Philharmonia/Pletnev

A fusion of intense precision and nonchalance is at the heart of Pletnev’s character and music-making

Royksopp

From the moment they took to the stage, the Norwegian duo were on a mission to make the mostly male audience move their feet

BBCSO/ Wigglesworth

Ryan Wigglesworth’s song cycle Augenlieder, performed with Claire Booth, glittered with skill in this refreshing concert

London Symphony Orchestra

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony presented by Christoph Eschenbach and the well-oiled machine of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Philip Langridge

Langridge celebrated his unique way with English music: at once tough and tender, strongly yet subtly inflected

Rodgers/ Martineau

Settings of the same words showed how the infinite variety of Pushkin’s verse called forth the same in his composers

Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Knussen

The landscape of intermittently driven intensity and windy fragments was brilliantly conveyed by the SCO

London Symphony Orchestra/Jarvi

With the orchestra’s shining precision, rounded tones and spirited emotions, this was a golden night

Dr John

This was another competent but slightly perfunctory performance and a frustrating evening for those who love him best for his piano playing

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Petrenko

Family feeling among orchestras is rare, and it was this spirit that helped the musicians to glide so suavely around Prokofiev’s mercurial...

Grizzly Bear/LSO

There is a thin line between achingly beautiful and achingly dull, these four came close to crossing it at times

Schumann Lieder

Thomas Quasthoff’s Barbican series in honour of the voice ended gently with a hushed, sighing hymn to love

The Nolans

Years after it reached the Top Three, the Nolans sang I’m in the Mood for Dancing to scenes of almost surreal pandemonium

London Sinfonietta/Reich

The ovation after Music for 18 Musicians suggested that Steve Reich’s brand of minimalism hasn’t lost its hypnotic allure

LPO/Jarvi

An extraordinary, bubbling cauldron of Wagner, 15 hours of the Ring cycle distilled into just over 60 minutes

F*** Buttons/Clark

As a spectacle, this was just a couple of blokes vigorously operating some IT equipment. Aurally it could not be faulted

ZZ Top/Steel Panther

While Gibbons and Hill performed with their usual sense of mischievous bonhomie, Beard seemed sullen and disengaged

Matthew Herbert Big Band

Afterwards a stranger from the row behind tapped me on the shoulder. “Fantastic!” he said. He was right.

Cork Jazz Festival

In a city reeling from the recession the festival banished memories of the painful demise of the Celtic Tiger

Barbara Cook

Happily, the diva shows no sign of quitting just yet and is still close to the top of her game