Music
BBC Music Magazine
Picture perfect
What are the best ever uses of classical music masterpieces in film? From heartbreaking love stories to apocalyptic visions, we select our top 12
9 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Richard Morrison
Thomas Hardy's dark poems are a vital record of a rich musical past
3 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Mark Kermode
Film Critic, Broadcaster
4 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Donizetti's opera comes to a bloody end as sopranos scrap
Nineteenth-century opera is packed with scenes of fiery confrontation, from the red-hot love entanglements in Bizet’s Carmen to the apocalyptic clashes between gods, demigods and humans in Wagner's Ring cycle. Few, though, are fierier than the convulsive episode Gaetano Donizetti placed at the heart of his opera Maria Stuarda, as he readied it for presentation at the Royal Court of Naples in 1834.
3 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Cold comfort
In the late 1980s, British pianist James Kirby braved cold, hunger and totalitarian rule to study in Moscow. Here he shares his memories with
8 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pick a theme... and name your seven favourite examples
3 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Man of the World
Though many may think of John Rutter as being the most British of choral composers and conductors, his huge popularity in fact spreads right across the globe,
7 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Concert Heaven Concert Hell
Top artists recall their best and worst performances
3 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Vienna Austria
If you're a classical music lover and you haven't been to the Austrian capital, it is definitely time you paid a visit, enthuses
3 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Learning the notes
Unique to the British cultural scene, chorister schools can offer often educational opportunities that are hard to match, writes
6 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Arvo Pärt
From serialism to the hypnotic tintinnabuli, the 90-year-old Estonian's world has shifted radically over the years,
6 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Why British hi-fi is up amongst the world's best
Our expert Chris Haslam gives advice on buying the latest hi-fi equipment
4 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Heroes & Villas
Rachmaninov holds a special significance for pianist Alexander Melnikov – a composer whose life bore similarities to his own,
6 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Code to joy
Many composers have embedded coded messages in their music – and some still remain a mystery
6 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
In good hands
As we celebrate legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman's 80th birthday, the virtuoso speaks to Charlotte Smith about teaching, conducting, his famous sound – and keeping inspired over a career of more than 60 years
8 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
A funny thing happened...
Without context or words, can instrumental music really be amusing, as the pianist Alfred Brendel suggested? Of course it can,
2 min |
September 2025
BBC Music Magazine
On the cutting-edge of headphone development
Our expert Chris Haslam gives advice on buying the latest hi-fi equipment
4 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Becoming Oscar
Michael Beek catches up with actor (and pianist) Sean Hayes ahead of his Barbican run as Oscar Levant in the play Good Night, Oscar
6 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Wagner sees the bigger picture as the Ring opens in Bayreuth
‘I am toying with the boldest of plans.’ With these words, in September 1850, Richard Wagner first articulated a grand idea which took a quarter of a century to come to full fruition: the building of a special opera house in which the work eventually known as Der Ring des Nibelungen could be mounted to the highest standard.
3 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
The British composer enjoyed major celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic, only to be cut off just as he reached his peak, reveals Terry Blain
6 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
The queue to happiness
From an indicator of ongoing popularity to an unlikely dating service, the queue to buy tickets for the Proms is an institution we should cherish, says Tom Service
2 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
From Me To You
Four top classical musicians come together to share with us why they had to get The Beatles into their life
6 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Bologna Italy
There's more to Bologna than culinary delights, writes John Allison — not least a music festival dedicated to its native son, Ottorino Respighi
3 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
The magic touch
Performer, educator, campaigner and festival director... in all aspects of her busy career, violinist Nicola Benedetti aims to make music accessible for all, writes Ariane Todes
8 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Concert Heaven Concert Hell
Top artists recall their best and worst performances
3 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Tour de force
Liszt was paid a small fortune for his exhaustive tours of Britain in 1840 and “41, but the reality was hard slog and a paltry profit, writes Andrew Green
6 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Aristo Sham strikes gold in Texas
Hong Kong pianist triumphs in Van Cliburn Competition
2 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Magical Mystery Four
As we mark 65 years of The Beatles, Bob Chilcott, composer, former King's Singer and Fab Four fanatic, explores the band's many musical influences
6 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pick a theme... and name your seven favourite examples
3 min |
August 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Hero or hype?
Are some of the 'great' composers simply overrated? We invite five of our writers to reveal those whose feted talents leave them seriously underwhelmed
10 min |