Leonidas Kavakos review – the music dances irresistibly in ego-free solo Bach
In the first of two concerts of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, Kavakos beguiled and impressed, but it was a performance in which the music came first
Llŷr Williams review – Welsh pianist of an infinite range of colours
Williams more than rose to the challenge of Schumann’s Kreisleriana and the Op 11 Sonata with playing of clarity and rigour
Brian: The Cenci album review – composer’s lack of flair for music drama all too evident
Havergal Brian’s third opera, a reworking of Shelley’s play of renaissance corruption and incest, sparks only intermittently into dramatic life
Yunchan Lim: Chopin: Études Op 10 & Op 25 album review – prodigiously gifted young pianist confirms he’s something special
The South Korean musician’s first recording for Decca features thrilling and original performances
Margaret Curphey obituary
Soprano at the heart of productions of the Ring cycle and other Wagner operas conducted by Reginald Goodall
CBSO/Yamada review – Anna Clyne’s Atlas is a brilliantly coloured musical scrapbook
This piano concerto co-commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is one of quicksilver changes of mood conveyed brilliantly by Jeremy Denk
‘Musical soulmates’: the extraordinary story of The Piano sensation Lucy and her doting teacher
Lucy Illingworth wowed audiences on the TV talent show, but her journey started as a toddler with dedicated tutor Daniel Bath. Now, a documentary shows how they did it – and the shocking moment a royal disaster almost stopped them
Stapleton/Amidon/Aurora Orchestra/Muhly review – grisly murder ballads beautifully played
New York-based composer Nico Muhly teamed up with the Aurora Orchestra and folk singers Robyn Stapleton and Sam Amidon to explore songs from Scotland and the US
Larmes de Couteau/Full Moon in March review – two supremely weird operas
Bohuslav Martinů’s 1928 work is a strip-lighted nightmare whirlwind, while Harbison’s is highly stylised post-tonal sitcom unfolding around a four-poster bed
Götterdämmerung review – Jurowski’s six-year completion of Wagner’s Ring cycle was well worth the wait
Jurowski’s attention to detail across four-and-a-half hours brought the darkness of Wagner’s score thrillingly to life
Paraorchestra: Death Songbook live review – bittersweet ballads with Brett Anderson and friends
Charles Hazlewood’s boundary-breaking ensemble guide the Suede singer and special guests through an elegiac evening grown out of the pandemic
The week in classical: Lucia di Lammermoor; Nash Ensemble; Anthony McGill and Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective – review
A fearless central performance anchors Katie Mitchell’s busy yet insightful Donizetti revival. And two chamber concerts serve as a vibrant prelude to this year’s BBC Proms…
Classical home listening: Golda Schultz’s Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!; Kozłowski’s Requiem and more
The soprano gets to the heart of ‘absolute gifts’ Susanna, Donna Elvira, the Contessa and co. In Singapore, the revival of an 18th-century gem
OAE/Schiff review – Mendelssohn deep dive is charged with energy and colour
Two of Mendelssohn’s symphonies plus his second piano concerto were almost too much of a good thing, but not when played with such delicacy and spirit
Adams: Girls of the Golden West album review – California gold rush opera has a definitive recording
The opera met with a mixed response on its 2017 premiere. After two reworkings, and with many of its original cast reprising their roles, this premiere recording is a rich and energetic mix