Standing in for Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann delivers a musical triumph, while director Dmitri Tcherniakov succeeds in honouring Wagner's dramatic intentions.

Thielemann and the Vienna Phil don't quite manage to scale the heights

Thielemann and co give the meaning of a night to remember.

Christian Thielemann offers pace and detail despite mixed bag of soloists.

From Montéclair to Martinů, lesser-known works are much in vogue as the new year gets into its stride.

Excellently recorded by Orfeo, with voices captured clearly and naturally, this recording is one for the collection.

Folk-inflected lieder get a distinctly artful treatment.

Harteros heads a Tosca that perhaps should have offended more.

The decision comes after the Awards faced a backlash, including from artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Mariss Jansons and the Leipzig Gewandhaus, for recognising a rap duo whose works have been deemed anti-Semitic.

If you’ve been hooked on Chailly’s lean, muscular Brahms cycle with the Gewandhaus Orchestra from earlier this year, you’ll find a very different but no less satisfying experience with Thielemann and the Stattskapelle Dresden. Thielemann’s Brahms, taken from live recordings made between 2012 and 2013, is equally revelatory. Chailly achieves maximum emotional impact through absolute clarity of line and texture: his is ‘classical’ Brahms, but with grunt. Thielemann’s Brahms is, by contrast, über romantische. That’s not to imply a lack of precision or idiosyncratic liberties being taken with the score, mind: Thielemann is a master technician, but with a heart emboldened by years of conducting opera.  Aided by some glorious orchestral playing – the strings rich and full-bodied, the brass heroic in the tutti climaxes, the winds flexible and focused – he builds up impasto layers with searing brushstrokes on a broad canvas. This binds the terrific climax in the First Symphony’s Finale with the dark tragedy of the Fourth Symphony’s final passacaglia, and all that lies in between, with intimations of mortality that shine through even the beautiful simplicity of the Third Symphony’s third movement.  My only regret is not having had access to the full set, which includes a DVD of…

This six-part German-made series compares the two greatest opera composers of their time. While it is not without interest, it is often laboured, primarily because the filmmakers (all six of them) couldn’t make up their minds on the direction of the narrative. Prominent singers, conductors and directors feature, and this makes the series worthwhile. The scenes with the remarkable vocal coach Elio Battaglia are treasurable. The man is worth a doco of his own! Wagner’s anti-Semitism is dealt with, the filmmakers arguing that he was far less of an anti-Semite than his followers, especially considering the hive of racial nastiness, known as the Wagneriana, which still surrounds Bayreuth today. Further south, Italy’s extremist Northern League uses the humanitarian Verdi’s Va, pensiero as their anthem. Unfortunately German filmmakers are obsessed with overdubbing commentaries instead of using subtitles. Additionally, the quaint English speech of the commentator, with many ambiguous sentences and bizarre pronunciations is confusing. For example, he pronounces ‘Trovatore’ as ‘Trovatora’, ‘soprano’ as ‘sopranist’ and ‘Bayreuth’ as ‘Bayrate’. Consequently, he often sounds as if he doesn’t know what he is talking about. The failure of the filmmakers to handle this properly is surprising and counterproductive.

Audience members shout in distain after clapping ruins Hong Kong Festival concert.