I don't think I've ever confessed the strategy I use when writing my reviews of concerts at the Palau de la Música. It's very simple: just look at the bust of Beethoven perched on the right wall of the stage and observe his expression. If he remains serious (or downright angry), it means things haven't gone well. If, on the other hand, he smiles, a good review is in order because it means the maestro from Bonn enjoyed the concert. Things get more complicated if the evening includes his music, and that was the case with Thursday's concert.

"A gem!" exulted the Orfeó Català at the Barcelona Auditorium on Friday night with the OBC.Fried!", echoed in the concert hall. "Brothers, embrace, a great kiss sets the heavens ablaze," they proclaimed. And it was shocking, because you noticed that between Netanyahu, Hamas, Trump, Putin and others responsible for the deplorable state of the world, they had almost transformed the hearing of the Novena by Beethoven in an act of naivety.

When in 2021 Riccardo Muti conducted for the first time in his long career the Solemn masses