Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonThe London Symphony Orchestra's principal conductor has his sceptics, and they are rarely more vocal than when it comes to his Mahler. It's fast, flashy and lacking proper schooling – or so the usual charges run, ascribing to Gergie... more info

Guardian Music — London Symphony Chorus/London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra/Tennstedt(LPO, two CDs)If there was ever any doubt that Klaus Tennstedt was a conductor for whom the recording studio was a rather confining space, and whose inspirational qualities bloss... more info

Guardian Music — Our orchestras would be as great as the Berlin Philharmonic if only they weren't worked so hardIn the horn players' dressing room at the Philharmonie, the home of the Berlin Philharmonic, there is a poster from an old marketing campaign. The slogan i... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonSimon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic's London residency closed with Mahler's Third Symphony, one of music's grandest statements.Conceived on the greatest of scales, it attempts to portray the entire universe, beginning ... more info

Guardian Music — Excitement promised as four-year-old policy of playing mainly pre-recorded music gets the silent treatment• Is live better for Radio 3? Read Charlotte Higgins on cultureIn a radical change of policy for BBC Radio 3, the network's controller, Roger ... more info

Guardian Music — 'Do British orchestras play too perfectly?'Are our orchestras as good as they should be? That might seem an odd question, since we're living through something of a golden age in this country. In London, the London Symphony are at the top of their gam... more info

Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonStrauss always said Nietzsche was the most important intellectual influence on his life and work, a statement many people have doubted over the years. The ambiguous ending of Also Sprach Zarathustra, based on Nietzsche's magnum opus, ... more info

The Telegraph — London Symphony Orchestra, cond Sir Colin Davis. Rating: * * * * more info

Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonSome distinguished Elgarians maintain that The Kingdom is Elgar's choral masterpiece, a finer work even than The Dream of Gerontius. Whether Mark Elder would go that far, I don't know, but there is no doubt that he is doing more than ... more info

Guardian Music — Venezuelan conductor holds inspiring rehearsal with children from east London community music projectsYou can tell it is not an ordinary rehearsal. In the converted church of St Luke's, the London Symphony Orchestra's education centre near the Barbic... more info