Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i BBC Music Magazine

Daniel Jaffé Writer and academic ‘What better time than the centenary of the Russian Revolution to reassess what the Soviet Union did for music? It was fascinating to read the latest research, as well as some surprising discoveries…’ Page 24 Clemency Burton-Hill Broadcaster and author ‘Interviewing Ashkenazy was a joy. In person as on stage he exudes grace, generosity and self-possession. To hear him talk with such frankness about his extraordinary life and career felt like a real privilege.’ Page 36 Richard Bratby Writer and critic ‘Birmingham’s never stood still, musically, but nothing says renewal like a brand-new music college. The new Birmingham Conservatoire looks stunning – and I’m impatient to hear my first concert there!’ Page 40…

Encores galore I was so much in agreement with Stephen Johnson (Discovering Music, October) I was almost in danger of shouting ‘encore’ myself – I’ve been bursting to tell the world how annoying perpetual, and totally expected, encores are. They are far too common. All but one of this year’s BBC Proms concerts have finished with my radio being switched off before the presenter’s inevitable ‘You know there will be an encore, don’t you?’ My one exception, and an encore I did agree with, was Prom 37 with Alexander Gavrylyuk performing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto. The choice of encore here [Rachmaninov’s Vocalise] was perfect, a tiny reflection of the events so majestically gone before. A truly outstanding performance. Vanessa Richards, Beverley WIN A DIGITAL RADIO! Every month the editor will…

12 …foot tall. That’s the height of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s new octobass (above), a rare three-stringed, lower-pitched version of a double bass. Now they just need to recruit a 12-foot tall person to play it. 10 …sets of cello lessons. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has donated £3,000 to his old school in Nottingham so that others can aspire to follow his lead. 3 …arias, led by robot. YuMi, an automaton, made his debut in Italy recently, conducting Verdi and Puccini. One to watch? 30,000 …pounds raised for Grenfell Tower families, thanks to a benefit concert at London’s Cadogan Hall. Soprano Ailish Tynan and tenor Stuart Skelton were among those who performed.…

When, on 16 November 1908, New York’s Metropolitan Opera House opened its season with Verdi’s Aida , there was a buzz about the place. The demand to see the performance had been unprecedented, with The Sun reporting how, the evening before, the venue had been ‘practically in a state of siege until… the last of the unfortunates who hadn’t got tickets in advance reluctantly abandoned their efforts to obtain admission.’ Playing the title role that evening was the acclaimed Czech soprano Emmy Destinn, with tenor Enrico Caruso, no less, as Radamès. But the real draw was the appearance for the first time at The Met of Arturo Toscanini, the star maestro recently brought over from La Scala in Milan. Ever since he’d first conducted his first opera as a 19…

Heartbroken Luke Howard hit the headlines recently when he sat at a ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ piano on Bristol’s College Green for hours on end in a desperate bid to win back his ex-girlfriend’s affections. His attempts ended in failure – she didn’t return, and he got thumped by a hacked-off passer-by – but he was by no means the first person to turn to music in a bid to win back a would-be loved one. When Mahler , for instance, learnt of his wife Alma’s liaisons with Walter Gropius, he was quick to react. Surely, he reckoned, dedicating his epic Eighth Symphony to her would remind her of their former wedded bliss? Alas no, and by the time he began his Tenth Symphony in 1910, the feelings of desperation…

In many respects, the state has as much power over the arts as in the days of Stalin One hundred years after the Russian Revolution, and 30 years after the no-less-fundamental ‘perestroika’ reforms of the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev, how is music faring in Russia today? That’s a vast question about a vast country, so let’s start not with generalisations but with an encounter. It was a flight I made 13 years ago in a private jet (I never found out whose) from Vilnius to St Petersburg with none other than Valery Gergiev, the most powerful figure in Russian musical life. Naturally we talked about music, but it was when we talked about football that my eyes were opened. Germany was about to host the World Cup. I asked…

An abbreviation of Pervïy Simfonicheskiy Ansambl’ bez dirizhyora – First Conductorless Symphony Ensemble – the Persimfans ensemble (top) was founded in 1922 by violinist Lev Tseitlin (above), a former leader of Serge Koussevitzky’s orchestra. Inspired by the Marxist ideal of collective endeavour and responsibility, its players rehearsed in the manner of an oversized chamber group, resolving questions of interpretation through discussion. Tseitlin recruited most of his players from Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and the Moscow Conservatory where he taught. Persimfans’s repertoire ranged from Bach through Beethoven to such contemporary composers as Myaskovsky (giving premieres of several of his works), Prokofiev, Strauss, Stravinsky and Hindemith. The orchestra gave weekly concerts at the Moscow Conservatory, and performed in factories, mills, workers’ clubs and military camps. But the dedication of its players, already…

Vladimir Ashkenazy’s discography, which spans 39 composers over 55 years, amounts to over 100 hours. In 1962, thanks to his joint victory at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (with John Ogdon), he was immediately signed to Decca, and is their longest-serving artist. His debut disc was Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3; since then he has left few Russian piano works untouched, bringing particular attention to Scriabin. His catalogue boasts the entire works of Rachmaninov and Chopin, all 32 Beethoven sonatas and the complete concertos of Beethoven and Mozart. He is also known for his interpretations of Bach and Shostakovich’s preludes and fugues – the latter earned him one of his seven Grammys. His 30 years as a conductor have also reflected his interest in Russian music. Recordings include Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and…

“ Edward Bairstow spotted talent of a high order and enrolled Jackson as a chorister” ‘Goodness,’ said my friend, ‘you organists, you do go on and on.’ Oh dear, had I been boring him? Happily not: his remark referred merely to the longevity of the species. André Marchal and Marie-Claire Alain living to 86, George Thalben-Ball to 90, Fernando Germani and Charles-Marie Widor to 92 – he might have a point. But in any case, England holds the record in the person of Dr Francis Jackson CBE, organist and choirmaster of York Minster for over 35 years, who has just celebrated his 100th birthday. Francis Jackson was born in Malton near York and at the age of eleven came to the notice of the Minster organist, Sir Edward Bairstow, who…

Exoticism: His early contact with Russian peasant music followed by the more exotic folk music in the Caucasus widened Glinka’s harmonic vocabulary. He was one of the first composers to employ the whole-tone scale, used in Ruslan and Lyudmila to depict the evil sorcerer Chernomor (pictured above). Orchestration: Glinka’s early practical experience taught him the orchestra’s sonic capabilities. He was able to dazzle audiences with strikingly novel textures that were acknowledged by his friend Berlioz. Motivic development: Glinka’s Kamarinskaya eschews the standard Western symphonic method of developing and transforming themes in favour of a more static conception where a motive is repeated whilst its accompaniment is varied. Eclecticism: Despite the strongly Russian element in some of his music, Glinka in fact drew upon all Western European musical styles of his…

Isaac Stern (violin) Like most of his generation, Isaac Stern used Leopold Auer’s edition which cuts nine bars from the first movement and 44 from the finale. This excision of (mostly) repetitious material undeniably tightens the structure; and for a musical adrenaline rush of charismatic fervency, Stern, accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, sweeps the board, culminating in an electrifying coda. Sony Classical (download only) Vadim Repin (violin) Repin had already established his credentials as an outstanding exponent of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in his 1994 recording with the LSO and conductor Emmanuel Krivine. Here, in this live 2002 version for Philips with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev (coupled with the Myaskovsky Concerto), complemented by high-impact engineering, Repin takes centre-stage with an espressivo force to have one hanging onto…

Dvořák Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81; String Quintet No. 3 in E flat, Op. 97 Pavel Haas Quartet; Pavel Nikl (viola), Boris Giltburg (piano) Supraphon SU 41952 73:93 mins Hard on the heels of the Skampa Quartet’s excellent recording of Dvořák’s E flat major String Quintet (reviewed p97) comes one from the Pavel Haas Quartet, this time coupled to the ever-popular Second Piano Quintet. When he wrote the String Quintet on holiday in Spillville, Iowa, Dvořák relaxed with his family after many months in New York where teaching duties and social obligations had hung heavily. The impression from the American Quartet, written in a matter of days, is one of enormous creative energy erupting after a period of being bottled up. The String Quintet composed shortly afterwards is, in many…

Beethoven • Brahms • Weber Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Weber: Overture to Oberon; Beethoven: Violin Concerto Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin); Staatskapelle Dresden/ Bernard Haitink Profil PH09036 96:34 mins (2 discs) When Giuseppe Sinopoli, the Staatskapelle’s chief conductor, died suddenly while conducting Aida in 2001, Bernard Haitink volunteered to take over until the orchestra found another permanent conductor. The next year Dresden suffered a severe flood, with much damage to the centre of the city, and it was to raise money to help the unhoused that Haitink conducted this concert, of absolutely central Staatskapelle fare. And, being Haitink, these performances are absolutely central. The only sign that a performance is under Haitink is that it contains no idiosyncrasies and that it is as detailed and as cogent as one might hope.…

CPE Bach • Mozart • Boccherini • Haydn Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2; CPE Bach: Cello Concerto No. 3; Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 7; Mozart: ‘Geme la tortorella’ Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Steven Isserlis (cello) Hyperion CDA68162 77:47 mins It’s nearly twenty years since Steven Isserlis’s still fresh-sounding accounts of Haydn’s Cello Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Roger Norrington were recorded. This new set has the advantages of CPE Bach’s striking A major Concerto, Bremen’s excellent Kammerphilharmonie and superb recorded sound, darker in colour than the bright-ringing 1998 version. His interpretations, graceful and finely-etched before, now have a more rugged depth, and the new variants on his own cadenzas speak of experience. In the first Moderato of Haydn’s C major he’s more boldly exuberant, yet more deftly…

Gounod Faust (DVD) Piotr Beczala, Ildar Abdrazakov, Maria Agresta; Philharmonia Chor Vienna; Vienna Philharmonic/Alejo Pérez; dir. Reinhard von der Thannen (Salzburg, 2016) EuroArts DVD: 8024297038; Blu-ray: 8024297034 180 mins The Vienna Phiharmonic treats Gounod’s smooth lines and rich harmonies with the love and respect they deserve – none of which bears any apparent relation with what is happening onstage. Of course, the days are long gone when an opera production could simply tell the story as librettist and composer intended. Nowadays every production has to have a ‘concept’. In this Salzburg Festival staging the concept is spelt out, literally, at the start, with the word ‘RIEN’ firmly placed centre stage. This is taken from Faust’s opening monologue in which he cries out, ‘I see nothing, I know nothing, nothing, nothing!’…

Dvořák Stabat Mater Eri Nakamura (soprano), Elisabeth Kulman (mezzo-soprano), Michael Spyres (tenor), Jongmin Park (bass); Prague Philhramonic Choir; Czech Philharmonic/Jiří Bĕlohlávek Decca 483 1510 83:06 mins (2 discs) Czech conductor Jiří Bĕlohlávek’s recording – his second of this mighty choral work with this orchestra – now forms a worthy memorial to a master musician lost to us all too soon. Czech music, of course, was one of his specialities both internationally and – as here – in his work with the finest of Czech orchestras, whose chief conductor he was for two periods, the second up to the time of his death. In this collaboration they bring a depth and richness of warm colours to a score still insufficiently appreciated: the longest setting of the text by any major composer,…

Bloch Music for cello and piano Raphael Wallfisch (cello), John York (piano) Nimbus NI5943 70:14 mins From a relatively early age, Ernest Bloch seems to have enjoyed a special affinity for the cello. The Cello Sonata, which was composed at the time he was a student in Brussels, is idiomatically written for the instrument, the cello’s soaring melodies matched by an equally extravagant quasi-orchestral piano part. At this stage, Bloch seems to have been particularly enamoured by the emotionally charged music of César Franck and was also undoubtedly influenced by his teacher Ysaÿe. Much more characteristic are the three works inspired by Jewish folklore that include the well-known Nigun for violin, performed here in a very effective transcription by Joseph Schuster, the three miniatures From Jewish Life and the more…

Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35; Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 60; Trois Nouvelles Etudes; Polonaises in C minor Op. 40 No. 2 and in F sharp minor, Op. 44; Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15 No. 3 Dinara Klinton (piano) Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina NIFCCD 2018 66:34 mins The young Ukrainian pianist Dinara Klinton, trained in Moscow and in London’s Royal College of Music, has been making her mark as a prizewinner at numerous competitions recently, and with an impressive roster of concert debuts. Her Chopin programme for the Frédéric Chopin Institute’s series sets off with the B flat minor ‘Funeral March’ Sonata, asserting at once a highly dramatic and often lyrical take on this visionary work. Her shaping of melodic lines is as…

John Luther Adams Canticles of the Holy Wind The Crossing/Donald Nally Cantaloupe CA21131 Birds sing and the wind blows in this beautiful and atmospheric 2013 wordless choral work. Adams is a master of turning nature into notes. (RF) ★★★★ Beethoven String Quartets Nos 9 & 14 Aris Quartet Genuin GEN17478 These are vibrant, energetic Beethoven performances. The Aris Quartet often pushes the composer’s dynamics and tempos to extremes. (EC) ★★★★ Bigham Staffa; Archipelago Dances; Two Nightscapes RSNO/Jean-Claude Picard Aruna Records ARUNACD002 Ned Bigham’s music ambles pleasantly from one style to another without ever really taxing the listener’s imagination. The Archipelago Dances are the most engaging works here. (JP) ★★★ Castelnuovo-Tedesco The Divan of Moses in Ibn Ezra Joanna Klisowska (soprano), Giulio Tampalini (guitar) Brilliant Classics 95282 The agile Klisowska weaves…

Geoffrey Smith welcomes a new box set which offers a chance to assess bassist Charles Mingus’s great legacy One of the highlights of the alternative strand in this summer’s BBC Proms was Beneath the Underdog: Charles Mingus Revisited, a tribute to the larger-than-life jazz bassist, composer and leader. Featuring Jules Buckley’s Metropole Orkest and star soloists, the evening’s roof-raising success made it clear that, despite a career marked by controversy and turmoil, Mingus has become a bona fide immortal, a creative force celebrated across the musical spectrum from jazz and classical to rock and pop. Accordingly, his legacy rates the same kind of in-depth attention as that of such giants as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington, a need handsomely met by the Properbox compilation Mingus Moods (Properbox 188)…

LONDON London Symphony Orchestra Barbican, 4, 5 & 8 Nov Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891 Web: www.barbican.org.uk Leonard Bernstein protégé Marin Alsop conducts three concerts as part of the LSO’s centenary salute to its sometime president. After a family concert, she turns her attention to the symphonies, setting No. 3 (Kaddish) alongside the Adagio from Mahler’s Tenth. The young Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony opens the final evening where it partners another symphonic debut: Mahler’s Titan Symphony No. 1. Wimbledon Music Festival Wimbledon, 11-26 Nov Tel: 0333 666 3366 Web: wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk Southwest London is set for a series of capital city adventures. Wimbledon Music Festival embarks on a metropolis-hopping global journey that takes violinist Viktoria Mullova to Rio; vocal ensemble Tenebrae to Rome (and Westminster); and the Schubert Ensemble to Vienna where…

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll have noticed by now that things seem a little different here in BBC Music Magazine. But not too different, we hope you’ll agree. We’ve given a spring (autumn) clean to the front end of the magazine, adding new features, including a monthly column by Radio 3’s Tom Service. And we’ve taken our regular features, such as Composer of the Month and Building a Library, and freshened them up. We’d love to know what you think: whether we’ve achieved the right balance of substance and style, and if you enjoy our new fonts – you may notice that they’re slightly larger than the old set. Of course, you may be new to BBC Music Magazine… In which case, we’d love to hear your first impressions…

Ilker Arcayürek Tenor Born: Istanbul, Turkey Career highlight: Participating in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition was a huge opportunity. I was able to present myself to a broad new audience and it was my first time ever in the UK. It’s opened lots of doors for me. Musical hero: My real musical heroes are amateur musicians, because of their love and passion for music. They remind me why I started singing at all – to make music as part of a group which shares the same passion. Dream concert: I dream of bringing the entire audience to tears (including me), then leaving the stage without applause, in silence. Maria Marchant Pianist Born: Brighton, UK Career highlight: Premiering Goodwood by the Sea composed by Roderick Williams…

3rd: Having served as US President since the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt decides not to run for a third term. Instead, he throws his weight behind his fellow Republican and old friend, William Howard Taft, who wins the election. 7th: Butch Cassidy , (above) the iconic outlaw of the Wild West, and his accomplice ‘the Sundance Kid’, are discovered on the run from the law in Bolivia. After stealing a mule, they are reportedly shot by soldiers in an overnight standoff, and buried in unmarked graves. Cassidy’s sister, however, later claims that he survived and lived in America until 1937. 10th: The Gideons , an evangelical association of travelling Christian salesmen, leave their first Bibles in rooms of the Superior Hotel, Montana. Over the next 100…

Rubinstein Piano Concerto No. 4 Vai Music 1020-2  Rubinstein’s Fourth Piano Concerto is a piece that was in the repertoire of so many pianists at the turn of the 20th century. In many ways it marks the beginning of the era of the Romantic piano concerto. Rubinstein’s harmonies are ‘very meat and potatoes’ and he doesn’t go in for chromaticism. It’s also muscular – ‘Mendelssohn on steroids’ is the best way I can think of describing it. It has to be played with real energy and passion to make it work, and Josef Hofmann’s 1937 recording is the greatest one out there. Dvořák Mass in D minor Argo ZRG 781 I first came across Dvoÿák’s Mass when I got hold of the recording by Christ Church Choir under Simon Preston…

How important was music to the Soviet Union? An obvious question, perhaps, but consider the extraordinary number of outstanding musicians trained under the regime – among them the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, pianists Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter, violinist David Oistrakh and conductor Kirill Kondrashin, to name just the best-known of those educated during even Stalin’s reign. Then there are such Stalin Prize-winning yet indisputable masterpieces as Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet or Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 1 – neither of them exemplary works of Socialist Realism. Consider, too, the significance of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, founded in 1958, its first prize winner among pianists not a Soviet musician but the American Van Cliburn. Clearly, music was not simply tolerated, but positively encouraged. That’s not to deny that the ‘Soviet system’ often policed…

For all of the achievements of Myaskovsky, Shostakovich et al, a number of Russia’s best-known composers were plying their trade away from the Soviet Union. By the October Revolution, Stravinsky had made his name with the success of ballets such the Firebird (1910) and the Rite of Spring (1913) in Europe. After a stay in neutral Switzerland during WWI, the Revolution convinced him not to return to his homeland and he would not visit it again until 1962. Rachmaninov, meanwhile, as a member of the bourgeoisie, was aware that his future lay away from Russia. Leaving the country via Finland in Dec 1917, he went on to ply his trade as a composer and performer in Europe and the US, while his estate at home was seized by the Leninist…

Free Thinking Radio 3’s festival of ideas will be broadcast from Pushkin House – the UK’s oldest Russian cultural centre. Sunday Feature: To Resurrect Mayakovsky 5 November 2017 Writer Ian Sansom explores the work of Vladimir Mayakovsky, who ‘proclaimed’ the Russian Revolution. Featuring readings from his poems, the documentary asks to what degree we should admire and read the work of artists who were once dictators’ mouthpieces. Drama on 3: Fathers & Sons 5 November, 9pm Brian Friel’s acclaimed dramatisation of Turgenev’s 1860 novel tells the story of generational strife against the backdrop of the restless political environment which would eventually lead to the Russian Revolution. Featuring an all-star cast including actors Charles Dance and George Blagden. Composer of the Week: 100 Years of the Russian Revolution 6-10, 13-17 November,…

“ Birmingham Conservatoire will be the most technologically advanced music college in Europe” It’s May 2017, and in barely four months, Birmingham Conservatoire will be starting to settle into its new abode – the newest and most technologically advanced purpose-built music college in Europe. But the Conservatoire’s principal, Julian Lloyd Webber, is talking about beer. ‘Yes, I’ve got it!’ he exclaims, lighting up with enthusiasm. ‘I’ve succeeded in getting a real ale for the bar. It’s being produced by Wye Valley Brewery, and the working name is Conservatoire Ale. Really, though, I’d like two – I want a stronger one, too, and we’ll call that Principal’s Ale.’ These aren’t exactly the priorities you might expect from the man in charge of the single biggest transformation in the Conservatoire’s 47-year history.…

Toccata, Chorale and Fugue As a composer for organ, Francis Jackson has amassed a large catalogue – this 1955 Vierne-influenced suite is particularly noteworthy, employing the organ’s full spectrum of stop colours and demanding a formidable technique from the player. Simon Nieminski (organ) (Lammas Records LAMM127D) Sonata No. 3 for organ Jackson’s six organ sonatas contain delightful moments, but for an all-round satisfying musical experience, No. 3 is the one to go for. French influences combine with harmonies and ideas reminiscent of Herbert Howells. The Toccata finale is glorious. Graham Barber (organ) (Priory PRCD373) East Acklam Jackson’s significant contribution to the world of hymnody includes this Elgarian tune written in 1957 and today sung widely in churches and cathedrals as the harvest hymn ‘For the fruits of his creation’. Rupert…

Joss Stone has a look of wide-eyed disbelief. ‘You just look at these kids and you can see that, yes, they have water and somewhere to sleep, but they have nothing more than the basics: no books, nothing to write on, no way of learning,’ says the singer-songwriter. ‘They’re stuck in limbo and nobody is doing anything about it.’ Most visitors leave reality at the door when they check in to the five-star Sani beach resort, just an hour outside Thessaloniki. But for Stone, when we meet in the hotel bar, the troubles of a hard-hit Greece – knocked down by economic recession and now facing a migration crisis as Syrian refugees are held in a camp in the suburbs outside the city – live fresh in the mind. Having…

1824 LIFE: Glinka joins the civil service . By night he frequents the salons and cultural gatherings of the city and composes songs and piano pieces. TIMES: St Petersburg floods kill hundreds, an event that inspires Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman. 1837 LIFE: The success of his first opera, A life for the Tsar , motivates Glinka to set Pushkin’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, but the poet’s sudden death delays its completion. TIMES: Pushkin, Russia’s national poet, is fatally wounded in a secret duel with his brother-in-law, shot from just ten paces. 1857 LIFE: Weakened by a cold, Glinka dies in Berlin at the age of 52. His body is buried there but later re-interred in St Petersburg. TIMES: Anger against the East India Company leads Indian soldiers and civilians to revolt…

Julia Fischer plays the finale with both precision and abandonment Julia Fischer (violin) Russian National Orchestra/Yakov Kreizberg (2006) Pentatone PTC 5186 610 (hybrid CD/SACD) There are bomb-proof pieces that can withstand almost any amount of interpretative tinkering and revisionism, but Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is not one of them. Turn to almost any page in the score and its place in the work’s emotional narrative is semantically unmistakable – hardly a bar goes by that isn’t either dancing for joy, exalting in heart-tugging melody or surging ahead with uncontainable exuberance. Crucial to any performance’s success is a sense of both soloist and orchestra riding the surging tide of Tchaikovsky’s excited imagination. Listened to in isolation, many versions of this much-recorded piece would happily pass muster, yet placed in close proximity it…

With the centenary of the 1917 Revolution falling this November, there’s no better time to explore Russia’s rich musical heritage. And happily there are some wonderful CDs reviewed this month that showcase a few of the country’s finest composers. Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony is our Orchestral Choice (p65) in a fine performance by the Czech Philharmonic. His music also appears on a cracking new four-hand piano disc from Peter Hill and Benjamin Frith, along with Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux (p79). Why not wallow in Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil (p75) or relish Rustem Hayroudinoff’s take on his two piano sonatas (p81)? Or for more bracing fare, try Ustvolskaya’s six piano sonatas, played by Antonii Baryshevskyi (p82). Rebecca Franks Reviews Editor This month’s critics John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Terry Blain, Kate Bolton-Porciatti,…

The fugue has a kind of hell-for-leather drive akin to Berlioz Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov Decca 483 2320 58:19 mins Few of Tchaikovsky’s works are more controversial than the Manfred Symphony. Detractors find it long-winded and structurally diffuse, taking particular issue with the finale’s somewhat stop-go trajectory. Semyon Bychkov totally repudiates this view, arguing that such objections to the Symphony disappear if the interpreter follows Tchaikovsky’s extremely precise performing instructions and careful balancing of orchestral textures to the letter. In this performance, magnificently delivered by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and captured in clear yet opulent sound, Bychkov’s attention to inner detail effectively enhances the work’s emotional intensity. Its opening movement, depicting Manfred alone wandering the Alps, is particularly compelling, Bychkov setting up the oppressive atmosphere from the first…

Nuance is matched to phrasing of impressive breadth R Strauss Oboe Concerto*; Serenade in E flat for Winds, Op. 7; Sonatina No. 2 in E flat (Fröhliche Werkstatt) *Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/ Andris Nelsons; Winds of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/ Alexei Ogrintchouk (oboe) BIS BIS-2163 (hybrid CD/SACD) 74:12 mins What a subtle and fascinating artist is oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk – a team player as well as a born soloist, whose ideas on the Strauss Wind Serenade and Second Sonatina are as distinctive in their supple tempo-changes as Andris Nelson’s contrasts-writ-large (but never too large) in the Oboe Concerto. Nuance is of the essence here, matched to phrasing of impressive breadth, with circular breathing presumably involved in the soloist’s first uninterrupted 50-plus bars of the Concerto as well as the pure arches…

 Charpentier. The overture passes by rather too quickly, though, and the opening scenes of pastoral indulgence which, while charming, do not generate much dramatic heat until the dolorous snake bite; even then, Orphée’s reaction is more dignified than impassioned. Once he descends to Hades there is considerably more musical fibre. The string textures become richer, the characterisation, in particular Robert Getchell is an appropriately sweet-voiced Orphée M-A Charpentier La descente d’Orphée Robert Getchell, Caroline Weynants, Nicolas Brooymans; Ensemble Correspondances/Sébastien Daucé Harmonia Mundi HMM 902279 54:52 mins With Lully’s ruthless domination of large-scale opera in France, Charpentier had to confine his Pluton (superbly sung by Nicolas Brooymans), more boldly drawn and Orphée’s pleas to be reunited with dramatic abilities to smaller works. His numerous pastoral comedies show a sure hand even…

The Gabrieli sings Dove’s mini-drama with virtuosity Silence & Music Choral partsongs: Vaughan Williams: Silence and Music; Bushes and Briars; The Winter is gone; The Turtle Dove; Rest; Dove: Who killed Cock Robin?; Elgar: There is sweet music, Op. 53 No. 1; Owls; Grainger: The Three Ravens; Brigg Fair; MacMillan: The Gallant Weaver; Stanford: The Blue Bird; plus works by Howells, Warlock and Britten Gabrielli Consort/Paul McCreesh Signum SIGCD 490 67:41 mins Sometimes the best discoveries in music aren’t pieces that you’ve never heard before, but those you have, made new by remarkable interpretations. That’s certainly the case with Stanford’s The Blue Bird, long a staple of the English choral repertoire, as sung by the Gabrieli Consort on this new recording. The feeling of partial, hovering detachment conductor Paul McCreesh…

Michael Collins’s performance of Reger is mesmerising Reger Clarinet Sonatas: in A flat, Op. 49/1; in F sharp minor, Op. 49/2; in B flat, Op. 107 Michael Collins (clarinet), Michael McHale (piano) Chandos CHAN 10970 71:49 mins Hearing a performance of one of Brahms’s late Clarinet Sonatas in 1900 inspired Max Reger to write his Op. 49 set for the same combination. But the composer went one better than his predecessor some eight years later by completing another four-movement Sonata (Op. 107) that is conceived on an even grander scale than his earlier efforts. It’s perhaps hardly surprising that Brahms should remain a strong influence on all three works. The mellifluous way Reger interweaves the dialogue between clarinet and piano is typically Brahmsian, as is the complex contrapuntal musical argument…

Volodos is hypnotic in Brahms’s ‘lullaby of my sorrows’ Brahms Klavierstücke, Op. 76 Nos 1-4; 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117; 6 Klavierstücke, Op. 118 Arcadi Volodos (piano) Sony 88875130192 51:68 mins For a pianist as versatile as Arcadi Volodos, the introverted world of late Brahms can hold no terrors. The composer, having planned to retire in 1890, soon found himself doing anything but. Inspired to the creation of his late masterpieces on the one hand by the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld (for whom he wrote several sonatas and a clarinet quintet) and on the other hand by Clara Schumann, he enjoyed a profoundly rewarding Indian summer. The Op. 117 and Op. 118 pieces, written after the deaths of both his sister and his close friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, nevertheless include some of…

November round-up Is it possible to use the term easy listening and for it not to be pejorative? Aussie horn virtuoso James Morrison effortlessly transcends the genre on his new album The Great American Songbook by giving a good roasting to an assortment of old chestnuts from Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers, Ellington et al. Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra (conducted by Keith Lockhart and recorded in the fabled Abbey Road studio) Morrison delivers a characteristically soaring masterclass in horn play, the ensemble flowing strongly beneath him. A clever move to keep the programme from curdling was to employ a number of different arrangers to bring their own colours and lyric touch to the tunes. (ABC Music 481 5433 ★★★★ ) The Christian McBride Big Band has form: it won…

Hear Me Out – All my Music Armando Iannucci Little Brown ISBN 978-1-4087-0988-7 278pp £14.99 ‘Classical music is there for us all, inviting us to reach out and touch it.’ So saying, Armando Iannucci lays out his musical stall with a series of personal reflections on a wide range of topics, composers and pieces, deftly articulating what makes them so special (or not). Without recourse to technical jargon or analytical discourse, he zones in on music’s nexus points, celebrating some of the finest music ever composed and those special moments that can induce a state of nirvana in a matter of seconds. Iannucci’s bright and breezy style makes this a book one can happily dip into or read straight through at a single sitting. Along the way you’ll encounter entertaining…

1. Sage Gateshead Where: Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Opened: 2004 Seats: 1,700 You really can’t miss the Sage Gateshead. Arguably the UK’s most eye-catching concert venue, it adorns the south bank of the River Tyne, a short walk from the Tyne Bridge in one direction and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, a former mill, in the other. Its sumptuous Norman Foster-designed glass curves embrace a veritable wealth of performance spaces plus activity and education areas – as well as the 1,700-seat Sage One and 400-seat Sage Two auditoriums, there is also a large glass-fronted rehearsal hall, lecture studios and, below ground level, smaller practice rooms galore. The ‘home’ team here is the Royal Northern Sinfonia which, under the direction of pianist-conductor Lars Vogt, both rehearses and performs at the…

Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture One hundred years since Bolshevik forces stormed the Winter Palace, we look at the extraordinary cultural developments that followed the Russian Revolution, from 1917 to the present day. As, over two weeks, we explore the relationship between Russian music, culture and politics, we will be devoting a whole day of programming to the event on 7 November, the anniversary day itself. 6-17 November Cherubini’s Medea Few operatic heroines induce feelings of horror and sympathy in equal measure to quite the same extent as Medea, the eponymous sorceress of Cherubini’s 1797 opera. The exceptional Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is Medea herself, as we take in this performance from Wexford Festival Opera. Opera on 3; 25 November, 7.30pm London Jazz Festival As London’s great annual…

The wrong operas How can you compare opera buffa with grand opera, music drama with opera seria, 12-note opera with Baroque opera (20 Greatest Operas, October)? I have long enjoyed all 20 operas that your professional artists have, by some arithmetical formula, generated as the top, but they would not be my top 20, and Figaro would not even be my favourite comic opera. Being inevitably subjective, if I am asked to choose operas for which I would drop everything and rush to the opera house with only five minutes to curtain up, then they are Così, Don Carlos, Electra, Parsifal, Pique Dame and Wozzeck (in alphabetical order!). Brian P Price, Milford on Sea Sullivan joy The consensus choice of your voters as to the 20 greatest operatic masterpieces was…

A career in brief 1965: After forging an early career as a pop star in New Zealand, she wins the Mobil Song Quest with the Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen. 1966: Enrolling at the London Opera Centre, she sings minor roles in London opera venues. 1971: Makes her big break at the Royal Opera House, singing the Countess in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. 1981: At the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, she sings Handel’s ‘Let the bright seraphim’. 1982: She is appointed a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. 1991: For the Rugby World Cup, she records the new ‘World in Union’ anthem, based on Holst’s ‘Jupiter’. 2004: She founds the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to assist outstanding young musicians with their international careers. 2010: Her last sung…

Wigmore winner Congratulations to baritone Julien Van Mellaerts, who has won the prestigious 2017 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. The New Zealander pockets £10,000 for his efforts, which were judged by a panel including baritone Christian Gerhaher and soprano Dame Felicity Lott. A tenner at the opera For the first time in over 30 years, the Royal Opera House is planning to reintroduce ‘Proms’ tickets in the stalls for some productions, allowing people to pay on the day and sit on the floor or stand for just £10. The idea, which would involve taking out all the seats in the stalls area, has been proposed by Covent Garden’s new artistic director Oliver Mears, who hopes to see it in place by 2020. No ifs or Barts Alf Clausen, whose…

What does Dan Brown’s new thriller have to do with classical music? It turns out that Origin was inspired by his brother Gregory W Brown’s Missa Charles Darwin , a work whose music is drawn from DNA sequences and whose texts are by Darwin. The piece has been recorded by New York Polyphony and a special edition of the disc is out now on Navona Records. British composer Toby Young, meanwhile, has taken his cue from the Old English epic Beowulf. Working with writer Danny Coleman-Cooke, Young has created a setting of the poem for adults and children to perform. It’s being recorded by the Armonico Consort , soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and harpist Catrin Finch for Signum Classics. The unlikely combination of punk rock band Pussy Riot and Romantic…

For Schubert, silences and rests are places that confront us with visions of the sublime What is the most prevalent sound in the concert hall, the one sonic essential without which every performance you have ever experienced could not take place? Here it is visualised for you…: Silence: the concentrated quiet of our attention as listeners. The music we hear is projected onto a screen of silence, and if our quiet listening weren’t there, musical culture couldn’t exist. Behind all of the music you have ever heard, from Hildegard of Bingen to Harrison Birtwistle, is an ocean of silence out of which every piece of music begins and where they all must end. But silence isn’t just an existential frame for musical experience. Composers have always used silence as material.…

Oliver Condy Editor I made a trip to the Italian town of Lerici recently (where the poet Shelley lived and died) to visit its first music festival. The stars of the show were the members of the festival orchestra recruited entirely from Facebook. Orchestra Excellence, made up of players from all over the world, gave a scintillating performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony under the inspiring baton of conductor Gianluca Marcianò. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor As the BBC Proms rolled into its final week, a family trip to Isabelle Faust and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra’s all-Mendelssohn concert proved my highlight of the season. Faust’s performance of the E minor Violin Concerto was exemplary in its precision and full-toned clarity, yet also full of excitement and sheer joie de vivre.…

1917 The October Revolution sees the Bolsheviks’ Red Guard seize key buildings in Petrograd and arrest the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace. • Anatoly Lunacharsky (above) is appointed Commissar for Enlightenment. 1918 The Russian Civil War begins, a conflict that will last the next three years. • The Commissariat’s Music Department (MUZO) is set up, with Arthur Lourié appointed as its head. • The Bolsheviks transfer government from Petrograd to Moscow. • Lenin and Lunacharsky sign the decree of the Soviet of People’s Commissars, nationalising the Petrograd and Moscow Conservatories. 1919 In November, a concert celebrating the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution includes French Revolutionary Songs ‘unearthed’, translated and arranged on MUZO’s initiative – these include the Carmagnole and ‘Ça ira’, both later used in Myaskovsky’s Sixth Symphony.…

LONDON Trio Wanderer LSO St Luke’s, 3 November Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891 Web: www.lso.co.uk A series of lunchtime concerts entitled Shostakovich Plus delves into his chamber works, as well as those he inspired. In a programme centred around elegies and Jewish themes, Trio Wanderer plays his Piano Trio No. 2 – a lament for a close friend and for the victims of the Holocaust. Also featured are Suk’s Elegie and Copland’s Vitebsk, depicting the brutality of Jewish life in Russia. The Prince Regent’s Band St John’s, Smith Square, 5 Nov Tel: +44 (0)20 7222 1061 Web: www.sjss.co.uk The period ensemble performs repertoire by Ewald, Böhme and Glazunov, composers associated with Tsar Alexander III, who was himself a brass player. The group will be playing early 20th-century instruments including Russian-style…

“ If you are a serious musician, a serious artist, your life will have an imprint on what you do in your art. That’s how it is” Vladimir Ashkenazy recently celebrated his 80th birthday, but he is in no mood to look back. ‘I don’t think it’s important to do so,’ he says with a smile. ‘I look at the present, at whatever future there is, and I try to do my best.’ The humility is signature Ashkenazy. He is, of course, the award-winning pianist whose recordings of everyone from Bach to Bartók have set a gold standard. He is the accidental maestro who became principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and who now enjoys laureate positions at orchestras from Iceland to Japan. But he is also the man…

With arguably the finest concert hall acoustic in the UK, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, which opened in 1991, is just one of the city’s many classical music attractions. Just a couple of hundred yards away, the Town Hall (pictured above) has not only witnessed significant world premieres by Elgar and Mendelssohn, but has, since 1834, been home to weekly organ recitals given by the City Organist on the hall’s Hill organ, which boasts the largest organ case in Europe. Venture south-west to the university, and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts hosts some impressive classical music series in its art deco hall, including lunchtime, evening and family concerts, Barber Opera and the Birmingham International Piano Festival. Back in the centre of town, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group has its home in the…

The very best competitions are those that place talent right at their heart – those that help discover and, ultimately, nurture brilliant young musicians. The World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) counts the very best competitions as its members. Here we introduce six of the newest. Princess Astrid International Music Competition Trondheim, Norway, 27 November – 2 December 2018 Pilgrims once travelled the rocky road to Trondheim to visit the tomb of St Olav. The city’s modern, more secular attractions include a competition that connects Norway’s far north with the wider world of classical music. Trondheim’s biennial Princess Astrid International Music Competition, supported by the Norwegian Department of Culture, increased its reach in 2010 by converting from a national prize to become a global event. Norway’s oldest music competition…

The remarkable transformation of Glinka’s style was mainly generated by his travelling On the basis of a mere handful of works, Glinka is regarded as a composer of immense historical significance. Indeed, there are many things about the so-called ‘father of Russian music’ that are surprising, not least the fact that in his youth he never received a formal musical education. Indeed, as he made his way in the world, Glinka initially appeared little more than a musical dilettante. A portrait of the composer painted by Ilya Repin some 30 years after his death provides some insight into his character. It presents Glinka, clad in an elegant dressing gown, lying on a sofa, his head propped up by a cushion, staring pensively at a musical manuscript with a slightly chewed…

The composer Born in the small Russian town of Votkinsk in 1840 and initially employed as a civil servant, Tchaikovsky’s musical career began when he enrolled as one of the first students at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1862. His first major work, Symphony No. 1, was completed in 1866, after which his exceptional output included five further symphonies, violin and piano concertos, and operas including Eugene Onegin. Though bedevilled both by unhappy personal liaisons and harsh criticism of his work, and prone to bouts of depression, it remains unclear whether his death in 1893 was by his own hand. The work Tchaikovsky’s dazzling Violin Concerto captures the exhilaration of being alive – and in love – with an incandescent surge. The recent catastrophic failure of the composer’s marriage to…

What made you decide to couple these two works? To us, they seem to belong quite naturally together. Both are great works, which Dvoÿák composed during happy periods of his life. And obviously they are both quintets, so both require an extra musician; what is more, that musician needs to feel as if they’re part of the regular quartet. For the E flat String Quintet we naturally called upon our friend Pavel Nikl: he was a co-founder of the Pavel Haas Quartet, but was forced by personal circumstances to leave us early in 2016. We will always want to involve him in any work involving an extra viola. And what about Boris Giltburg for the Piano Quintet, Op. 81? We first met Boris about three years ago when we were…

Bruckner Symphony No. 3 Wagner Tristan und Isolde – Prelude & Liebestod, etc Hans Knappertsbusch was an unregenerate inauthenticist in Bruckner, but this 1950s recording of the ‘Wagner’ Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic is nonetheless impressive in this SACD remastering. In the Wagner opera excerpts, Flagstad’s singing of Kundry is maturely lovely, Nilsson cold in the Liebestod. Praga Digitals PRD 350 140 ★★★★ Bruckner Symphony No. 5 I assumed that Philippe Herreweghe would give a lightweight account, with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, of this huge symphony. It is less weighty than usual but still impressive and lacks only the last ounce of grandeur. Harmonia Mundi HMA 1902011 ★★★★ Wagner • Weber • Wolf Orchestral works This useful pair of discs, conducted by Horst Stein in the 1970s, has L’Orchestre…

Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Pianists Ellen Ballon and Jacqueline Blancard are part of a remarkable – but lesser-known – group of musicians who rose to prominence early in the 20th century. Both featured recordings were made when the soloists were well established (Chopin, 1950; Ravel, 1949) and are worthy of greater attention. Eloquence 482 5193; 46:15 mins ★★★★ Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 Khachaturian Piano Concerto The second album of Decca reissues features Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha at the height of her powers in the 1970s; the Khachaturian concerto is notable for its delicious inclusion of the flexatone. Eloquence 482 0725; 81:48 mins ★★★ Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 Grieg Lyric Pieces Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies; Polonaise No. 2 Nostalgia is a…

Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle This early 1950s release sounds amazingly vivid. Walter Susskind delivers a powerfully committed interpretation, and is well served by the New Symphony Orchestra’s playing and fine soloists. Praga Digitals PRD 250 349; 81:55 mins ★★★★★ Ligeti Le grand macabre Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen inspires a similarly high level of adrenalin in Ligeti’s opera with the Philharmonia, performed in English and captured in crystal clear sound. A pity that no libretto is provided. Sony S2K 62312; 102:27 mins ★★★★★ Rachmaninov Aleko Brilliant, if somewhat forwardly-placed singing from bass Evgeni Nesterenko and febrile conducting from Dmitri Kitajenko of his USSR forces bring Rachmaninov’s youthful and melodic score from 1892 to life. Alto ALC 1342; 59:14 mins ★★★★ Krása Brundibár A charming, humorous and poignant reconstruction of the version the composer…

JS Bach Motets Sigiswald Kuijken’s later recording of the Bach motets subscribes to the one-to-a-part ethos, but this 1992 concert performance, thoughtfully crafted, spaciously executed, prefers more well-upholstered vocal and instrumental forces. Accent ACC 24331; 1992; 64:51 mins ★★★ JS Bach Motets René Jacobs’ similarly-scaled, equally adroit account from just a few years later enjoys the luxury of a stylish solo vocal quartet to supplement the always-stylish choir. RIAS Harmonia Mundi HMA 1901589; 72:35 mins ★★★★ JS Bach St John Passion With no notes or texts included, Georg Christoph Biller’s St John Passion with Bach’s erstwhile choir starts off on the back foot. The performance is inspiring at its best, but inconsistent. Rondeau ROP 405051; 107:55 mins ★★★ Sweelinck Sacred Music Predating Bach’s St John Passion by just over a…

Le Berger Poète This picturesque selection of French Baroque chamber music paints a series of exquisite, faux pastoral landscapes in airy pastel hues. François Lazarevitch and his musicians offer supple, irresistibly seductive accounts. Alpha 332; 72:07 mins ★★★★★ CPE Bach Violin Sonatas Playing Baroque violin and fortepiano, Amandine Beyer and Edna Stern offer superbly idiomatic readings, by turns flamboyant and wistful, conveying the edgy drama, rhetoric and ‘heightened sensitivity’ of CPE Bach’s style. Alpha 329; 61:46 mins ★★★★★ Barrière Sonatas for Cello and Basso Continuo French Baroque cellist Jean Barrière was the Pablo Casals of this day, and his sonatas meld beguiling melodies with virtuosic display. Bruno Cocset and his ensemble are persuasive advocates. Alpha 330; 62:31 mins ★★★★★ Haydn Flute Sonatas Haydn’s ‘flute sonatas’ are, in fact, skilful transcriptions…

For the JS Bach bicentenary in 1950, Radio Saarbrücken decided to record and broadcast most of the composer’s solo keyboard works. They chose the French-born Walter Gieseking , who would become almost a house pianist for them. Gieseking had lived with Bach’s music all his life, and over just seven or eight sessions from January to June 1950, Gieseking worked his way through the Partitas, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Two- and Three-Part Inventions and various other pieces. This is not ‘old-fashioned’ Bach. There’s a brilliance and fleetness, sparkling fingerwork and articulation that’s surprisingly modern. The Partitas whip by swiftly, thanks to a cavalier attitude to repeats, and he uses the full resources of the instrument. It’s unashamedly pianistic. When you turn to Gieseking’s 1941 essay on playing Bach on the grand…

November round-up Sirom is a unique trio of Slovenian oddballs who have come up with the wonderfully strange, sonically adventurous I Can Be a Clay Snapper. It’s mostly ‘imagined’ folk music[s] using handmade – they are given to inventing things – and global instruments like lyre, violin, viola, balafons, frame drums, ribab and others. The bizarre album title, their fondness for typically Balkan asymmetrical rhythms, and non-verbal vocals make Sirom sound much like part of Frank Zappa’s The Mothers of Invention convening in some damp grotto for a playfully potty musical pact. Almost certainly this will be unlike anything else you’ve heard this year (Glitterbeat Records GBCD 051 – sirom.bandcamp.com; ★★★★★ ). If Leveret (see World Choice) may have a certain thing about squeezeboxes, then Finnish baritone mouth organ…

John Beasley MONK’estra, Vol. 2 John Beasley (arranger, conductor, piano) with big band; guests include Kamasi Washington (saxophone), Regina Carter (violin) and Dianne Reeves (vocals) Mack Avenue MAC1125 58:22 mins Thelonious Monk took a great interest in the way people interpreted his tunes, and didn’t always approve. But it’s a fair bet that he would have done one of his trademark jigs to John Beasley’s rip-roaring MONK’estra project. Like the critically acclaimed Vol. 1, this is not a subtle approach to Monk’s pungent music, and this second helping has the 16-piece big band augmented by guest stars, re-imagining ten classic songs in a confection of highly rhythmic styles. Rarely recorded ‘Brake’s Sake’ has hip-hop artist Dontae Winslow rapping over a prowling funk backbeat, while a re-working of the early classic…

HIGH END CHOICE Naim Mu-so £995 Mu-so Qb £650 Naim is synonymous with high-end audio, and here it gives audiophiles the chance to embrace hi-res wireless streaming in two flawlessly made and beautiful-to-use systems. Connect up to five Mu-so speakers via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi (using Apple AirPlay or the Naim app) and, with Spotify, Tidal and many other streaming services built in, you can play a wide selection of file types including 24-bit/192kHz hi-resolution audio. Sonos (see right) is more intuitive, but for sound quality, the Mu-So and more compact Mu-so Qb can’t be beaten. www.naimaudio.com BUDGET PRICE CHOICE Chromecast Audio £30 A ludicrously cheap way to upgrade your existing hi-fi, this tiny dongle (right) plugs in via a 3.5mm port, connects to your home’s Wi-Fi and allows you to…

The choices Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen Vienna Philharmonic/Charles Mackerras Decca 475 8670 Mahler Symphony No.1 Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado EuroArts 2057968 Bruckner Symphony No. 8 Munich Philharmonic/Sergiu Celibidache Warner Classics 556 6962 (download only) Mozart Don Giovanni Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni) et al, Vienna Phil/Wilhelm Furtwängler Orfeo C624043D Dvořák Symphony No. 9 Czech Phiharmonic/Jiří Bĕhlolávek Decca 478 6757 Born in Janáček’s home city of Brno, Tomás Hanus studied conducting with Jiří Bĕlohlávek before winning the 1999 Katowice International Competition for Conductors. He made his Prague National Theatre debut in 2001, and among several European opera houses has forged strong ties with the Munich Staatsoper. For two years from 2007 he was music director of the National Theatre Brno and currently holds the same position with WNO for whose Russian-themed…