Modern Masters, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells

MODERN MASTERS, ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET, SADLER'S WELLS Company stake their claim to Kylián, Neumeier and Forsythe with style

Company stake their claim to Kylián, Neumeier and Forsythe with style

Reviews of English National Ballet in which I rave about what Tamara Rojo is doing for the company are getting to be the norm round here. This one is no exception, and I'm not even going to apologise for it.  Last night was the opening of Modern Masters, an ambitious new bill in which the company more than prove they're up to handling the big beasts of late twentieth-century choreography.

Man and Superman, National Theatre

MAN AND SUPERMAN, NATIONAL THEATRE A theatrical trip to Hell has some heavenly moments

A theatrical trip to Hell has some heavenly moments

How do you take your rom-coms? Full-fat Hollywood schmaltz, Shakespearean, or lean and elegant – a Stoppard perhaps, or Coward? If your answer did not include “With lashings of social philosophy, ethics and a lengthy dream sequence, preferably running north of three hours”, then Man and Superman might not be the play for you.

Von Otter, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican

VON OTTER, BBCSO, ORAMO, BARBICAN Subtle heartbreak in Ravel and poleaxing Nielsen crown another concert stunner

Subtle heartbreak in Ravel and poleaxing Nielsen crown another concert stunner

Hair-raising guaranteed or your money back: that might have been a publicity gambit, had there been one, for Sakari Oramo’s latest journey with the BBC Symphony Orchestra around a Nielsen symphony. That he knows the ropes to scale the granite cliff face of the Danish composer’s Fourth, “Inextinguishable”, Symphony was not in doubt (he gave a shattering performance with his own City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the 1999 Proms).

Magnificent Obsessions, Barbican Art Gallery

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS, BARBICAN ART GALLERY Jumble sale or treasure trove? Exploring the collections of 14 postwar and contemporary artists

Jumble sale or treasure trove? Exploring the collections of 14 postwar and contemporary artists

The title has it about right: no matter what it is they are busily acquiring, collectors seem to be an obsessive bunch, and their obsessions can achieve quite magnificent proportions. The stereotyped image of the collector as a socially challenged monomaniac doesn’t really fit with the popular understanding of the artistic temperament, though.

Florian Boesch, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall

FLORIAN BOESCH, ROGER VIGNOLES, WIGMORE HALL An extraordinary musical adventure in the Austrian Alps

An extraordinary musical adventure in the Austrian Alps

Ernst Krenek is probably best remembered nowadays as the composer of Jonny Spielt Auf – the quintessential Zeitoper of Weimar Germany and later the archetype of all that was designated “degenerate” in art by the Nazi regime. And perhaps also as – briefly – the husband of Anna Mahler, daughter of Gustav. But Krenek was far more than that. He was a magpie collector of styles and influences whose large corpus of work reflects almost every major 20th-century trend.

Mr Selfridge, Series 3, ITV

MR SELFRIDGE, SERIES 3, ITV Despite the ravages of the Great War, the retailing saga bounces back looking fighting fit

Despite the ravages of the Great War, the retailing saga bounces back looking fighting fit

Mercifully not preceded by a Broadchurch-style hype-tsunami, the new series of Mr Selfridge has slipped neatly back into the Sunday 9pm slot as if it's the rightful owner just back from a year of travelling round the world. It's not revolutionary, ground-breaking or "subversive", but equipped with some new characters and promising plotlines, this opening episode ushered us into the post-World War One era with a spring in its step and the wind in its hair.

Hannigan, LSO, Rattle, Barbican Hall

HANNIGAN, LSO, RATTLE, BARBICAN HALL Heroines and hysterics with Stravinsky, Ligeti, Berg and Webern

Heroines and hysterics with Stravinsky, Ligeti, Berg and Webern

For his second programme this week with the London Symphony OrchestraSir Simon Rattle conducted variations on a programme he’s been doing for years. So what’s the theme? Invention and hysteria, you might say. Berg’s Marie in Wozzeck and Stravinsky’s virgin in The Rite of Spring both meet gory if wordless ends. Ligeti’s Chief of Police in Le grand macabre reverses roles and deals death to anyone in her path. Or at least threatens it.

Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela Concert 2, RFH

A second encounter with the Venezuelan orchestra is both exhilarating and exhausting

The Simón Bolívar orchestra is the musical answer to the question “Would you like to supersize that?” A youth orchestra in bulk, if no longer in name, the ensemble has made a signature of its heft, making repertoire work on its own terms rather than adjusting itself to fit. On Thursday night, full-fat Beethoven and Wagner that threatened to overspill in the generosity of their gestures, so how would the orchestra fare with Mahler’s mighty Fifth Symphony?

The Frozen Scream, Wales Millennium Centre

Pastiche co-written by Sarah Waters is a brave misfire

There are moments in this collaboration between performer and theatre impresario Christopher Green and best-selling novelist Sarah Waters, where, rather like with a Stewart Lee stand-up routine, the audience has to make a conscious decision whether they are going to go all the way not so much with the idea presented, but with the mode of presentation. There are times in The Frozen Scream when it feels like the punchline is getting further away rather than closer.

Ohlsson, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican

OHLSSON, BBCSO, ORAMO, BARBICAN Hymning the human in a Nielsen masterpiece and the cosmic in a psychedelic epic by Busoni

Hymning the human in a Nielsen masterpiece and the cosmic in a psychedelic epic by Busoni

How disorienting it is to find century-old works in the concert repertoire of which you can still say “I’ve never heard anything like it”. That must have been the reaction of most audience members last night to Tuscan-German composer Ferruccio Busoni’s 85-minute symphony-concerto for piano, orchestra and male voice choir, since only a few will have caught what classical anoraks tell me was its only other London performance in recent years, at the 1988 Proms.