Pavel Haas Quartet, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - a scorching team on top form

★★★★★ PAVEL HAAS QUARTET, EDINBURGH FESTIVAL A scorching team on top form

Balance and energy in Haydn, Martinů and Schubert

This is the Pavel Haas Quartet’s second visit to a Scottish festival this summer. They were among the stars of the East Neuk Festival at the start of July, and they were every bit as scorching in this Edinburgh International Festival concert.

Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall review - calm waters run deep

★★★★★ IMOGEN COOPER, WIGMORE HALL A piano journey down the river of musical time

A piano journey down the river of musical time

On a night when any brooks running past the Wigmore Hall might have frozen almost solid, Imogen Cooper’s recital travelled on sparkling waters of the highest purity across almost a century of pianistic innovation.

Shakespeare Re-Shaped, Opera Up Close online review - Verdi on the sofa

★★★★ SHAKESPEARE RE-SHAPED, OPERA UP CLOSE ONLINE Verdi on the sofa

The latest of a series of operatic caffeine shots

The screen lights up, the Zoom link connects and there, blinking back at you (30% awkward, 70% enthusiastic) is a familiar face. Is it definitely working? Can you hear me? What do we say now? God, I'm getting old. Even after 12 months of conversation through webcams it still feels forced to me; something to one side of real life, simultaneously weird and routine, intimate and alienating, even as memories of the Old Normal grow increasingly remote. Is that a piano? Well, why not, these days?

Steven Osborne 50th Birthday Concert, Wigmore Hall online – perfect symmetries

★★★★ STEVEN OSBORNE 50TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT, WIGMORE HALL Perfect symmetries

Teething sound problems transcended in an out-of-body Ravel Piano Trio

Some pianists would take the chance of a birthday celebration to pioneer a solitary epic. Not the ever-collegial, unshowy, some would even say visionary Steven Osborne.

David Webb's 'Winter Journey', Wigmore Hall online review - an epic shared

★★★★★ DAVID WEBB'S 'WINTER JOURNEY', WIGMORE HALL An epic shared

Four singers take a group approach to Schubert’s exploration of loneliness

The bleak isolation and lonely angst felt in Schubert’s Winterreise is only too appropriate for a lockdown January. However, one positive to shine from this gloom is tenor David Webb’s own "Winter Journey".

Fatma Said, Joseph Middleton, Wigmore Hall review - song recital heaven

★★★★★ FATMA SAID, JOSEPH MIDDLETON, WIGMORE HALL The Egyptian soprano in a remarkable programme

The Egyptian soprano in a remarkable programme

This was the first song recital back at the Wigmore Hall following the second lockdown with a (distanced, 25%) audience. And it was a joy to be back. Great singing. That superb acoustic. A completely rapt audience. And, miraculously, not a single cough.

Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber, Wigmore Hall review – revelatory Schubert welcomes audiences back

★★★★ CHRISTIAN GERHAHER, GEROLD HUBER, WIGMORE HALL Applause resonates again in the chamber music temple after six months of silence

Applause resonates again in the chamber music temple after six months of silence

“It’s SO good to be back,” said Catherine Bott, and it would be impossible to disagree with her. She was presenting the livestream of the first concert to be performed in front of an audience at Wigmore Hall since March.

Mark Padmore, Mitsuko Uchida/ Benjamin Baker, Timothy Ridout, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review – hail and farewell

MARK PADMORE, MITSUKO UCHIDA / BENJAMIN BAKER, TIMOTHY RIDOUT, WIGMORE HALL, RADIO 3 A landmark series closes with majesty, and mischief

A landmark series closes with majesty, and mischief

Of course, we just had to end with a midsummer Winterreise. The Wigmore Hall’s month of lockdown concerts for BBC Radio 3 had begun with a legendary elegy – the Chaconne from Bach’s D minor Partita, written according to musical folklore in memory of his first wife, with which Stephen Hough so gravely, beautifully, broke the pandemic silence on 1 June.