Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonThere can be, I suspect, no such thing as a definitive performance of the Missa Solemnis. Beethoven's examination of the relationship between God's grandeur and erring humanity is so colossal that no single interpretation can encompas... more info

Guardian Music — City Halls, GlasgowComposer Oliver Knussen tends to get to the heart of things, writing with a knack for concision that borders on alchemy. Works like the tiny Two Organa (1994) use fleeting gestures to conjure much bigger spaces. Knussen's magic is ... more info

Detroit Free Press — Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" for piano, chorus and orchestra doesn't get performed much, partly because it's not essential Beethoven and partly because hiring a solo pianist and chorus requires a significant investment of resources for... more info

Guardian Music — Trio Wanderer(Harmonia Mundi)A general knowledge of Beethoven's piano trios tends to stop at the two most famous, the "Ghost" Op 70 No 1, and the "Archduke" Op 97 No 1. Yet he wrote a dozen and even the early Op 1 examples, not least because of the ... more info

Detroit Free Press — Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" for piano, chorus and orchestra doesn't get performed much. But the enterprising pianist Jeffrey Biegel came up with a creative idea. more info

Guardian Music — Director Jonathan Kent and conductor Edward Gardner talk about their first tussle with Wagner in ENO's new production of The Flying DutchmanTom Service: This, for both of you, is your first professional Wagner production. Is it a good place for Wagne... more info

Guardian Music — From choral monsters to period-instrument Debussy, Andrew Clements picks his highlights of this year's Proms concertsThe BBC always keeps its secrets better than most where the contents of the Proms are concerned, so that each year's programme announ... more info

Guardian Music — Festival's 118th season also features Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra's Beethoven cycle and marks Delius, Debussy and John Cage anniversaries.All of Beethoven's symphonies are to be performed in their entirety at the BBC Proms for the firs... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonDaniel Barenboim's Bruckner Project with the Berlin Staatskapelle opened last night with the Seventh Symphony paired with Mozart's C Minor Piano Concerto K491. By his own extraordinary standards, the Project itself seems mo... more info

Mercury News, California — Conductor Franz Welser-Möst, now in his tenth season, was at his best in works by Mendelssohn and Shostakovich. Tonight's program features Beethoven, Adés and Smetana. more info