Latest News: Classical
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Interview,
Simon Johnson on the Easter Vigil at Westminster Cathedral 28th March 2024
The Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral talks about his new album on the Ad Fontes label, featuring music for the unique liturgy of the Easter Vigil.
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Favourites,
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) 28th March 2024
A selection of some of the best recordings of music by the Anglo-Irish composer - known particularly for his sacred choral music but also a prodigious composer of chamber and orchestral works, songs, part-songs and more.
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Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - April 2024 26th March 2024
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by a 'deeply impressive' account of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 from Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks on the orchestra's own label.
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Obituary,
Péter Eötvös (1944-2024) 25th March 2024
The Hungarian composer and conductor, who adapted compositional approaches pioneered by Ligeti, Stockhausen and Boulez and drew on an eclectic range of global music traditions, has died at the age of 80.
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Obituary,
Maurizio Pollini (1942-2024) 25th March 2024
The great Italian pianist, whose impeccable technique was allied to an equally formidable intellect, has died in Milan aged 82.
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Recording of the Week,
Paavo Järvi conducts Mendelssohn symphonies 22nd March 2024
The Estonian conductor and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich present stylish, propulsive accounts of Mendelssohn's five symphonies, plus the incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 22nd March 2024 22nd March 2024
A recital of Romantic orchestral songs from Véronique Gens, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester & Hervé Niquet, Bach's Kunst der Fuge from Masaaki Suzuki, orchestral works by Dani Howard from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Michael Seal, and Brahms song transcriptions for solo piano from Rudolf Buchbinder.
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Obituary,
Byron Janis (1928-2024) 20th March 2024
The American pianist and composer, renowned for his interpretations of Romantic repertoire and in particular of Chopin, has died.
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Interview,
Beatrice Rana on Chopin and Beethoven 20th March 2024
The pianist talks about her new recording of Chopin's 'Funeral March' sonata and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Op. 106.
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Box Set Deep-Dive,
Vienna Octet Old and New 19th March 2024
Our guest-contributor Rob Cowan explores two anthologies of chamber music which 'will bless your listening hours with countless joys'.
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BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - March 2024 Choices 18th March 2024
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by Timothy Ridout's 'deft salute' to fellow viola-player Lionel Tertis on Harmonia Mundi.
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Recording of the Week,
Chopin and Beethoven from Beatrice Rana 15th March 2024
The Italian pianist presents an unusual pairing of sonatas - a sensitive, light performance of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 complemented by a masterful and fearless Hammerklavier.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 15th March 2024 15th March 2024
Tchaikovsky from Alpesh Chauhan & the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven from Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax & Leonidas Kavakos, Strauss & Mahler from Rafael Payare in Montreal, and a nocturnal recital from Elīna Garanča & friends.
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Recollections,
From The Lone Ranger to Rigoletto 14th March 2024In the fifth instalment of our Recollections series, Richard Inverne recounts how impersonating the masked hero to the strains of Rossini’s William Tell Overture as a toddler paved the way to falling in love with bel canto, Verdi, Puccini and more...
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Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - March 2024 13th March 2024
Chris introduces this month's Choices, headed by a live recording of Janáček's Katya Kabanova from Simon Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra and a cast headed by American soprano Amanda Majeski as a Katya of 'harrowing immediacy'.
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Favourites,
Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) 13th March 2024
A selection of some of the best recordings of music by the arch-Romantic Lieder composer - best known for his intense, harmonically adventurous Mörike-Lieder, Italienisches Liederbuch and Spanisches Liederbuch.
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Interview,
Richard Baker on The Tyranny of Fun 12th March 2024
The composer talks about his new album of ensemble and choral works with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, out on March 15th on NMC Records.
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Interview,
Sebastian Studnitzky on 'Memento Odesa' 11th March 2024
The trumpeter and composer talks about his new EP of works recorded in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, in collaboration with the city's symphony orchestra and its conductor Volodymyr Dikiy.
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Recording of the Week,
Orchestral Works by Dorothy Howell 8th March 2024
Rebecca Miller conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in world premiere recordings of the Humoresque, The Rock, the Three Divertissements and Koong Shee plus a terrific account of Lamia - the Keats-inspired tone-poem which made the 21-year-old composer an overnight success after its Proms premiere in 1919.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 8th March 2024 8th March 2024
Chopin and Beethoven from Beatrice Rana, Stravinsky and Debussy from Klaus Mäkelä & the Orchestre de Paris, Marian music from Andreas Scholl & Accademia Bizantina, and Wagner transcriptions from Nikolai Lugansky.
