Music
BBC Music Magazine
Avian anthems
From Vivaldi to Messiaen, composers have often been inspired by birdsong. But accurately mimicking chirrups and tweets in music is far more difficult than it sounds, finds Tom Stewart
6 min |
May 2024
BBC Music Magazine
THE BIG 400!
BBC Music Magazine has reached its 400th issue! To celebrate, we look back over eight milestone issues since the very firstin 1992
10+ min |
May 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Northern light
From her first piano lesson, composer Errollyn Wallen has lived and breathed music; and though inspired by a range of styles, her composing is a deeply personal expression, as she tells Kate Wakeling
9 min |
May 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
Jo Talbot celebrates the Mozart of the 19th century’ as she searches out the finest recordings of this masterful work for piano, violin and cello
7 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Antonio Salieri
Forget the hate-filled murderer of Mozart, says Alexandra Wilson; the real Salieri was an opera composer of considerable standing
8 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Aix-en-Provence France
Rebecca Franks breathes in the spring air in the popular southern city, where the music making sparkles and the sun always shines
3 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Composing is like breathing. It's just something I do, like a hobby, really...or an addiction
The world's most performed classical composer, a small, black-suited figure with a mop of white hair and mutton-chop whiskers, stands on the huge Brucknerhaus stage, almost invisible among the sea of musicians.
7 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
A cast of thousands
From its unlikely conception in a pub, The Really Big Chorus has become a cultural phenomenon, offering amateur singers the opportunity to take part in vast performances, writes Andrew Green
8 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Tours de force
What secrets lurk behind the stages of the world’s great concert halls? To find out, Brian Wise takes backstage tours of five leading venues in London and New York
7 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
A Marriner's tale
This month marks 100 years since the birth of Sir Neville Marriner, legendary founder and director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Michael White speaks to those who knew him best
8 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Larger than life
Before Milos Forman’s Amadeus came Peter Shaffer’s theatrical take on Mozart and Salieri, staged in 1979 at London’s National Theatre. lifts the curtain...
6 min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
MUSIC MALICE & MURDER
Everything you've heard is true,' proclaimed the posters for Miloš Forman's Amadeus - a cinematic tale of genius and envy, based on Peter Shaffer's acclaimed stage play about Mozart and Salieri's bitter rivalry. Forty years on, Charlotte Smith looks back at a very special production
10+ min |
April 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Start spreading the music...
No city has been sounded and celebrated by composers and musicians as thrillingly as New York and, in particular, Manhattan – a place where 800 languages are spoken, and even more musical genres are currently being played, remade and born.
2 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
NY Philharmonic seizes an unlikely Korea opportunity
When an agreed ceasefire ended the Korean War in July 1953, a full and final peace settlement between North and South Korea was envisaged. It never happened.
2 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Stroud England
Despite the sleepy reputation of its Gloucestershire surrounds, Stroud's Hidden Notes Festival likes to push boundaries
3 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Closing the gap
The number of female conductors on the world's orchestral podiums might be rising, but there is still some distance to cover
7 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Keep it in the family
Sibling connections can lead to meaningful musical partnerships – as long as childhood rivalries don't get in the way
7 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
He's got rhythm
Oscar Levant built his reputation as an actor and radio host, but this talented pianist was also a key interpreter of Gershwin's music
6 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
Out of the Blue
When George Gershwin brought together the worlds of jazz and classical in the premiere of his Rhapsody in Blue 100 years ago in New York, a whole new soundworld was born, as Mervyn Cooke relates
9 min |
February 2024
BBC Music Magazine
15 Christmas Music Essentials
It's time to make a few notes, please, as Jeremy Pound sets out his musical must-have list for the festive season that lies ahead
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Bernard Herrmann
This complex and irascible man was plagued by frustration, but remains one of cinema's most iconic musical voices, says Michael Beek
6 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Russell Watson
The genial British singer has enjoyed an enduring popularity since his first hit album The Voice dominated the charts in 2000.
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Bergen Norway
With an acclaimed local orchestra, music is everywhere in this city and its most famous composer is never far away, finds Jeremy Pound
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Richard Morrison
Today's musicians shouldn't be afraid to take on political causes
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
With a cherry on top
Despite its ostensibly festive sounds, Brahms's Fourth Symphony presents a vortex of despair, writes Tom Service. Perfect, then, for the Christmas season!
2 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Bernstein celebrates festive freedom in East Berlin
\"I believe that Beethoven would have given us his blessing. Let freedom live!\"
2 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Albert Hall celebrates its past as archive is revamped
Million-pound 'rescue operation' brings together thousands of historic artefacts
1 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW: Tasmin Little
'When I make a speech, I have a message to deliver - just as with my violin I had a message to deliver through the music'
6 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
A steady hand
The venerable French conductor Roger Désormière died 60 years ago, in October 1963. Roger Nichols recalls a musician of impeccable timing and taste
6 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC Music Magazine
Settling the score
Charlie Chaplin's film A Woman of Paris has a complicated musical past - now a new score, orchestrated by Timothy Brock, is available for its 100th anniversary, as Femke Colborne reports
5 min |