Mr Jurowski’s ability to highlight the Alpensinfonie’s instrumental depictions without overstating them allowed one to appreciate just how successfully Strauss had been able to integrate his pictorial evocations into a clear, cohesive structure.

If the Symphony No.7 finale was unreservedly triumphant in tone, it was the emotional ambiguities of the earlier movements – and of Mr Widmann’s songs – that made the evening so captivating

The most recent performance of the full 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' came from Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic, who gave a one-off concert performance at the Philharmonie following a series of performances at the Baden Baden Easter festival.

El emotivo Evangelista de Raphael Höhn, un tenor de mimbres ligeros y elegante uso del falsete, casaba a la perfección con el reflexivo y sereno Jesús de Sebastian Myrus, que finalizó su intervención con una espléndida “Mache dich, mein Herze, rein” llena de claroscuros y sentida desde lo teatral.

Director Tobias Kratzer used the stated setting of 'Arabella' as his starting point, and the first act unfolded against the backdrop of a meticulously recreated Viennese hotel.The only intrusion of the modern world was a camera crew of three so inobtrusive that they could not possibly have belonged to the same reality as the action

The main attraction was the German première of Mr Salonen’s Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra, which was completed and given its first performance (in Katowice) only six days ago.With Olivier Latry on the Karl Schuke organ of the Philharmonie and spirited direction from the composer himself, the new work provided a compelling centrepiece to an evening that never lacked excitement.

This 'Fidelio' was a production that felt uneasy less for the implied violence of the libretto (or the real violence of the staging) than for a hurried pace that left little room for reflection