Album: Peter Culshaw - Music from the Temple of Light

The well-travelled writer/composer’s set of contemporary sacred music fuses East and West

Music from the Temple of Light has for its cover image a minimalist 17th century representation of Tantra. In this instance, a deep blue field bordering on black, scored by a golden yellow square, an arrow hanging down from the square’s centre, and a break in that arrow opening up near its tip.

It’s an absorbent and contemplative representation of forces rarely seen and beyond our control, and there’s a strong golden thread of the contemplative and of forces from beyond embedded in the album’s music, and its sacred edge.

Grosvenor, Kanneh-Mason, Park, Hallé, Stasevska, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the factors that make for a full house

★★★★ GROSVENOR, KANNEH-MASON, PARK, HALLÉ, STASEVSKA, BRIDGEWATER HALL Solo fireworks from a starry line-up and a very fine conductor in action

Solo fireworks from a starry line-up and a very fine conductor in action

What makes a classical box office draw these days? If there were a simple answer to that question, a lot of concert givers would be laughing all the way to the bank.

Facade Ensemble, Collins Rice, St Margaret Pattens Church review - meditation and reflection

★★★★ FACADE ENSEMBLE, COLLINS RICE, ST MARGARET PATTENS CHURCH Experimental classics create space for quiet contemplation

Experimental classics create space for quiet contemplation

The Facade Ensemble is an interesting chamber group of young players dedicated to exploring 20th repertoire, in this case John Cage, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Bryars, who celebrates his 80th birthday this year. The programme, put together by founder and conductor Benedict Collins Rice was contemplative in tone, and an interesting opportunity to hear these experimental and minimal works in a pared-down scoring.

Fröst, Philharmonia, Lazarova, Kuusisto, Southbank Centre review - congenial new works complemented by live-wire classics

★★★★★ FROST, PHILHARMONIA, LAZAROVA, KUUSISTO, SOUTHBANK CENTRE Two concerts revolving around composer Anna Clyne offer plenty of other surprises

Two concerts revolving around composer Anna Clyne offer plenty of other surprises

Anna Clyne’s engaging First Person here led me to two of her works in a Philharmonia rainbow. She curated a woodwind-based gem of a 6pm programme of works by four women composers, herself included, and her Clarinet Concerto could only gain from two other live wires, soloist Martin Fröst and conductor Pekka Kuusisto, the first time I've encountered the violinist in that role. Ultimately it was his way with two masterpieces by Tchaikovsky and Bernstein that stole the show.

First Person: Anna Clyne on composing collaborations, not battles, in her latest concertos

FIRST PERSON: ANNA CLYNE on composing collaborations, not battles, in her latest concertos

UK premiere of 'Weathered' for clarinettist Martin Fröst is among a series of new works

Collaboration fuels a lot of my music – I love the interaction that takes me outside of my natural tendencies – it’s a source of inspiration and an opportunity to see my own music and creative process through a different lens.

Nonclassical: The Greenhouse Effect, Barbican Conservatory review - enjoyable freestyle happening

★★★★ NONCLASSICAL: THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, BARBICAN Enjoyable freestyle happening

Quirky musical responses to the climate crisis amid indoor greenery

It would seem unfitting to report on Nonclassical’s event – happening? – in the Barbican Conservatory on Sunday with anything resembling a conventional review. So instead I shall treat this free-form “experience” to a non-sequential response, in the form of 19 observations: things I saw, heard or noticed.

LPO, Adès, RFH review - tempests and infernos

★★★★ LPO, ADES, RFH Stormy passion abounds in Adès, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky

Stormy passion abounds in Adès, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky

I was really looking forward to hearing music from Thomas Adès’s ballet The Dante Project again, after being so excited by it at the Royal Ballet last year. By contrast, I was seriously disappointed by his opera of The Tempest in 2003, and hoped to like it better in a new symphonic version.

Manchester Collective String Orchestra, RNCM, Manchester review - a remarkable new work for string ensemble

★★★★ MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE STRING ORCHESTRA Remarkable new string ensemble work

This themed set is an enigma, but Shostakovich puts all in perspective

Manchester Collective’s string orchestra programme, opening last night at the Royal Northern College of Music and touring to the South Bank, Leeds and Liverpool, is notable chiefly for the world premiere of will o wisp, by Oliver Leith, a remarkable piece of writing for the medium.