Home//BBC Music Magazine/Christmas 2023/In This Issue
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023WelcomeFor 95 years, BBC radio has broadcast A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols live on Christmas Eve from King’s College, Cambridge. Initiated in 1928, the tradition continued even throughout the Second World War – though the chapel’s stained-glass windows were removed for safety, making the service a decidedly draughty affair! Today, the longstanding ritual continues under music director Daniel Hyde, who succeeded Stephen Cleobury in 2019. But despite his dedication to much-loved conventions, Hyde is presiding over a thoroughly 21st-century ensemble. On page 26 he speaks to Amanda Holloway about maintaining that important balance between custom and innovation – essential to the survival and prosperity of one of the world’s most celebrated choirs. Though Cleobury and his predecessors Philip Ledger and David Willco*cks are often cited as golden-period King’s…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Miller memoriesTerry Blain’s admirable Timepiece feature (December) sent me back to June 1944 when I was an enthusiastic radio listener to that great Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band when they were in London. (They were known here as the American Band of the AEF, alongside their British and Canadian counterparts.) Unfortunately, Hitler’s ‘Secret Weapon’, the VI Flying Bombs, were aimed at London, forcing the band to evacuate – just in time, too, as their headquarters were destroyed by a Doodlebug the day after they relocated to Bedford. There they were joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra as the Proms were shifted to the same place. Both had to share the Corn Exchange for their broadcasts until the band moved to Paris. How did these two very different crack outfits get…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Lang Lang presents buyers with the keys to a new mouseNo, we’re not taking the mickey. The instrument being played by Lang Lang (above) is indeed a Steinway. The pianist, who last year released an album called The Disney Book, was at Steinway Hall in New York to launch the Steinway x Disney: Mickey Mouse Limited Edition and came with a message for the occasion. ‘When you’re a performing artist you play a lot of different works from different parts of the world, and it’s almost like a bridge, bridging the cultures,’ he said. ‘I think every musician has the responsibilities to share the different heritage through their music.’…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023RisingStarsNiamh O’Sullivan Mezzo-soprano Born: Cork, Ireland Career highlights: Singing my dream role, Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, at home in Ireland this season. Musical heroes: Veronica Dunne, my singing teacher, who prepared me in every way for this difficult career; mezzo Elīna Garanča, for her sheer beauty of tone, technique, elegance and electrifying stage presence; and Gustav Mahler, for writing so perfectly – for the mezzo voice in particular. Dream concert: Playing Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Antonio Pappano at the Royal Albert Hall; and, in concert, singing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Simon Rattle! Ingmar Lazar Pianist Born: Paris, France Career highlights: One special memory was my first Paris recital, at the Salle Cortot at the age of 12. I…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023It don’t mean a thing, if it don’t break a stringThings are getting competitive in the cello world. Back in 2000, Guy Johnston famously won BBC Young Musician of the Year despite breaking a string during Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto. Clearly keen to go one better, fellow BBC Young Musician winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason recently snapped two strings playing the same work in Paris. Cue the re-entry of Johnston into the fray. ‘Dear @ShekuKM, what’s this I hear about you breaking not 1 but 2 strings during the Shostakovich concerto last night??’ he tweets. ‘That’s it, I’m going for 3…!!!’ This one could run and run……1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023StudioSecretsWe reveal who’s recording what and where… The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon are working on premiere recordings of pieces by Magnus Lindberg. The Finnish composer’s Absence is already in the can, with Serenades due to be recorded at the Helsinki Music Centre in December. Lawrence Power will then join them in February for the Viola Concerto. Their efforts will be released on Ondine in the Spring/Summer. Music by Gerard Schurmann has very recently been recorded by Ben Gernon and the BBC Philharmonic at the orchestra’s home base in Salford. The late composer (1924-2020) straddled the worlds of film and concert music and it is his Piano Concerto, performed by Xiayin Wang, and orchestral work Gaudiana (inspired by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí) which are the main…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023With a cherry on topIt’s Christmas. And Johannes Brahms has the best beard in the business, so what gifts does he bear this festive season? Cherries! But cherries that don’t ripen – in fact, cherries whose musical putrefaction heralds the end of an era of hope. Merry humbugging Brahmsmas with his Fourth Symphony! The irony is that the Fourth Symphony – composed in 1884-5 in Mürzzuschlag, where Brahms said the cherries never ripen, and he worried his symphony might not either – is also a piece that makes the most superficially festive sounds that Brahms ever created in a symphony. The scherzo even includes a tinkling, twangling triangle, so surely it’s a cavalcade of joy? But this scherzo isn’t a joke: it’s a manically concentrated movement in which Brahms’s sonic whims – including the…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Music to my earsKathryn Stott Pianist I’ve recently given two of my students Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances to learn, and thought I would remind myself of the original version with the composer conducting. There’s a performance available on CD, but I went to YouTube to find him conducting the Israel Philharmonic. Watching his expressions simply added to the drama and heartache of this incredible score. To write music that was conceived to set scenes for actors and vocalists, and then to remove all those elements and let the music stand alone, is nothing short of genius. Lenny was visibly moved at the end; I was in a heap. Not too long ago, I went to hear the Hallé perform works including Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. I’m not sure I’ve actually heard…5 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023SingingLessonsEveryone has their own Christmas ritual. For one musician friend, Christmas begins at 3pm on 24 December, when she pours herself a glass of champagne, turns on BBC Radio 4 and settles down to listen to the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge singing A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. King’s director of music Daniel Hyde is not remotely offended by this secular approach to his choir’s religious celebration. In fact, during Covid he had a chance to do exactly the same thing (minus the champagne!) ‘It was December 2020 and we were all shut down, but we had recorded a couple of rehearsals earlier in the month so we were able to produce a carol service without being in the chapel. I did rather enjoy sitting on the sofa…9 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Tasmin LittleTasmin Little has not retired. Despite announcing in 2019 to supporters that she would be stepping away from the concert platform – and not placing bow to string since her farewell Southbank Centre concert at the end of 2020 – the much-loved British violinist is busier than ever. Yet, she no longer owns a violin, having sent her cherished instrument to a new home following that final performance. So, no practice in the privacy of her house, nor playing with friends and family, and no practical demonstrations for students during masterclasses. You might consider this a rather stark decision, particularly for someone whose life was intimately bound with the instrument since attending the Yehudi Menuhin School from the age of eight. But for Little, the decision makes perfect sense –…7 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Record of a lifetimeEnglish Church Music: Favourite Christmas Carols A great taster, mixing the Christmas music for which King’s is famed and samples of the Tudor repertoire close to Boris Ord’s heart. Testament SKU: SBT1121 (CD) Tudor Church Music Orlando Gibbons Includes favourites Hosannah to the Son of David and O Clap Your Hands. Argo RG80 (LP and streaming) Evensong The main body of a King’s College Evensong including a range of composers from ages past and the British music renaissance in the 20th century. Belart 461 4532 (CD, download and streaming) A Festival of Lessons and Carols Recording made in December 1954 in a special session. Traditional repertoire in the main. Argo RG39 (LP, download via The Digital Gramophone Ltd or view on YouTube) Music for Three and Four Harpsichords (Bach, Vivaldi)…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A wider appealBBC Proms The first BBC Proms season, ‘Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts’, took place in 1895. Masterminded by Newman and conducted by Henry Wood, the concerts were designed to widen and ‘improve’ public taste. André Rieu ‘My dream is to make the whole of classical music accessible for everyone,’ writes the Dutch violinist and conductor, whose concert extravaganzas with his own Johann Strauss Orchestra are regular sell-outs. He’s been dubbed ‘King of Waltz’ for his programmes, which feature elaborate costumes – and, of course, waltzes. Raymond Gubbay In 1989 the British impresario put on ‘Classical Spectacular’, a show that went on to become a staple at the Royal Albert Hall, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The Multi-Story Orchestra ‘We perform in car parks.’ Back in 2011, this USP made…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A steady handThe month of January 1933 might well qualify as what the Chinese proverb calls ‘an interesting time’. On the 1st, Japan rejected the non-aggression pact signed with the USSR the previous July; on the 10th, martial law was imposed in Spain as a Communist revolt spread in the southern provinces; and on the 30th, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. If nothing quite so disruptive happened that month in Paris (an attempted coup d’état had to wait until February 1934), on the musical front there was at least a modicum of anxiety about one, long-awaited first performance. Ravel had completed his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a brother of the philosopher, in 1930, but the world premiere did not take place until 5 January 1932,…7 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Bernard HerrmannA young woman steps into a motel shower; she smiles, the water seemingly washing away her sins – she stole a lot of money, but has decided to return it. Beyond the shower curtain the door opens and a dark figure approaches slowly before ripping back the curtain; with it comes a torrent of shrieking strings, the musicians’ slashes and stabs working in unison with those of the faceless, knife-wielding maniac. When it’s done, as the sounds of the cellos ebb away, so too does the woman’s life. Marion Crane’s demise at the hands of (spoiler alert) Norman Bates is one of the most famous scenes in cinema history. But this shocking moment from early in director Alfred Hitchock’s 1960 masterpiece Psycho could have been very different. Hitchco*ck didn’t want…7 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Benjamin BrittenClare Stevens enjoys the finest recordings of a Christmas masterpiece that came into this world in quite the most unlikely of circ*mstances The composer Britten was yet to turn 30 when he began work on his A Ceremony of Carols. However, as a notably early starter, he already had plenty in the bag. During his stay in the US from 1939-42 he composed important works such as the Sinfonia da Requiem and Les Illuminations, while his return to Britain would be followed by a veritable flurry of masterpieces: in 1943, Peter Pears and Dennis Brain gave the premiere of his Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, while 1945 brought his Purcell-inspired The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and, perhaps most importantly, the opera Peter Grimes. The work Britten’s A…5 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Continue the journey…Composing seasonal music in unlikely places evidently came naturally to Britten. Just as his A Ceremony of Carols was written on a cargo ship, his Hymn to the Virgin was the result of a spell in his school sickroom in his teens. Consisting of three verses in which unaccompanied choir and a group of soloists sing antiphonally in English and Latin, the work is a model of simple, reflective festive calm. (Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury Decca 485 2504) More than 30 years before Britten’s Ceremony, Holst had turned to female voices and harp for the Third Group of his Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda. The words of the four hymns come from the vedas, the oldest body of Hindu sacred texts, in translations by the composer, who…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Performer’s notesWhat was your vision in curating this album selection? It really came together because of the concerts we found ourselves doing just after Christmas. There’s some beautiful music written for the Epiphany and the seasons that follow, so we wanted to celebrate that. I think the people who came to our first Epiphany concerts a few years ago will feel like they are part of it, because they will have heard some of this repertoire as it developed. Which of the contemporary pieces stands out for you? I actually sang at the first performance of Joanna Marsh’s piece, in fact even the first rehearsal of it, and that was a lovely process. I think it’s one of her best; it celebrates the voices of the group, with quite a high…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023OrchestralBallard The Four Moons; Devil’s Promenade; Fantasy Aborigine, No. 3 ‘Kokopelli’; Scenes from Indian Life Forth Smith Symphony/John Jeter Naxos 8.559923 57:11 mins Louis Wayne Ballard (1931-2007) has become known as ‘the father of Native American composers’, and with good reason. Born to a Cherokee father and a Quapaw mother, this composer, teacher and administrator, a graduate of the University of Tulsa, filled his compositions with Native American folklore, themes and rhythms, while also finding room for global modernist practices whenever he felt the need. One of his own teachers was Darius Milhaud, and in pieces like Devil’s Promenade (the name of his Oklahoma birthplace) the listener may detect echoes of Milhaud’s delight in making busy and noisy merriment by hurling multiple elements into the same pot. Or, in a…10 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Bavouzet’s eighth Mozart set is full of zest and styleMozart Piano Concertos Nos 26 & 27; Overtures (Vol. 8) Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano); Manchester Camerata/Gábor Takács-Nagy Chandos CHAN20246 75:26 mins Three opera overtures, two piano concertos, one joyful album: that’s what you’ll get from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s latest Mozart recording. It’s the eighth in a series that’s been garlanded with five-star reviews – and this one deserves another, for its zest and style. Honours go first to the livewire Manchester Camerata and its conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy for the overtures, each of which leaves you wanting to hear the whole opera. The wind playing in the Così fan tutte overture is particularly nifty, while the trombones bring stately nobility to The Magic Flute’s opener. And the sense of anticipation, with scurrying strings, for La Clemenza di Tito is scintillating. Yet the main…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Choral & SongBartók • Kodály Bartók: Cantata Profana;
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Rich rewards from the Busch’s restraintRavel • Shostakovich Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor; Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 Busch Trio Alpha Classics ALPHA1002 51:51 mins The Busch Trio has the depth of musicianship to encompass the very different emotions of these great 20th-century chamber works. In the Ravel, I was utterly mesmerised by the sheer beauty of sound that the performers conjure up in the opening movement. The music’s dreamlike quality comes across particularly vividly, without any indulgence. At the same time, there’s no lack of urgency in the more agitated full-blooded sections that have a tremendous visceral energy. Similar qualities abound in the rest of the work, with a wonderfully mercurial account of the second movement ‘Pantoum’, a stoic and dignified ‘Passacaille’ and a ‘Final’ that builds up…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Brief notesEnescu • Mendelssohn Octets Soloists of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel et al Fuga Libera FUG808 An enjoyable coupling of Mendelssohn’s youthfully exuberant masterpiece of 1825 with Enescu’s more emotionally complex work from 75 years later. Though the performance of the former sets off in slightly deliberate fashion, things pick up nicely thereafter. (JP) Fabricius O Liebes Kind – Christmas Music La Protezione della Musica Arcantus ARC22042 Lively, vivid performances by this German HIP ensemble of advent and Christmas music by the 17th-century composer and organist. There’s a fine mix of small, intimate compositions, often for voice and one or two instruments, and larger, more ceremonial pieces. (SW) Gál Concertinos for Violin, Cello and Piano; String Serenade Nina Karmon (violin), Justus Grimm (cello) et al Hänssler Classic HC23049 These three…5 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023From the archivesMonthly round-up Only the movements without soloists from a 1981 BBC Symphony Orchestra performance of Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet make it onto this release, but there’s plenty of excitement in the faster passages, as well as some untidiness, although the ‘Queen Mab Scherzo’ is tight and light. The affection and warmth that Rozhdestvensky conjures in the ‘Love Scene’ is very touching, helped by the carefully balanced recording in the Albert Hall and some lovely solo playing. Five years earlier, the conductor was in the Royal Festival Hall with the LSO for Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy: an urgent performance, but not opening out enough sonically at climaxes to make its full effect. (ICA Classics ICAC 5172) Colin Davis’s live 2001 version of Elgar’s First Symphony is mostly weighty and expansive, especially…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Audio gift guideTHIS MONTH: CHRISTMAS GIFTS ALL TO PLAY FOR Ruark R410 Integrated Music System £1,299 Maybe one for a combined birthday and Christmas gift, Ruark’s latest all-in-one audio system is a thing of beauty. The handcrafted slatted wooden grille gives the R410 a luxurious retro-modern look, while the 4.4" TFT full-colour interactive screen and signature Rotodial control on top hints at the technology within. The 120W Class D amplifier drives two 10cm long bass units and 20mm silk dome tweeters, while AirPlay 2, Bluetooth aptX HD and Chromecast are built-in. There’s also Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, BBC Sounds and radio – DAB/DAB+, FM and internet radio – plus with Wi-Fi connectivity, you can connect to a home network and stream hi-res files up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM. ruarkaudio.com BUD AND THUNDER Sony…4 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Russell Watson TenorThe genial British singer has enjoyed an enduring popularity since his first hit album The Voice dominated the charts in 2000. His story has taken him from working men’s clubs to some of the world’s biggest stages, and while he’s enjoyed plenty of hits, he’s overcome some heavy knocks to be where he is today. He is currently on a tour of UK cathedrals and ‘magnificent buildings’. I grew up in Salford, Mum was a stay-at-home mum, Dad worked 12-hour night shifts, which meant that predominantly I was listening to Mum’s favourite songs. She was into everything from Cliff Richard to John Denver, but she was a big classical fan as well. There was one chap that she listened to in particular, who I think probably slotted into the ‘crossover’…4 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORSAmanda Holloway Music writer and editor ‘What a privilege to be in King’s College, Cambridge’s magnificent 15th-century chapel, hearing the choristers run through works by John Rutter under director Daniel Hyde, my interviewee for the cover feature.’ Page 26 Jeremy Pound Deputy Editor, BBC Music ‘Every year, I plan to be one of those types who grump joylessly throughout Christmas. But all it takes is for me to hear a snatch of, say, “Once in Royal” or “O Holy night” and I’m utterly smitten by all things festive once again.’ Page 40 Femke Colborne Journalist ‘When I first watched A Woman of Paris earlier this year, I was struck by the film’s drama and pathos. It was fascinating to learn how a new soundtrack helped bring out Charlie Chaplin’s more…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023FREE ONE MONTH TRIAL to the digital editionHave BBC Music Magazine delivered straight to your device when you take out a one month FREE trial* subscription to the digital edition. Simply return to the home page to subscribe. *After your one month trial your subscription will continue at £2.99 per month…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023THE MONTH IN NUMBERS48 …bells preserved for the future, as the Bournville Carillon (above) near Birmingham enjoys an £86,000 programme of maintenance work. 3 …years of concerts in Barrow, as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra announces a new partnership. 12,000 …pounds raised for Unicef by 17-year-old violinist Anthony Knight by playing recitals in hotel lobbies across Europe. 17.5 …per cent more people listening to Radio 3 than this time last year, according to figures released by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research).…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Bernstein celebrates festive freedom in East Berlin‘I am experiencing a historical moment, incomparable with ‘Iam others in my long, long life.’ Leonard Bernstein was 71 when he spoke those words, six weeks after elated crowds began tearing down the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. For 28 years the wall had split the city in two, preventing those living in communist-controlled East Berlin crossing to West Berlin, where the democratic values of the Federal Republic of Germany held sway. But communism in eastern Europe had begun to crumble, and the convulsive shockwaves were causing the long-impregnable barriers between the two parts of a divided Germany, both ideological and physical, to crumble too. Ever a master of the dramatic moment, Bernstein instinctively grasped that he, an elder statesman of international music, had a unique contribution to…3 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023ENO hunts for new conductor as Brabbins quitsChristmas may be honing into view, but the days at English National Opera are looking anything but merry and bright. At the time of writing, the company is leaderless after music director Martyn Brabbins resigned in protest at cuts to the orchestra and chorus for the 2024/25 season, stating that ‘the proposed changes would drive a coach and horses through the artistic integrity of the whole of ENO… while also singularly failing to protect our musicians’ livelihoods.’ In response to the departure of its conductor, who had been in post at the Coliseum since 2016, ENO released a statement expressing its ‘surprise’ and adding that Brabbins had ‘been party to all key discussions at all stages’. Meanwhile, who might be next to be urged into the ENO hotseat remains anyone’s…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023REWINDThis month: BERTRAND CHAMAYOU Pianist MY FINEST MOMENT Messiaen Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus Bertrand Chamayou (piano) Erato 9029619666 (2022) This was maybe more important to me than anything else I’ve done, because I had been carrying the idea of playing it since I was a kid; it was a dream come true to record it. I tried so very much to reach something transcendent – I don’t know if I managed to, but I decided to record it in a very special way. I asked my sound engineer not to be there, and so he taught me how to manage the computers and place the microphones. I wanted to be alone with the music and my piano – the only person there was the tuner. I had to postpone the…3 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023FAREWELL TO…Yuri Temirkanov Born 1938 Conductor The Russian conductor played a big part in the re-emergence of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra after communist rule came to an end in the Soviet Union – the ensemble reclaimed its original name in 1991. Temirkanov had joined as music director in 1988, following tenures with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra and at the Kirov Opera. Born in Nalchik, his father was a culture minister and the young musician took to the violin and viola, studying locally and then at the St Petersburg Conservatory, where he would go on to be a prize-winning conducting student. The Russian repertoire was of course in his blood and very much his passion as a conductor, which he shared with orchestras around the world, including the Baltimore Symphony where…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Our ChoicesCharlotte Smith Editor A quick dash up to Edinburgh provided the perfect opportunity to attend a concert by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Usher Hall. On the programme were Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Sibelius’s First Symphony, both sumptuously performed by an impeccably balanced band under the baton of Kristiina Poska (pictured below). But it was soloist Rachel Barton Pine who provided the showstopping moment in her encore, coolly dispatching Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1, in a ridiculously difficult arrangement by Nathan Milstein, without breaking a sweat. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor While driving my son to athletics training, hearing a lushly Romantic – but not instantly identifiable – symphonic work on Radio 3’s In Tune gave me the ideal opportunity to display my professional expertise. ‘It’s almost certainly Tchaikovsky,’ father…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Parallel opportunitiesDaniel Hyde explains how girls are being introduced to the musical traditions of King’s College School and Chapel: ‘We wanted to support further opportunities for girls to experience a formal choral training tradition; girls and boys rehearse in school at the same time, in the same building. It’s been very successful and we’re looking at how to develop it.’ He says it wouldn’t have worked simply to throw girls into the current setup: ‘It’s not a case of just giving them a top hat and then job done. We have a clear vision of these two groups running in parallel and the educational approach is proving itself to be quite different. It might be that the girls in the Schola Cantorum do more varied types of music; they are already…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A world of difference‘When I was a young musician, performing a concert was a single, distinct event – after the moment, it was gone, and nobody would ever hear it again,’ says Little. ‘Nowadays, so much is broadcast and people make surreptitious recordings on their phones and share them online. So, in a way, every note is under the microscope. I think that can be quite challenging for young musicians. ‘But on the other hand, the advantage of today’s technology is the wealth of amazing information that is so easily accessible. The library that we have online now is inspiring. When I was younger, I would go to a shop, choose a record and listen in the booth for a certain amount of time to check if I liked at least some of…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 202315 Christmas Music EssentialsDid you know that this month marks 50 years since Slade released ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’, instantly carving their own little place in our collective festive psyches? Half a century on, the song that singer Noddy Holder has referred to as his ‘pension scheme’ remains a mainstay on the radio and in shops, pubs and parties from the beginning of December onwards – so much so that some say Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t there. However, much as we at BBC Music enjoy joining Noddy and crew in a raucous sing-along about hanging stockings on the wall and fairies keeping Santa sober for a day, we crave more musical satisfaction at Christmas than just that. A lot more. So, what ear-tickling treats could we as classical music lovers not…7 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Settling the scoreIt was the roaring twenties when Charlie Chaplin’s first serious drama, A Woman of Paris, had its premiere in Los Angeles. The women wore pearls and flapper dresses, the men crisp suits and Panama hats as they strolled along the bustling pavements of Hollywood in its golden age. Chaplin had a string of comedy triumphs behind him, including Easy Street (1917), The Immigrant (1917) and The Kid (1921), and the stage was set for his ambitious next project. But things did not go quite to plan. Though it was a hit with the critics, A Woman of Paris left audiences in Los Angeles feeling somewhat bemused on its 1923 debut. They had expected another comedy, a film with Chaplin as the star, and instead they got a rather dark drama…7 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Master soundsDebussy Pelléas et Mélisande Déso’s recording of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande has been available without a break since it appeared in 1942. Toscanini called it ‘unequalled’. Pristine Classical PACO063 Debussy La Mer In October 1950, Déso recorded Debussy’s La Mer with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, described by Sviatoslav Richter as the best recording of anything, ever. Supraphon LPM-14 Poulenc Les Biches In June 1951, John Culshaw was the producer for Déso’s recording of Poulenc’s Les Biches. Poulenc wrote of it, ‘His recording captures the whole flavour of it in all its cynical freshness.’ Eloquence 484 0416 Delibes Coppélia and Sylvia In February 1950, Déso recorded Delibes’s two ballets Coppélia and Sylvia, which have been praised as ‘unsurpassed for their rhythmic sensibility and for their mastery of style’. Eloquence 484 0416…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Herrmann’s styleUnusual combos Herrmann was a great experimenter, eschewing the orchestral norms for films as he saw fit. He employed, for example, 12 flutes for the opening of Citizen Kane (1941, poster pictured below), two theremins and electric bass for The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), nine harps for Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and five organs for Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). Ostinatos You don’t find so many melodies in Herrmann’s music, the composer tending towards brief motifs and repeating patterns to create drama and energy, often underlining the more psychological aspects of the characters for which he is writing. Falling to nowhere Herrmann has a way of drawing the listener in by regularly utilising series of descending notes (sometimes with a concurrent set of rising…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Bright, clear and full of passionThe Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge Sally Pryce (harp); Stephen Layton (conductor) Hyperion CDA67946 The combination of sacred and secular appeal perhaps explains the enduring popularity of A Ceremony of Carols and the enormous number of recordings that are currently available. Perhaps it is also a measure of Britten’s skill in writing for voices that they are all so good. Immaculate recordings have been made by the upper voices of many cathedral and collegiate choirs, youth choirs and professional ensembles such as The Sixteen and Tenebrae, but The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge’s is the one that made the biggest initial impact, still lingering in my mind after weeks of listening to different interpretations. Stephen Layton’s 2007-vintage undergraduate choir includes a couple of countertenors and has impressive vocal strength; the…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A set of luminous gifts from The Gesualdo SixMorning Star Works by Byrd, Cornelius, Eccard, Handl, Howells, Lassus, Manchicourt, Judith Bingham, Joanna Marsh, Owain Park, Adrian Peaco*ck, plus traditional works (arr. Park) The Gesualdo Six Hyperion CDA68404 78:40 mins The Gesualdo Six was founded almost ten years ago and since then it has produced spectacular concerts around the globe and a recording every year since 2018. Their style of singing – perfectly blended vocal harmony, exquisite tuning, inventive phrasing, delicately poised textural clarity – provides a magical accompaniment to the warmth of the Christmas season. Perhaps problematically, they had already produced an impressive recording of Christmas pieces in 2019, with arrangements of some of the old favourites such as Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, In dulci jubilo etc. The solution? They have turned instead to the period…3 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023ChristmasChristmas round-up John Rutter’s name is synonymous with Christmas, and Orchestral Carols offers an EP-length selection of his seasonal compositions. There are six tracks in total (seven if you buy from Apple Music), and three are Rutter arrangements of popular carols. Of these, Silent Night is given a dreamily impressionistic interpretation, with silken vocalism from the King’s College Choir. In Rutter’s own All Bells in Paradise vocal connoisseurs will relish the immaculately modulated phrasing of the King’s trebles, and the easy flow of Daniel Hyde’s conducting. (King’s College KGS0069) Voktett Hannover’s Tidings of Joy is a first-class example of smallgroup a cappella singing. Founded in 2012, the ensemble has eight members, who blend mellifluously together in Mendelssohn’s ‘Im Advent’, the programme opener. Jan-Åke Hillerud’s ‘Veni, Emmanuel’ spotlights Voktett’s adept part-balancing,…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Saint-Saëns with sparkle and humourSaint-Saëns Le Carnaval des animaux; Poèmes symphoniques etc Les Siècles/François-Xavier Roth Harmonia Mundi HMM 902614.15 110:58 mins (2-discs) I can’t be sure how many versions of the symphonic poem La Jeunesse d’Hercule I’ve heard over the last 60 years or so, but it’s been lodged in my brain for a long time as one of the composer’s less-inspired efforts, and overlong to wit. But now, at last, I’ve seen the light thanks to François-Xavier Roth’s interpretation. One of his many virtues is that he’s not afraid of making his orchestra play very, very quietly; another is that, where a composer has not noted dynamics, Roth feels free to invent them, and does so with finesse. This gives life not only to individual phrases, but to long paragraphs, so we can…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023OperaGeorge Lewis Afterword Joelle Lamarre, Gwendolyn Brown, Julian Terrell Otis; International Contemporary Ensemble/David Fulmer Tundra TUN015 118:13 mins (2 discs) In 2010, composer George Lewis noted that, ‘Communities provide access. They provide access to history, they provide access to key individuals and traditions … How to provide access to tradition and history is extremely important.’ Five years later, Lewis explored these themes and more in his first opera, Afterword. The work’s focus is the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Chicago collective formed in 1965 (by pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall and composer Phil Cohran) to support Black experimental performers and composers in the face of oppression, social injustice – and musical stereotyping. Drawing on interviews from newspapers and A Power Stronger…6 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A timely work delivered with power and poignanceJohn Pickard Mass in Troubled Times etc BBC Singers/Martyn Brabbins et al BIS BIS-2651 (CD/SACD) 74:30 mins If the world was in crisis when Mass in Troubled Times was premiered in 2018, then the work has only gained in power and poignancy. Pickard has only a handful of choral pieces to his name, which all feature on this album alongside instrumental works performed by two fine soloists, Chloë Abbott (trumpet) and David Goode (organ). Many of the choral works show the obvious influence of 20th-century choral masters, especially Duruflé and Howells. However, it is Pickard’s vivid setting of Shelley’s Ozymandias (his Op. 1) that prepares you for the Mass’s more dissonant and expressive world. The Mass is a substantial departure from the traditional sacred liturgy, and writer Gavin D’Costa has…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Artists we’ve lost, ensembles to cherish*t’s been long-awaited, but finally fans can enjoy Jessye Norman – The Complete Studio Recitals (Decca 485 1014), a handsomely packaged box of delights celebrating the late, great American soprano. It’s a gorgeous presentation comprising some 44 CDs and three DVDs and taking in every aspect of Norman’s memorable vocal prowess. From lieder to spirituals via the Great American Songbook, it’s got it all – plus a pair of Christmas concerts and previously unreleased gems. Pure class, like the soprano herself. Another much-missed artist, Lars Vogt is remembered with The Complete Warner Classics Recordings (Warner Classics 5419760490). The 27-disc collection takes in the German pianist’s earliest recordings, which he began shortly after taking second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990. From his 1991 album of works by…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A zinging bit of PurcellPurcell The Fairy Queen Les Arts Florissants/William Christie et al Harmonia Mundi HAF8901308.09 (1989) 128:42 mins (2 discs) 1989 saw William Christie and Les Arts Florissants firmly established at the forefront of Baroque opera productions, mostly French, but with a few excursions into foreign territory. This was always one of the most successful, and you can hear the energy of the performance from the outset, with the orchestral preludes zinging out of the speakers. Christie uses a large, varied continuo group to give contrasting colours to the music, and the strong lineup of singers includes Nancy Argenta, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, Charles Daniels, Thomas Randle and Bernard Deletré. It’s a pity that their solo appearances aren’t credited in the booklet, but they form a real ensemble, honed in a series…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Live choiceRoyal Northern Sinfonia Chorus Hexham Abbey, 1 December theglasshouseicm.org While the Royal Northern Sinfonia embarks on a nine-concert candlelit tour offering Grieg, Watkins, Whitacre and choice Baroquerie, its Chorus has itchy feet of its own as it celebrates 50 years not out. ‘A Choral Nativity’ recounts the Christmas story in music by, among others, Rachmaninov, Handel and Roxanna Panufnik. Orchestra of the Swan Village Hall, Willoughby, 1 December orchestraoftheswan.org Under violinist-director David Le Page, the Orchestra of the Swan plunges deep into musical midwinter, encountering works ranging from Corelli’s Christmas Concerto to music by Vivaldi, Holst and Liszt. With his arranger’s hat on, Le Page has been keeping himself busy, so that ‘anon.’ and ‘trad.’ keep festive company with The Pogues. The Marian Consort St John the Baptist Church, Little…5 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023The BBC Music MagazineTHE QUIZ It’s time to put your classical music knowledge to the test 1. ‘Jauchzet, frohlocket!’ (‘Exult! Rejoice!’) proclaim the opening words to which 1734 festive work? 2. Who is believed to have led the first performance of his Christmas Concerto for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in Rome in 1690? 3. Which opera, premiered in February 1892, ends with the eponymous hero dying in his study on Christmas Eve to the sound of children singing ‘Noël’ outside? 4. What favourite Christmas carol was first sung in St Nicholas’s Church in Oberndorf, Austria, on 24 December 1818? 5. The composer pictured above was baptised in Oxford on Christmas Day in 1583. Who is he? 6. Named after the Gloucestershire village in which he wrote it, ‘Cranham’ is a well-known setting by Holst…3 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Have your say…Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST Email: music@classical-music.com Social media: contact us on Facebook and Twitter A word to the wise Among the many things I enjoy every month in BBC Music Magazine, a high point has to be the crossword (and I am proud to have won the prize a few months back). I have recently completed the crossword in the December issue. There are some very clever clues in there from Paul Henderson, but I fear he has made a mistake. Clue 28 Across starts ‘Violinist’ (the definition part) and is followed by the cryptic components – ‘fellows’ (MEN) ‘call for attention’ (AHEM) ‘and crowd’ (PRESS) ‘the French’ (LE) ‘player at last’ (R). The only answer which fits with these components (and…5 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Albert Hall celebrates its past as archive is revampedFrom Wagner wielding the baton to knock out blows from Muhammad Ali, or chords at the hands of Rachmaninov to words of wisdom from Albert Einstein, the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) has a spectacular 152-year track record of hosting famous names and events. And now, visitors to the iconic South Kensington building can enjoy delving into its history thanks to a £1m ‘rescue operation’ to display its archive in one single, safe place. Until recently, the hall’s many artefacts had been kept in four separate locations, with regular flooding of the basem*nt proving a constant threat to their survival. Thanks to the redevelopment, they will be now stored in a climate controlled area where historians, researchers and members of the general public can book an appointment to view them –…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023SoundBitesFrom bourrée to baton English National Ballet has announced that Maria Seletskaja is to be its next music director. The Estonian, 39, holds the rare distinction of having enjoyed a career as a ballet dancer before turning her attention to conducting – something that, it would seem, would make her the ideal person for the post. She herself says the appointment ‘marks the beginning of an exciting chapter in my professional life, which I am thrilled about’. Dartington derailed The future of the Dartington Music School and Festival appears to be in serious doubt, with plans for next summer’s instalment having been put on hold and artistic director Sara Mohr-Pietsch handing in her resignation. Founded in 1948 and held at Dartington Hall near Exeter, the event has become a much-loved…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Also in December 1989…5th: Backbencher Anthony Meyer, the MP for Clwyd North West, stands against Margaret Thatcher in a contest for the leadership for the Conservative Party, the first time Thatcher has faced such a challenge since becoming prime minister in 1979. Though 90 per cent of Tory MPs vote in her favour, the underlying discontent within the party will eventually lead to her downfall the following November. 17th: The first ever full-length episode of The Simpsons is broadcast on Fox. Until now, Matt Groening’s dysfunctional family from Springfield has appeared only as a series of animated shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show, but now gets its own regular half-hour slot. Called ‘Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire’, the first show sees Bart getting a tattoo and Homer taking a job as a…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023MyHeroI did my studies at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 1950s. Back then, the Academy was a fairly stiff and starchy place. They were always talking about Beethoven and Bach, and didn’t really want to venture into new musical worlds. One day I heard a piece of music on the radio and it was the most marvellous music I had ever heard. It turned out to be Delius’s On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. I thought, ‘Here is an English composer with a totally original style and harmonic language. Why isn’t this incredible music being taught to us at the Academy?’ I have been a fan of Delius’s music ever since. I think his harmonic structures are very original: his music contains some very ‘way out’…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Richard MorrisonNo sooner has the classical music world stopped arguing about Cate Blanchett’s savage portrayal of a fictional conductor in the movie Tár than along comes another Hollywood epic about a conductor – this time a real one. As someone who interviewed Leonard Bernstein a few times, I was astonished by how accurately Bradley Cooper portrays his mannerisms, voice, conducting gestures, crazy and fickle private life and, most of all, his charisma in this new film Maestro (to be profiled in the Jan 2024 issue). And there are some brilliant music scenes. The 1973 performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony in Ely Cathedral is so perfectly evoked that you feel as if you have been whisked backwards in a time-machine. In one respect, though, the film doesn’t do justice to Bernstein’s multifaceted…4 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A lifetime of carolsJohn Rutter has had a long association with Cambridge, first as a student, then as director of music at Clare College, one of the first colleges to admit women to its choir. He also assisted Sir David Willco*cks with the iconic series Carols for Choirs, working in the same study that Hyde inhabits today. Rutter is inextricably associated with choral compositions and particularly carols, performed by choirs all over the world, and he is in demand to give workshops and performances with his own ensemble, Cambridge Singers. He started writing carols in his teens at Highgate School, where he sang in the chapel choir next to his great friend John Tavener. ‘He would write a carol and I would write one and we would show them to each other,’ says…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A King of King’sThe profile of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge in terms of media, recordings and international touring shot ahead in the period from 1957-74, when David Willco*cks was director of music. Yet when do we hear anything much of Willco*cks’s predecessor, Boris Ord? No excuses for that. Many of those who sang under him remain around to bear witness to his clearly remarkable talents. Robin Morrish, who sang for both Ord and Willco*cks as a choral scholar, reckons that ‘David Willco*cks was first class, but he didn’t have Boris’s genius’. Morrish sought a place in the King’s choir precisely because of the magic transmitted over the Christmas Eve airwaves. ‘At home we’d settle down for the Nine Lessons and Carols, waiting in silence for the first notes of Once in…8 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023GuidinglightsIt was a few years ago now, back in 2020, that I first noticed my Instagram feed filling up with eye-catching images of dark churches filled with seas of glowing candles. They were adverts promising an evening of Chopin’s piano music or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, although no musicians’ names were given. At first, as it was the height of the pandemic (albeit between lockdowns), I’ll confess I thought it was a scam. But then I saw posts from friends who had actually been and loved them. What’s more, it was often people who had never been particularly interested in classical music before. Three years later, and I’m still getting lots of candlelit adverts. And, according to Fever, the company behind Candlelight Concerts, the series is now in over 100 cities…6 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Breaking the mouldA Woman of Paris follows the fortunes of star-crossed lovers Jean and Marie, who want to leave their parents in rural France and elope to Paris. In a cruel twist of fate, Marie is forced to get on the train without her beau and ends up in Paris alone. She quickly becomes swept up in a life of glitz and glamour, and begins having an affair with the city’s richest bachelor, Pierre. Months later, she encounters Jean by chance, and he proposes to her. She accepts, but Jean’s mother disavows their love because of Marie’s debauched reputation, and so she leaves him. Jean is devastated, with fatal consequences. If the story itself was unremarkable, the characters broke with all the stereotypes of the day: the heroine had questionable morals, the…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Bergen NorwayBefore he raises his baton for Verdi’s Requiem, Edward Gardner, chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, is keen to point out the number of gifted schoolchildren who are performing at the Grieghallen this evening, not just in the vast chorus at the back of the stage, but also playing alongside the professionals in the orchestral seats, no less. ‘Not bad for a city with a population smaller than Northampton!’ he enthuses. Half of me is impressed that so many of this Norwegian audience seem to know where Northampton is; another part wants to leap to the East Midlands town’s defence – with composers such as Malcolm Arnold and Edmund Rubbra among its famous sons, it is no musical desert. But then, Bergen can see Northampton’s Arnold and Rubbra and…4 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023HERRMANN Life&Times1911 LIFE: Bernard Herrmann is born, known affectionately as ‘Benny’, on 29 June in New York. His father Abraham fosters his love of music as a child and encourages him to learn the violin. TIMES: The first ever Indianapolis 500 motor race takes place, watched by a crowd of 80,000. It is won by Ray Harroun, driving a Marmon ‘Wasp’. 1933 LIFE: He co-founds and conducts the New Chamber Orchestra, which focuses its attention on rarely heard and contemporary music, not least his own and that of his peers. TIMES: Following his inauguration in March, President Franklin D Roosevelt delivers a ‘New Deal’ to ease longterm ecomonic hardship; this includes much-needed banking reform and all manner of relief programmes. 1948 LIFE: He and his wife Lucille Fletcher, the screenwriter and…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Three other great recordingsCopenhagen Boys Choir Though Britten was present when the Morriston Boys made the premiere recording of the Ceremony, this – recorded at the Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen, ten years later – is the only recording conducted by the composer himself, and so is worth listening to on that ground alone. Some of Britten’s trebles use a lot of vibrato and the tempo of ‘Balulalow’ is so slow that the soloist can’t easily get to the end of his lines, but there is a lot of contrast and drama, and individual lines in the harp part, played by Enid Simon, come across particularly clearly. (Heritage HTGCD232) The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Recorded in 1964 under choirmaster George Guest and with harpist Marisa Robles, this vintage recording has a…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023WelcomeChristmas music comes in all shapes and sizes, so this issue I’ve tried to get a bit of everything in. We kick off with our usual round-up of the very best seasonal offerings, but there’s a festive vein running throuout these pages. You’ll find rarefied beauty thanks to the likes of the Gesualdo Six and St Martin’s Voices, Christmas oratorios old and new, classic carols courtesy of King’s and some magic and sparkle from Voces8 and Phoenix Chorale. There’s even some peaceful festive piano music and a book full of carol origin stories. But it’s not all about Christmas; there’s stunning Rachmaninov from Steven Osborne, sumptuous Saint-Saëns orchestral works from Les Siècles and unmissable solo turns from guitarist Sean Shibe and violinist Isabelle Faust. This month’s critics John Allison, Nicholas…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023A heartwarming NoëlNoël Works by Poston, Darke, Jonathan Dove, Toby Young, John Rutter et al Armonico Consort Signum Classics SIGCD754 53:54 mins Christmas is often treated as a time of extroverted celebration, but intimacy is the keynote of Noël, the Armonico Consort’s new seasonal collection. That’s partly because the choir has just eleven members, lending an extra delicacy and nuance to their delivery. The opening O Adonai, by the Consort’s composer-in-residence Toby Young, is a good example, four sopranos weaving elegant wisps of melody above a hummed accompaniment. Limpidity of texture also distinguishes the Consort’s lambent account of Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, and ensures that Away in a Manger (the French traditional setting) has an appropriate tinge of vulnerability. On Christmas Night in theory requires a heartier, more full-voiced…1 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023ConcertoBeethoven Violin Concerto; ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata (Trans. Violin & Orchestra) Nemanja Radulović (violin); Double Sens Warner Classics 5419774339 83:41 mins Nemanja Radulović doesn’t mention it in his brief booklet note, but his transcription of the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata for violin and string orchestra may well have been prompted by Beethoven’s own description of the work as being written ‘in a very concertante style, almost like that of a concerto’. The arrangement works quite well in the more excitable moments of the outer movements, particularly given the stunning virtuosity not only of Radulović himself, but also of the members of his regular ensemble, Double Sens. (Their break-neck speed in the finale has to be heard to be believed.) But when it comes to the slow movement, the initial theme is taken so slowly…11 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Rousset conjures a stunning slice of LullyLully Thésée Mathias Vidal, Karine Deshayes, Deborah Cachet et al; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset Aparté AP325 161:00 mins (3 discs) This, one of Lully’s greatest works, is one of Christophe Rousset’s greatest recordings. With Thésée (1675), Lully unites opposites – intimacy and spectacle, fluidity and structure – within a super-saturated score. Action revolves around the sorceress Médée, who prefers to murder Thésée, the object of her desire, rather than lose him to a young rival. From her opening scene, Rousset makes us hear the vulnerability of Médée (Karine Deshayes) while, against the sparest of continuo, she whisperingly laments being prisoner to her passion. When sparkly confidante Dorine (Thaïs Raï-Westphal) urges Médée to assert herself, however, Rousset bounces in with arch keyboard additions, repeatedly shifting the pulse to undercut conventional word…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023ChamberBeethoven String Quartets, Vol. 1 – String Quartets Nos 1, 6, 11, 12; String Quartet in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Doric String Quartet Chandos CHAN20298-2 157:57 mins (2 discs) The Doric String Quartet has already nailed its colours to the mast with well-received recordings of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Purcell and Britten (also Chandos). Now they are beginning to do the same with Beethoven: this double-album is a taster for the complete set, with five works spanning the composer’s early, middle and late periods. And for listeners with long memories – and even short ones – they face stiff competition. My own memories go back to the recordings laid down in the early ’60s by the Amadeus Quartet, whom I was honoured to welcome to the stage for a concert…11 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Osborne’s timeless Debussy is a winnerDebussy Études; Pour le piano; Étude retrouvée; Berceuse héroïque; La plus que lente Steven Osborne (piano) Hyperion CDA68409 67:06 mins Czerny was the master of the study designed to stretch, strengthen and enliven a pianist’s fingers, while Chopin breathed fiery inspiration into the form. And if the echo of a teaching exercise lingers, deliberately and amusingly, in the opening of Debussy’s first Étude, it’s to the memory of Chopin that the French composer dedicated his own set of 12. These late works, written in the summer of 1915, during a summer on the coast at Pourville, France, are dazzling short essays exploring abstract musical intervals, and the timbres and sonorities of the piano. They need a pianist of vast technical capability, an incredible sensitivity to the layering, colour and quality…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023UnboxedTo listen again to this extraordinary voice is to marvel afresh at the richness, the expressive depth, the directness of communication and the uncanny feeling that you’re being given privileged access to the emotional truth of a character or song. Janet Baker: A Celebration (Decca 485 4438; 21 discs) begins with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in 1961 for Anthony Lewis, the 28-year-old mezzo already unmistakeable in the soulsearing despair of ‘Dido’s Lament’, as powerful as her 1970s recording with Steuart Bedford. Complete recordings of both are included here, framing the rest of the recordings, and a career which helped restore Handel opera in performances with Raymond Leppard and the revival of Monteverdi (and other early Italians) before the period instrument explosion. A Gluck recital with Leppard is the closest we…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023BACKSTAGE WITH…From 7-13 December, you are leading the Scottish Ensemble on a tour of candlelit concerts in cities across Scotland. Is this a favourite event in the group’s calendar? We’ve been doing our concerts by candelight for a number of years now, and have built up a very loyal and enthusiastic audience. It has been people’s positive reaction to the kind of programme we do these days – which is essentially a lot of short pieces strung together – that has encouraged me to keep researching more ideas every year. It is a lot more work than a normal concert, as you are threading together a lot of different soundworlds and eras and you are also thinking about pacing, energy flow and so on, but it’s a thrill to be able…2 min
BBC Music Magazine|Christmas 2023Angela GheorghiuMozart, Brahms & Schubert Symphonic selections Performances from over the years by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra PLUS! Guitarist MiloŠ Karadaglićtalks to Claire Jackson about his new Baroque album; Michael Beek profiles Maestro, the new film about Leonard Bernstein; Michael White celebrates the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 50th anniversary; Jeremy Pound examines the relationship between music and boats; and John Cage is our Composer of the Month Competition terms and conditions Winners will be the senders of the first correct entries drawn at random. All entrants are deemed to have accepted the rules (see opposite) and agreed to be bound by them. The prizes shall be as stated and no cash alternatives will be offered. Competitions are open to UK residents only, except employees of Our Media Company Limited, the promoter and…1 min
