Kahchun Wong remembers vividly the moment it happened. ‘With an orchestra, you know it when it clicks, when there is a chemistry,’ he recalls. ‘I went to the first rehearsal without any expectation. I

National Symphony Orchestra/ Gianandrea Noseda NSO NSO0022 75:12 mins Mahler’s mad-cap Seventh is the toughest of his symphonies to conceptualise and to execute. Lacking any explicit programme, two of

‘A, whom you want, signs to play at your concert. He sends B (whom you don’t mind) to the first rehearsal. B, without your knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play

Kammerorchester Basel/Giovanni Antonini Alpha ALPHA1092 76:29 mins The most familiar of the symphonies here, if only because it has a nickname, is No. 55, whose ‘Schoolmaster’ title arises out of the

Works by Bach, Vivaldi and Marcello Amandine Beyer (violin); Gli Incogniti Harmonia Mundi HMM90276970 134 mins The communicative warmth and infectious vitality of Amandine Beyer’s performances will ha

Robert Thicknesse on Opera ● WE HAVE THE ...