Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i BBC Music Magazine

It is with great pleasure that we announce the recipients of this year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards. After two seasons of disruptive lockdowns, fullcapacity celebrations have returned in 2022, and with them the opportunity to honour a host of outstanding artists, many of whom made their winning recordings during those difficult pandemic months. This year, nine of our eleven Awards categories have been put to a public vote, including, for the first time, the Premiere and Newcomer Awards, which go respectively to tenor Freddie De Tommaso for Passione, and husband and wife duo Tom Poster and Elena Urioste for their highly creative The Jukebox Album. Recording of the Year, meanwhile, could not have gone to a more worthy beneficiary in Igor Levit, whose Sony album On DSCH features two monumental…

Yoav Levanon Pianist Born: Tel Aviv, Israel Career highlight: Performing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples when I was 11, my first solo recital at the Verbier Festival, and signing with HarrisonParrot Management. I’m also really excited to release my first album, A Monument to Beethoven, this year with Warner Classics. Musical heroes: I’m honoured to be working with two of them: pianists Murray Perahia and András Schiff. Their dedication to exploring and attention to detail is inspiring. Dream concert: A concert signalling the end of the Covid pandemic, streamed worldwide and uniting millions of people in celebration. Samuel Mariño Male soprano Born: Caracas, Venezuela Career highlight: My first appearance in Handel’s Berenice at the Halle Handel Festival. The applause was huge. After I did…

We reveal who’s recording what and where… The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra has formed an exclusive partnership with Deutsche Grammophon and will release a series of recordings. First this year is one based on Mozart’s visit in the late 1770s to the court of Elector Palatine in Mannheim. Works by him including Symphony in C major will be paired with those by composers he would have encountered on his visit. DG’s creative relationship with the Verbier Festival is being taken to another level with the launch of a new label. Verbier Festival Gold will release a new recording from its vast archive each month: the first release, out now, is Verdi’s Requiem, featuring the festival orchestra and Coro Teatro Regio Torino, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Alison Balsom is building on a…

Performing from memory hasn’t always been required of our soloists – so why is it universally expected today? Tom Service makes the case for using the score Why do professional classical musicians do it? Why do they memorise entire pieces, from violin partitas to piano concertos, from sonatas to symphonies? All those thousands of notes, every single one of them going into the brains and bodies of soloists, singers, orchestral players and conductors, so that, at will, they can play any bar of a fugue by Bach or a concerto by Tchaikovsky, without hesitation, deviation or repetition. One of the reasons is that we in the audience love the frisson that these feats of memory give us. Think of any concerto performance you might have seen: with no sheet music…

Charlotte Smith Editor Interviewing Patricia Kopatchinskaja about the folk-infused repertoire on her Chamber Award winning album Plaisirs Illuminés this month put me in the mood for Bartók. The composer’s Viola Concerto is, of course, wonderful – but it’s the Second Violin Concerto, with its heart breaking Andante tranquillo, that stops me in my tracks every time. My favourite recording still has to be James Ehnes’s rendition with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda – warm and human, yet somehow broken. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor Researching and writing a feature on Holst a couple of issues ago merely served to remind me of just how much of his music I’ve yet to get properly acquainted with. Doing so since has proved a real joy, thanks not least to discs such…

Concerto Award Patricia Kopatchinskaja Plaisirs illuminés Francisco Coll: Les plaisirs illuminés; Ginastera: Concerto for Strings; Veress: Musica concertante; plus works by Bartók, Kurtág and Ligeti Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Sol Gabetta (cello); Camerata Bern/Francisco Coll Alpha Classics ALPHA 580 ‘When you aim for perfection in your playing, there can be no spontaneity and no surprises. This is an incredible pity, because art is about invention. Of course, you must practise like a slave, but in the end, you should throw that baggage away, become a bird and fly over everything.’ Although Patricia Kopatchinskaja is speaking about recording her Concerto Award-winning album, Plaisirs illuminés, she might be describing her whole philosophy as a performer. Over the years, the idiosyncratic Moldovan-born violinist has developed a reputation for vivid and dynamic live interpretations –…

Franz Xaver Süssmayr is credited with the completion of Mozart’s Requiem published in 1800. Today, there are recordings of at least 14 new versions by composers (Britten, Finnissy), keyboard directors (Diego Fasolis, Arthur Schoonderwoerd), musicologists (Franz Beyer, Duncan Druce) and mathematicians (Richard Maunder). In the 19th century it was the Requiem of choice for the funerals of personalities ranging from composers (Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Chopin, Rossini) and cultural figures (Schiller, Goethe) to politicians (Napoleon). For Beethoven’s exequies, even the completed version was considered insufficient and a ‘Libera me’ by Ignaz von Seyfried was added, performed unaccompanied on 29 March 1827 at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Five days later it was performed, accompanied by orchestra, in its rightful place as a pendant to Mozart’s Requiem at one of…

The composer Brahms begins his Third Symphony with F – A flat – F, identified by his biographer Max Kalbeck to stand for his motto ‘frei aber froh’ (free but happy). Certainly, the 50-year-old composer was single at the time of the work’s premiere in 1883, as he would remain for the rest of his life, and he was also enjoying something of a creative peak which would see the Fourth Symphony follow hot on the Third’s heels. The year before, he had begun what would prove a fruitful and fulfilling relationship with the Meiningen Court Orchestra and its music director Hans von Bülow, his staunchest champion. Building a Library is broadcast on Radio 3 at 9.30am each Saturday as part of Record Review. A highlights podcast is available on…

David Nice applauds the Sinfonia of London’s Strauss, Korngold and Schreker Metamorphosen R Strauss: Metamorphosen; Korngold: Symphonic Serenade; Schreker: Intermezzo Sinfonia of London/John Wilson Chandos CHSA 5292 (CD/SACD) 64:22 mins Context matters: I listened to this Metamorphosen, composed as a memorial to what Richard Strauss described in his diary as ‘irreplaceable monuments of architecture and works of art… destroyed by a criminal soldiery’ (he meant the Nazis, not the Allies), as news was coming in of the massacre in Bucha. So the tears were bound to roll. Objectively, though, this is a deep and powerful interpretation of a great masterpiece. Wilson’s 23 Sinfonia of London strings are some of the best in the world (if only the players were listed); the solos have supreme eloquence, the perfectly released dynamics, top-to-bottom…

Tenor Benjamin Bernheim serves up an album of rare operatic delights, says Alexandra Wilson Boulevard des Italiens Arias from Cherubini: Ali Baba; Donizetti: La fille du régiment; La favorite; Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal; Mascagni: Amica; Puccini: Madam Butterfly; Tosca; Spontini: La vestale; Verdi: Don Carlos; Jérusalem; Les vêpres siciliennes Benjamin Bernheim (tenor); Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/Frédéric Chaslin DG 486 1964 55:53 mins Benjamin Bernheim has a voice of immense clarity and lyrical attractiveness If you were to walk in Paris from the Opéra to the Opéra Comique, the quickest route would be to take the Boulevard des Italiens – following in the footsteps of numerous Italian composers who were fêted during the French capital’s operatic heyday. On this disc Benjamin Bernheim sings a selection of their arias…

Messiaen, a medic during World War Two, was captured and interred at a German POW camp (known as Stalag VIII-A) in Görlitz in 1940. He wasn’t the only musician there and, allowed access to the simple tools required to write music, wrote a trio for fellow inmates – violinist Jean de Boulaire, cellist Étienne Pasquier and clarinettist Henry Akoka. Then came this work, inspired by a text from the Book of Revelation. Messiaen played piano, the group rehearsing in a camp bathroom until a premiere was allowed in January 1941.…

Andrew Green Writer and broadcaster ‘Scholars have offered a multiplicity of clues as to the mysterious origins of the British National Anthem. So where do things stand in this year of celebration for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee?’ Page 42 David Threasher Writer and editor ‘I’ve always been fascinated by unfinished music and the people who complete it, bringing to life fragments that would otherwise remain frozen in time, so it’s been great fun to write about some of my favourites.’ Page 48 Jessica Duchen Author and librettist ‘I first wrote about Korngold at university in 1986, then in a book ten years later. “Korngold? Who’s he?” everyone asked. Now the composer is a virtually a household name. I hope you’ll love him as much as I do.’ Page 60…

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 LETTER of the MONTH Parisian hero Your splendid feature about Daniel Barenboim (April) reminded me of his time with the Orchestre de Paris, which was in a sorry state when he took over in 1975. He brought them up to scratch, invited Arthur Oldham over to create a Chorus, involved the first desks in participating as soloists, created a series of chamber concerts and set up a junior orchestra headed by Mstislav Rostropovich. He even held a referendum among the audience one day about the starting time of concerts – at the time, 9.30 pm was frequent, so that the public could have a proper dinner but neglecting…

20,000,000 … recently sown flowers growing to a new soundtrack by Erland Cooper at the Tower of London (above). 6 … Russian and two Belarusian pianists are set to take part in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June. 367 … years of the world’s oldest choral music festival, as the Clergy Support Trust Festival resumes after a two-year pandemic break. 41 … trees near Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville to be cut down to reduce damage caused by 150,000 roosting purple martins.…

Roger Wright (left), former controller of Radio 3 and the BBC Proms, has revealed that, at 65, he has taken up the double bass. Though his main aim is to raise funds for Disasters Emergency Committee (see justgiving.com/fundraising/Roger-Wright2), the CEO of Britten Pears Arts says he does have plans to take his exams. He is not the first well-known face to show a fondness for the big beast of the string section… Surely the most famous double bass in movie history is the three-quarter-sized instrument lugged around by Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne in 1959’s Some Like It Hot. When it came to scenes in which he had to pluck a few notes, the US actor needed little training as he could play the bass in real life – he was…

With the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee looming, let’s talk about royalty and music. There’s more to say than some might think. Some monarchs have had a massive effect on the music of their times. It’s likely, for instance, that Wagner would never have written his greatest operas – or at least not on the grand scale that he did – without lavish patronage from the more-than slightly-bonkers Ludwig II of Bavaria. Similarly, Louis XIV’s ostentatious cultural requirements at Versailles boosted developments in music that were aped across Europe. The Prussian king Frederick the Great could talk serious counterpoint with Bach. And it’s quite possible that, had Prince Albert not died at 42, his wide-ranging cultural links (particularly with Mendelssohn, to whom he and Victoria were devoted) would have made 19th-century Britain…

‘That’s the beauty of quartets: there’s unity yet everyone has their own identity’ As they celebrate their 20th anniversary, the Czech quartet speak to Rebecca Franks about their beginnings, welcoming new players into the group and their new Brahms recording On a Sunday morning in Prague, four musicians are crammed onto a sofa, jostling for position in front of a laptop screen. The sound isn’t working properly – there’s a lot of laughter and some accidental close-up views of the apartment floor before the glitch is fixed. And there are other distractions. First violinist Veronika Jarůšková jokes that the whole way through our interview she can hear the washing machine in the background. Meanwhile, second violinist Marek Zwiebel hopes that they won’t have to rehearse too long later, so that…

Five non-British variants Beethoven 7 Variations on ‘God Save the King’ As the Napoleonic Wars started, Beethoven wished ‘to show the English what a blessing they have in God Save the King’. Paganini Variations on ‘God Save the King’, Op. 9 The legendary violinist composer wrote this showcase of dazzling virtuosity two years before he wowed British audiences for the first time. Debussy Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. from Préludes, Book II The Anglophile Debussy references the anthem at the start of this deft portrait of one of Charles Dickens’s best-loved characters. Ives Variations on ‘America’ The teenage Charles Ives wrote this high-spirited organ work in the 1890s, giving its premiere himself at a New York Methodist church to celebrate Independence Day. Rautavaara ‘Queen Victoria’ from True and False…

Composer of the Week is broadcast on Radio 3 at 12pm, Monday to Friday. Programmes in June are: 30 May – 3 June Handel and the Hanoverians 13-17 June Dvořák 20-24 June Victoria 27 June – 1 July Billy Strayhorn (repeat) Korngold’s style Generous spirit: Korngold’s all-embracing melodies, rich textures, harmonic sophistication and long-sustained dramatic intensity hold an instantly recognisable personality, influenced by Puccini, Strauss and the early ballets of Stravinsky (above). His orchestration is likewise full-blooded, glistening with percussion and keyboard instruments. ‘Motif of the Cheerful Heart’: Korngold’s signature motif, invented in his teens, is two interlocked rising fourths and a rising fifth: optimistic and, yes, cheerful. He used it in most of his works in one form or another, but the Violin Concerto’s opening theme transforms it, breaking…

Otto Klemperer (conductor) Philharmonia Orchestra Warner Classics 404 3382 The Third is the most difficult of the Brahms Symphonies to bring off, which may explain the small number of wholly successful recordings. Even the great Arturo Toscanini never really ‘cracked’ it – though if you do want to hear him, make sure it’s the live Philharmonia recording and not his regimented NBC Symphony Orchestra account. Others fall just short of the top spot for omitting the important first movement repeat – as well as Bruno Walter (see right), these include John Barbirolli and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, who are otherwise on simply glorious form, and William Steinberg’s superb account with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, though their performance is so compelling that one can almost forgive said omission. If you want…

Welcome Debuts and discoveries abound this month, with first studio recordings from The Castalian Quartet (see Recording of the Month), soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen and violinist Esther Abrami. There’s another landmark project from pianist Samantha Ege, who premieres works by a selection of overlooked Black women composers, plus chamber works by Ruth Gipps and a new opera from Jeanine Tesori. We’ve big-boned ballet from Simon Rattle and the LSO, another triumphant recording from John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London, plus fine turns from powerhouse pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Steven Osborne, Mitsuko Uchida and Grigory Sokolov. And if you like something a little vintage, check out our Historical round-up. Michael Beek Reviews editor This month’s critics John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Michael Beek, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, Geoff Brown, Michael Church, Christopher Cook, Martin Cotton,…

Claire Jackson enjoys the pianist’s immersive approach to this survey of the composer’s concertos Mozart Piano Concertos Nos 22 & 23; Der Schauspieldirektor, K486 – Overture Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano); Manchester Camerata/Gábor Takács-Nagy Chandos CHAN 20166 64:34 mins Few piano concertos are as well represented on disc as Mozart’s, with benchmark recordings available from Martha Argerich and other great pianists. Some of these involve performance practises outside the ‘norm’ – Mitsuko Uchida (Decca) and Howard Shelley (Chandos) both conduct from the keyboard, for example, and Kristian Bezuidenhout’s fortepiano versions (Harmonia Mundi) add unusual but authentic timbres to Mozart’s music – but generally it could be argued that the repertoire is already well served. It is all the more remarkable, then, that Jean-Efflam Bavouzet continues to bring freshness and renewed enjoyment to…

This selection from ORA Singers is a tour de force, says Kate Bolton-Porciatti Stella – Renaissance Gems and their Reflections, Vol. 3 Works by Victoria, Francisco Coll, Cecilia McDowall, Will Todd et al ORA Singers/Suzi Digby Harmonia Mundi HMM905341 71:56 mins This skilfully crafted sequence takes a clutch of Marian works by the Spanish Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria and interlaces them with contemporary pieces – including four new commissions – inspired by the same texts. Some of the pairings are natural bedfellows: Victoria’s perfumed setting of the Song of Songs text Vidi speciosam, for instance, sits harmoniously alongside an equally ecstatic response to the same words by the English composer Will Todd. There are more disturbing juxtapositions: the luminous serenity of Victoria’s Ave Maria Stella is cut short…

Grigory Sokolov is on top form in his Esterházy recital, says Michael Church Grigory Sokolov at Esterházy Palace Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos 32, 47 & 49; Schubert: Impromptus, D935 etc; plus encores by Chopin, Debussy, Griboyedov and Rameau Grigory Sokolov (piano) DG 486 1849 119:29 mins (2-discs) Grigory Sokolov wants all his recordings to be live with an audience, because the spark which passes between him and his listeners is his inspiration. The Haydnsaal of the Esterházy palace in Eisenstadt, where these recordings were made in 2018, was the perfect location – not only thanks to its acoustic, but also because it was where Haydn himself frequently performed. Sokolov brings a light transparent touch and a sweetly singing tone Sokolov is in top form, with some of his chosen pieces…

Sixty years since its premiere, Britten’s War Requiem remains as poignant in 2022 as it did in the wake of the Second World War. Commissioned for the re-consecration of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, his hauntingly beautiful work for choir and orchestra takes Wilfred Owen’s great war poems as its inspiration, and reflects Britten’s position as a pacifist and conscientious objector. Its first performance in 1962 was such a landmark event that thousands tuned in for the broadcast. In 1964, it was televised at the Proms, and this rare archive performance has been re-mastered and released by the BBC – an opportunity to witness the creative forces behind this epic work. Britten himself conducts the Melos Ensemble, and performers include Heather Harper (soprano), Peter Pears (tenor) and Thomas Hemsley (baritone). Also…

The first correct solution of our crossword picked at random will win a copy of The Oxford Companion to Music. A runner-up will win Who Knew? Answers to Questions about Classical Music (see oup.co.uk). Send answers to: BBC Music Magazine, Crossword 373/June 2022, PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA to arrive by 9 June 2022 (solution in Sep 2022 issue). Your name & address ............................................................... ACROSS 1 Newspaper backed country star in musicals (7) 5 What may film a couple of crotchets around beginning and end of cantata? (7) 9 Someone like James MacMillan seen in Berkshire town (5) 10 To sum up: New Zealand’s behind neat arrangement of Liszt piece (9) 11 Composer’s muse – ill repute, ending in disgrace (7) 12 A lot of legal action about American…

See the CD booklet notes for full track details Dvořák String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 ‘American’; No. 13 in G major, Op. 106 Janáček String Quartet No. 1, ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ Artists Pavel Haas Quartet: Veronika Jarůšková (violin) Eva Karová (violin) Pavel Nikl (viola) Peter Jarůšek (cello) To download the inlay details for our cover CDs each month, visit classical-music.com/issues This month’s cover disc features three of the finest string quartets from the Czecho-Slovak tradition. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) was one of the distinguished group of nationalist composers who rose to fame during the second half of the 19th century – others included Grieg (Norway), Musorgsky (Russia), Nielsen (Denmark) and Sibelius (Finland). The great conductor Hans von Bülow hit the nail on the head when he described…

Extra Oramo Sakari Oramo is to remain as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra until at least 2026. The Finn, who has been with the ensemble since 2013 and has conducted the Last Night of the Proms on five occasions, says he is ‘very happy and beyond excited’ to have extended his contract, adding that ‘on the musical, artistic and human level, I couldn’t imagine any better environment than this musical family’. Would Pekka…? Another Finn to have recently signed on the dotted line is the violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who has been announced as the new principal guest conductor and artistic co-director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from the beginning of the 2023/24 season. This is the first official conducting post for Kuusisto, 45, who is highly regarded for…

Pianist Alexander Ullman introduces us to a selection of his favourite recordings The Young Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli – The Beginning of a Legend Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano) Teldec 0630-13303-2 This is more about the interpretation than the music itself. It’s quite a rare recording and I first listened to it when I was in my teens, when I was first discovering Michelangeli. It just seems so radically different to the rest of his output in that it’s a lot more free and there’s less of the neurotic perfectionism that one usually associates with his recordings. It’s truly wonderful – in particular the Chopin Mazurkas. Franck Prélude, Choral et Fugue Blanche Selva (piano) Malibran-Music CDRG 177 I’d never heard of Blanche Selva before listening to this album on Spotify, which has…

Raffaele Pe Countertenor Couperin’s Leçons des Tenèbres, sung by Gérard Lesne, was the first Baroque recording that I listened to when I was at school. At the time I was playing the organ and singing baritone in the choir in my home town and was very much into sacred music. It was love at first sight – both with with Lesne’s countertenor voice and with French Baroque music – and gave me the idea that this might be the artistic path that I’d take in life. I love Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations’ L’Orchestre du Roi Soleil disc of music by Lully. When I first heard this it was like a miracle of what could be done in terms of sound and expressive possibilities with historical instruments. There…

Recording of the Year and Instrumental Award Igor Levit On DSCH Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues; R Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH Igor Levit (piano) Sony Classical 19439809212 I gor Levit is no stranger to the BBC Music Magazine Awards. In 2014, he was named Newcomer of the Year for his debut recording of Beethoven’s late piano sonatas, which our critic described as ‘perfection’. Several highly praised discs later, the Russian-German pianist has struck gold again, with an unmissable recording of Shostakovich and Ronald Stevenson titled On DSCH. Not only has it scooped Levit the Instrumental Award in the public vote, but the jury has also given him the top gong: Recording of the Year. It is ‘a huge personal honour’ to win, says Levit. ‘Thank you so much.’ And it…

Passione Tenor arias by Buzzi-Peccia, Capua, Innocenzi, Puccini, Respighi, Tosti etc Freddie De Tommaso (tenor); London Philharmonic Orchestra/Renato Balsadonna Decca 485 1509 ‘Part of the idea was to bring a bit of Italian sunshine!’ says Freddie De Tommaso (above). ‘Many of these songs I discovered when I was changing from baritone to tenor, and was listening to tenors from the past – Caruso, then those around the 1970s such as Di Stefano, Corelli and Del Monaco, who all sang those songs. They then fell out of fashion, so I wanted to try to do my bit to bring them back.’ Passione mixes familiar names such as Puccini, Bellini and Respighi with lesser-knowns such as Tosti, Buzzi-Peccia and Cardillo, and there’s a strong southern Italian accent. ‘My father was from Puglia,…

The Jukebox Album Works by Clarice Assad, Lili Boulanger, Gabriel Fauré, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Donald Grant, Jessie Montgomery, Cole Porter, Mark Simpson, Huw Watkins et al Elena Urioste (violin), Tom Poster (piano) Orchid Classics ORC100173 Faced with an empty diary during the first lockdown, married musical duo Tom Poster and Elena Urioste found a creative way not only to fill their time and entertain people all over the world, but also to give composers some much needed work. Their #UriPosteJukeBox project saw the commissioning of six works for piano and violin, which received their premieres online. Those works are at the heart of The Jukebox Album, a recording which gave the pair the chance to do justice to the music written for them, as Urioste explains: ‘We wanted to immortalise, with…

Born in Brno of Moravian-Jewish heritage, Pavel Haas, from whom the Quartet takes its name, studied at the Music School of the Beseda Philharmonic Society. In 1919, he enrolled at the Brno Conservatory, where eventually, in 1921, he joined Janáček’s composition class. Janáček’s teaching and music proved the most crucial formative influence on Haas’s own music. He went on to compose several film scores and a good deal of incidental music for the Provincial Theatre in Brno, where his tragi-comic opera The Charlatan had a successful performance in April 1938. In December 1941, Haas was arrested by the Nazis for his Jewish heritage and transported to Terezín (Theresienstadt), where he was held for three years. A good deal of music written by Haas and his colleagues while in Terezín was…

Unfinished works have long fascinated music lovers. After all, a composer surprised by death will often have been contemplating his or her most advanced work, delving further than before into the depths of his or her genius. Musicians tend not to play incomplete scores, so an intermediary is needed to assess the fragment and bring it to fruition as sensitively and as closely as possible to what can be discerned of the composer’s style and intentions. Whether it be reconstructing a motet from a missing part-book – fairly common practice among the early music fraternity – or projecting large-scale orchestral or choral works, often from the scantest sketches, the completion of unfinished works has become something of a thriving cottage industry over the past half-acentury or more. Ever since the…

At Hallé St Peter’s (above), Psappha’s final concert with Tim Williams as artistic director opened with new works by Ben Gaunt and Derri Joseph Lewis (above). Gaunt’s All the Castles I have Ever Loved, an almost cartoonish string sextet evocation, remained tantalisingly abstract, while guitarist Tom McKinney spun the delicate and colourful threads of Lewis’s …BREATHE… into an intricate, intriguing whole. Both works were bold, clear-headed and original – unlike Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s meandering Sola for viola and electronics, despite Alex Mitchell’s diligent and assured performance. Orkney, where Psappha’s long-time champion Peter Maxwell Davies spent much of his life, formed a visual backdrop to works by Lisa Robertson, Nina Danon, Athanasia Kontou, Electra Perivolaris and, finally, Maxwell Davies himself. Williams’s five short but transfixing films of seabird colonies and towering rock…

Bruno Walter (conductor) In their Indian summers, Klemperer and Walter became polar opposites. This 1960 account of the Third with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra has all the musical qualities associated with late Walter, most of all a humanity and generosity of spirit which shines through in every bar – he smiles more often than his grim-faced contemporary. However, there is also plenty of backbone here. Though Walter doesn’t include the exposition repeat – which is a pity – this is still one to cherish, with very good stereo sound quality. (Sony SMK 64471). Wilhelm Furtwängler (conductor) Furtwängler was a creative artist who seemed not so much to interpret but to disassemble then recompose the scores in front of him. He described the Brahms Symphonies as ‘a wild, fantastic and even…

What was your starting point for this project? It was one of those pandemic projects, where you suddenly have a lot of time and you are just wondering about the world. I got into reading TS Eliot, and we’d played the Adès a lot, which I knew was a reflection on Eliot’s Four Quartets. I was moved by the masterful depiction of his experience of time. We’ve loved Beethoven’s Op. 132 for many years, and I think TS Eliot also loved it. There is this transcendental quality, or something beyond time. So I guess I was just playing around with ideas when we were suddenly in a completely different reality. Would this album have been different without the pandemic? I think this was always on the cards, but there were…

Though the darling of the Moscow music scene and bestowed with the USSR’s highest honours – including the Order of Lenin – Arno Babadjanian would never be separated from Armenia. His deep love for his homeland is at the heart of many of his works, including this monumental piece for piano and orchestra. Composed and published in 1950 during a stay in Yerevan, the work features unpredictable rhythms and is imbued with Babadjanian’s personality. The piece won the Stalin Prize in 1951.…

Julian Haylock enjoys the duo’s meticulous approach to these warmly delivered pieces for violin and piano Schubert Violin Sonata in A, D574; Rondo brillant in B minor, D895; Fantasie in C, D934 Viktoria Mullova (violin), Alasdair Beatson (fortepiano) Signum Cassics SIGCD 706 62:02 mins Listening to these profoundly intimate performances is to be reminded how the evolution of both piano and violin has reshaped the way Schubert’s music is perceived. The sonic and sustaining power both instruments are now capable of (not to mention the enhanced size of performing venues) has resulted in slower rates of resonance-decay, a tendency to raise dynamic levels, and enhanced potentials for legato-cantabile via lashings of vibrato and portamento espressivo. To effectively play instruments such as Schubert would have recognised requires super-refined technique and boundless…

The Dubnová Preludia, Op. 13 are typical of Vítězslava Kaprálová’s innovative style and a cornerstone of her piano repertoire. Written for pianist Rudolf Firkušný, one of many champions of the Czech-born composer’s music, the four-part work features daring harmonic combinations. It was written in 1937, just three years before her untimely death; the composer (and aspiring conductor) soon moved to Paris, where she studied with Martinů and Charles Munch. Though written for Firkušný, it was premiered by pianist Dana Šetková.…

JUNE’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS Schedules may be subject to alteration. For up-to-date listings see Radio Times Three to look out for Alan Davey, the controller of BBC Radio 3, picks out three great moments to tune into this June Walton’s Cello Concerto Rising cellist Laura van der Heijden joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales live at Snape Maltings to revisit Walton’s captivating Cello Concerto – the piece which won her the BBC Young Musician title in 2012. We’ll also be treated to Elizabeth Maconchy’s coronation tone poem, Proud Thames, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Radio 3 in Concert: 16 June, 7.30pm Celebrating Belinda Sykes Hannah French celebrates the extraordinary musician Belinda Sykes, the vibrant leader of medieval folk ensemble Joglaresa who died last year. We’ll hear tributes from her…

Actor Michelle Dockery is best known for her longstanding role as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV period drama Downton Abbey, which she has reprised for the show’s subsequent films. A trained singer as well as a stage and screen actor, Dockery has performed with bands and as a solo artist on and off over the years. She has recently teamed up with fellow Downton Abbey actor Michael Fox to form a folk duo known as Michael and Michelle. Together, they released their debut EP, The Watching Silence, out now on Decca Records. Having played Lady Mary, you’d think I’d be sick of Downton Abbey’s theme tune but I’m not, surprisingly. I even play it on the piano, which people find hilarious – they see it as me breaking into…