Music
BBC Music Magazine
East meets west
For Steven Fox, music director of The Clarion Choir, Rachmaninov's anniversary year presents the perfect opportunity to celebrate the composer's often overlooked choral music, as he tells Charlotte Smith
6 min |
April 2023
BBC Music Magazine
The HUMAN TOUCH
As we celebrate Rachmaninov's 150th anniversary this month, Andrew Green talks with leading musicians who explain why there's so much more to a composer often derided as nostalgic and melancholic
7 min |
April 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Musical destinations – Berlin Germany
Jeremy Pound heads to the German capital’s Philharmonie concert hall to enjoy a late-summer feast of spectacular orchestral playing
4 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Backstage with... Violinist/director Alexandra Wood
Warming up: ‘We want to give the idea of the music evolving’
2 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Herbert Howells Requiem
Though Howells wrote his Requiem in contented times, it would go on to become associated with personal tragedy, as Jeremy Pound explains
4 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Reinhold Glière
Dismissed by some as being stuck in the past, Glière was nonetheless blessed with a rare melodic gift and fine technique, says Erik Levi
7 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
The Sound of Silence
As the conflict in Ukraine prompts the barring of contemporary Russian works and artists from global stages, Erik Levi looks at how Britain similarly censored German composers during World War I
7 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Playing for her life
Hélène de Montgeroult risked the guillotine during the French Revolution – but there’s far more to this talented composer than her remarkable survival, as pianist Clare Hammond tells Rebecca Franks
6 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Shining a light
Awarded by composers to composers, The Ivors have propelled a wealth of outstanding British talent to the forefront of musical life during the past two decades, as Kate Wakeling discovers
7 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
And did those feet...?
Since Parry wrote his much-loved setting of Blake’s poem more than a century ago, a wide array of versions of Jerusalem have followed in its famous footsteps, as Jason Whittaker explains
7 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
I like the feeling of falling into a different era, not just in my music but in any music
THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
7 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
To be Franck
César Franck has sometimes been unfairly dismissed by critics as plodding and passé, but as we mark the BelgianFrench composer’s 200th anniversary, Roger Nichols says there is much to admire in his colourful melodic language
9 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Whipping up a storm
The sonic extremes of storms, whether physical or cosmic, have attracted composers through the centuries –and with good reason, says Tom Service
2 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
REWIND
Great artists talk about their past recordings
3 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
DECEMBER 1781 Mozart and Clementi lock horns in a royal piano duel
The history books are not short of great performers and composers whose burgeoning careers as musical prodigies were micromanaged at every degree by their parents.
4 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Jordan Ashman hits the heights
Percussionist takes BBC Young Musician 2022 crown
2 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
The genius revealed in Franck’s fiery visions
Julian Haylock introduces two works which totally changed the reputation of the Belgian-French composer
4 min |
December 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Live choice
Paul Riley picks the month’s best concert and opera highlights in the UK
5 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Nikolai Medtner
Admired by Rachmaninov and outstanding as a pianist, Medtner had a subtle yet hauntingly distinct compositional style, says Francis Pott
7 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Boulder United States
Jeremy Pound admires both the mountains and the plains as he explores the various delights of this year’s Colorado Music Festival
4 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Passing the test
Forget tweedy examiners behind desks, bland pieces and those dreaded aural tests. Graded exams are not what they used to be, as Clare Stevens explains
6 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Man on a mission
In conversation with Michael Church, the pianist Evgeny Kissin speaks out about the invasion of Ukraine and how this relates to his experiences of anti-Semitism while growing up in the USSR
8 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Analogueage
Over the past few years, a resurgence of interest in vinyl recordings has taken popular music by storm. Cellist Leonard Elschenbroich tells Simon Heighes why classical musicians should also take an interest
7 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
A memorable folk trail
Rick Jones steps into Vaughan Williams’s shoes and dons his boater as he follows the composer’s folksong trail around Surrey and Sussex
6 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Changing lives
As Buskaid celebrates its 25th anniversary, Leon Bosch explains the success of the South African string training programme
6 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
I spent three days doing nothing but practising breathing. And now I never run out of air
THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
7 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
Findingflow
With a new Warner Classics recording contract and a year-long residency at London's Southbank Centre to his name, Abel Selaocoe's star is in the ascendant. But as the South African cellist tells Charlotte Smith, he has a higher mission - to bridge the divide between African and Western music
10 min |
October 2022
BBC Music Magazine
30 Glorious Years!
In celebration of BBC Music Magazine's 30th birthday, we present 30 unmissable albums of the past three decades
10+ min |
September 2022
BBC Music Magazine
BACKSTAGE WITH… Cellist Guy Johnston
How did you come up with the inspiration for it?
2 min |
September 2022
BBC Music Magazine
This month: Trish Clowes
‘I respond to what band members are interested in – you develop together’
1 min |