Kader Attia / Diane Arbus, Hayward Gallery review - views from the margins

★★★★★ KADER ATTIA / DIANA ARBUS, HAYWARD GALLERY Photographers explore colliding worlds

Two photographers explore colliding worlds

Feelings run high at the Hayward Gallery in a fascinating pairing of two artists from widely differing backgrounds. Kader Attia muses on unhappy, conflicted relationships between cultures in visual meditations on variations of colonialism. Diane Arbus, who died at the age Attia is now, photographed people who were often at the margins of society.

Bevan, Padmore, Foster-Williams, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - rural bliss

★★★★ BEVAN, PADMORE, FOSTER-WILLIAMS, LPO, JUROWSKI, RFH Rural bliss

A delightful escape to the country with Haydn's Seasons

Just as our brief, premature spring collapsed into the bluster of Storm Freya, the Enlightenment certainties of Haydn’s more dependable cycle of nature blew into the Royal Festival Hall. Perhaps because its lovely but (for the most part) serene music tends to occupy the sunlit uplands, The Seasons has never quite secured the automatic respect accorded to the cosmic and human drama of its immediate forerunner, The Creation.

Uchida, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, RFH review - togetherness in light and shade

★★★★ UCHIDA, MAHLER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, RFH Togetherness in light and shade

A first-rate ensemble adds wattage to the pianist's star power

When a pianist directs from the keyboard, the result can be a sedate affair: a matter of minimalist time-keeping while the soloist shows his or her fancy moves. Not so with Dame Mitsuko Uchida and her long-term partners, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Clad in a sort of blue magician’s gown over severe black, Uchida – who has just turned 70 – stood to conduct, vigorously, the opening passages of last night’s two Mozart concertos at the Royal Festival Hall.

Lupu, Philharmonia, Järvi, RFH review - concerto magical in parts, symphony stupendous

★★★★ LUPU, PHILHARMONIA, JÄRVI, RFH Concerto magical in parts, symphony stupendous

Delicacy from the legendary Romanian in Beethoven while Rachmaninov electrifies

Pianists most often cite Radu Lupu alongside Martha Argerich and Grigory Sokolov as the greatest. So it was hardly surprising to see so many top musicians in a packed audience, buzzing with expectation for the 73-year-old Romanian's most recent UK appearance with a conductor he respects, Paavo Järvi. Lupu appeared at Steven Isserlis's 60th birthday event at the Wigmore towards the end of last year, but before that hasn't been seen here since 2014.

Die Walküre, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - love shines out

★★★★ DIE WALKÜRE, LPO, JUROWSKI, RFH A fast-beating heart for Wagner's second Ring opera

A fast-beating heart serves Wagner's second Ring opera well

Harpers on the undeniably offensive aspect of Wagner the man might question attending a concert performance of his second Ring opera on World Holocaust Day. Fortunately there's nothing anti-semitic to be found anywhere in Die Walküre.

The Swingles, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review – austere Stravinsky, luminous Berio

Year-long Stravinsky festival wraps up with a diverse sixties showcase

The London Philharmonic’s year-long Stravinsky festival, Changing Faces, concluded here in spectacular style, with a tribute to “The Swingling Sixties”. Vladimir Jurowski, the soon to be leaving – and soon to be much-missed, Principal Conductor of the LPO, devised an adventurous and innovative programme, pairing Stravinsky’s late masterpiece Threni with the contemporaneous Sinfonia of Berio.

Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival Hall review - conviction and grace

★★★★ MITSUKO UCHIDA, RFH Sophisticated and fragile Schubert, delivered with exquisite beauty

Sophisticated and fragile Schubert, delivered with exquisite beauty

Mitsuko Uchida continues her world tour of Schubert sonatas with two concerts for the home crowd, this the second of her appearances at the Festival Hall. The tour coincides with Uchida’s 70th birthday, but the years have done little to diminish her technique.

Sophie Bevan, Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review - an Alpine blaze

★★★★★ SOPHIE BEVAN, PHILHARMONIA, ROUVALI, RFH An Alpine blaze

Generously flawed at first, the young Finn's conducting hit ever greater heights in Strauss

With eyes swivelled towards who'll take over from Esa-Pekka Salonen as the Philharmonia's Principal Conductor in 2021, two of the strongest possibilities are to be found within the orchestra's masthead of associates.

Dave Gorman, Royal Festival Hall review - PowerPoint king is back with bite

★★★★ DAVE GORMAN, RFH PowerPoint king is back with bite

Fake news, domestic harmony and daytime TV

Anyone who has seen a previous Dave Gorman show or his television series Modern Life Is Goodish knows what to expect: a show that's part lecture, part conversation, all pedantry, done with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation – clicker, laptop and onstage big screen as important as the patter, the text on screen often providing an addendum gag to the one he has already told, or increasing our anticipation of a payoff yet to come.

Orphy Robinson’s Astral Weeks, London Jazz Festival 2018 review - reimagining a masterpiece

A 50th anniversary salute ranges from the heartbreakingly beautiful to the revelatory

After failing to make the charts on its release 50 years ago this month, Astral Weeks has long since passed into pop mythology, its unique amalgam of jazz, folk and soul influences inspiring musicians, writers and filmmakers alike.