the three works – the quality of the performances yielded an evening of constant delights

Mutter es la decana de los violinistas actuales, y sabiendo que en la actualidad prácticamente todos los buenos violinistas son mujeres, ha tenido la inteligencia de dejar para ellas los conciertos del “gran repertorio” y de un tiempo a esta parte se dedica a interpretar piezas poco frecuentadas o a obras comisionadas especialmente, como es el caso de esta noche.

Por supuesto que Carlos Simon se acuerda de Florence Price, pero la tradición que inició George Gerswhin sigue estando presente.

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'

Between the extraordinary refinement of the playing and the consistently thrilling direction of Andris Nelsons, the evening was a casually flawless illustration of how the best concerts invariably arise from the simple pairing of great pieces with great musicians