Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i BBC Music Magazine

‘Practice,’ so the saying goes, ‘makes perfect’. If only it was that simple. Yes, to master almost any skill, repetition is key, but the journey doesn’t end when the skill has been achieved. Then comes the task of maintenance, which requires patience and dedication. I don’t mind admitting that, as a violin student, I disliked practising – and it was that continual maintenance that seemed such a chore. It felt grossly unfair that if I stopped playing my scales and études, my facility would gradually fade – especially when I had worked so hard to achieve it in the first place. Yet the fault was not with practice, but with my attitude towards it. As we see from two articles this month, for the best musicians practice is an endlessly…

Lucy Fitz Gibbon Soprano Born: Davis, CA, US Career highlight: My summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. This unique event creates an idealised environment in which to explore music, share communal meals and Shakespeare readings, and wander through the glorious woods. Musical hero: Contralto Marian Anderson broke down barriers and highlighted injustices – all while singing a wide array of repertoire, from Bach to Britten, with deep personal conviction and beauty. Dream concert: I love introducing audiences to new music. A dream programme would pair long-ignored British composer Adela Maddison’s Cinq mélodies with new song cycles being written for me by American composers Elizabeth Ogonek and Tyson Gholston Davis. Fergus McCreadie Pianist Born: Inverness, Scotland Career highlight: Winning the Scottish Album of the Year award for Forest Floor…

Great artists talk about their past recordings MY FINEST MOMENT Schubert in English, Vol. 4 Roderick Williams (baritone), Rowan Pierce (soprano), Christopher Glynn (piano) Signum Classics SIGCD770 (2023) The Schubert in English series is a project I set up to present Schubert’s songs in English, which hadn’t been done before, or at least not for a long time. It was really about finding new audiences for lieder, because I’m very aware that only a small sub-set of the classical music audience goes to song recitals, which is quite a sad thing. So I commissioned Jeremy Sams to create translations of The Winter Journey and other Schubert song cycles and started experimenting with performing them – and this series with Signum came out of it. Volume four is a miscellany –…

One great moment at last summer’s BBC Proms came in the concert where the Aurora Orchestra gave its astonishing presentation from memory of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The dramatic deconstruction of the work was stunning enough, the performance that followed awe-inspiring. But what then happened was even more remarkable. As an encore the musicians spread themselves through the audience in the Albert Hall, then delivered some of the work’s most hair-raising passages right next to their spellbound listeners. So, it felt as if we were experiencing the music as the musicians did: from the inside. And, more than that, we enjoyed the visceral thrill of being ‘up close and personal’ to these brilliant players operating at the very limits of their powers. You could almost see their sinews straining…

Peri Euridice (1600) Euridice finds its place in the history books as the first opera that’s survived to the present day, even if singers aren’t racing to perform it anymore. With a libretto by Rinuccini and music by Jacopo Peri (and some by Caccini), the first performance took place at the wedding of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. Monteverdi L’Orfeo (1607) The first opera that the public and history have agreed was any good arrived on the scene in 1607. Monteverdi’s exploration of the power of music and love is still as moving today as it was when it was first performed in Mantua. Offenbach Orphée aux enfers (1858) Can hell be funny? Jacques Offenbach gave it his best shot with this comic opera, in which…

Is music a useful study aid? It’s by no means a given: for every fan of background sound, you’ll find a refusenik who insists on complete silence. The right sort of music, though, really can prove useful in ushering in a calm, contemplative atmosphere that helps even the most fiendish French verb to percolate the brain. Here are some study soundtracks you might like to consider… 1 Bach: Goldberg Variations ‘Bach is best’, runs the old adage, and you could probably tack the phrase ‘…for studying to’ on the end. Much of the great man’s output is excellent for swotting to, with its rigorous internal discipline and precision-tooled structures. But which of his many works to choose? We’ll go for the much-loved Goldberg Variations for piano, reasoning that solo instrumental…

One hundred years ago, on 1 April 1924, Schoenberg arrived in Florence to direct his Pierrot lunaire – one of the seminal works of early 20th-century modernism – at the Palazzo Pitti. Most of the audience had never been exposed to contemporary music, and to them the event seemed like no more than an elaborate April Fool; but at least two of those present sat listening intently. One of them was Italy’s most famous living composer. Although terminally ill with throat cancer, he had driven in his brand new Lancia all the way from his home in Torre del Lago, some 50 miles away, and after the performance asked to be presented to Schoenberg. The other was a 20-year-old music student named Luigi Dallapiccola. Not for a further 25 years…

Vladimir Fedoseyev (conductor) A deeply unsettling live performance from 1989 once again possesses a high degree of authenticity. Vitaly Tarashchenko’s melancholy Hermann rises to the major vocal challenges with authority, while Natalia Datsko’s Lisa is suffused with barely contained passion. Arkhipova is once again the commanding Countess: a grande dame who expects to be treated as such. In refulgent voice, Dmitri Hvorostovsky is a top-quality Yeletsky, and Grigory Gritsyuk’s largescale Tomsky bursts with character. (Pan Classics PC10430) Alexander Melik-Pashaev (conductor) Though compromised by its period (1950) sound, an earlier echt-Russian account is notable for Alexander Melik-Pashaev’s powerful conducting, his Bolshoi forces providing bags of colour and character. Even if his tone is not in itself especially beautiful, Georgi Nelepp’s Hermann offers considerable variety, while Evgeniya Smolenskaya conveys Lisa’s disturbed nature.…

This month’s reviews feature an inviting mix of new discoveries and fresh takes on enduring favourites. We’ve world-premiere recordings of Elena Firsova’s 2020 Piano Concerto and Edmund Finnis’s first solo piano cycle, plus compelling new-work compilations for both violin and voice. Elsewhere, much-loved works emerge in fresh colours. Two Nordic masterpieces, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4 and Grieg’s Symphonic Dances, both get thrilling new readings, while the inimitable spirit of Venice is evoked in a captivating album of music from across the centuries. Lully’s opera Atys enjoys a new benchmark recording, while Lionel Tertis, who did so much to bring the viola centre stage, is beautifully celebrated in our Recording of the Month. This month’s critics John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Michael Beek, Terry Blain, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, Geoff Brown, Michael Church, Christopher…

Grieg Symphonic Dances etc Bergen Philharmonic/Edward Gardner et al Chandos CHSA 5301 63:48 mins Grieg’s dances may not be as symphonic as Rachmaninov’s, of which Edward Gardner is a vivid interpreter. The melodies aren’t his own, either, and there are reams of repeats. But what he does with folk material is so enchanting that, in this beautiful incarnation with the Bergen players delivering so freshly and responding so well to Gardner’s rhythmic drive in the livelier sequences, you’ll be compelled throughout. The tunes chosen are all winners and palpably Norwegian; loveliest of all is the oboe melody – not the famous one, from the earlier Norwegian Dances, but equally fine – which weathers its four appearances most attractively. Most Grieg compendiums include oddities, among which the ‘melodrama’ Bergliot, to an…

Berlioz The Damnation of Faust Karen Cargill, John Irvin, Christopher Purves et al; LPO/Edward Gardner London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0128 127:58 mins Berlioz’s légende dramatique tells an episodic version of Goethe’s Faust with many gaps and some surprise inclusions – the famous Hungarian March, for instance, appears more or less out of nowhere – but here and throughout, the alternate brilliance and beauty of Berlioz’s writing ensures that the listener is continuously captivated. Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in February 2023, this performance by the London Philharmonic under its principal conductor offers consistently high orchestral standards and focused participation from the assembled choirs, who show skill in impersonating the many groups they are called upon to play, ranging from Christians celebrating Easter to a Chorus of the Damned –…

End of My Days Works by Tavener, Dowland, Ravel, Brian Elias, Caroline Shaw, Errollyn Wallen et al Ruby Hughes (soprano); Manchester Collective BIS BIS-2628 66:30 mins Imaginative, sensitive programming has been a constant feature of Ruby Hughes’s collaborations; and this latest with the perennially adventurous Manchester Collective is no exception. A product of the first lockdown, it’s a meditation on life and death whose title is taken from Wallen’s setting of her own poem, which stares mortality in the face with vivacious equanimity. Predictably eclectic, the disc unites John Dowland and Tavener, and makes fellow travellers of Debussy and Caroline Shaw, Brian Elias and Mahler (the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony’s ‘Urlicht’ movement surprisingly resilient when repurposed for soprano and string quartet rather than the refulgence of full orchestra). Then again, some of…

The Passenger Weinberg: Piano Trio; Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 Trio con Brio Copenhagen Orchid Classics ORC100282 74:03 mins Admirers of Weinberg’s 1945 Piano Trio are almost spoilt for choice when it comes to fine recordings of this powerful work. Many of the current front-runners come from the likes of violinists Gidon Kremer and Linus Roth, who have invested a great deal of energy in attempting to place the composer more firmly in our musical consciousness. Their endeavours have surely paid dividends with this warmly recorded release, which places the work not in the obvious context of Russian, Soviet or Polish repertory, but in tandem with one of the greatest Austro-German chamber works of the 19th century. The pairing of trios by such seemingly disparate figures as Weinberg and Schubert,…

March round-up It’s intriguing how the absence of an instrument from an otherwise conventional jazz ensemble (see Jazz Choice) pushes the music in particular directions. The group convened by John Etheridge on Blue Spirits Live is one take on the organ trio, the absence of a bass instrument allowing his guitar, organist Pete Whittaker’s left hand and indeed George Double’s bass drum to hold down the lower end if necessary. The music shifts from pastoral reflection and bluesy meandering to animated intricacy with ease. Etheridge’s typical fluency and Whittaker’s wonderfully warbly organ timbre that occasionally evokes a stereotypical American funeral parlour (in a good way) place a distinctive stamp on the performance, although the album loses a star for a slightly constricted recorded sound that seems a bit odd for…

The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach Ed. E Douglas Bomberger Cambridge 268pp (pb) £22.99 Amy Beach (née Cheney) could hum 40 tunes before her first birthday and harmonise her mother’s songs by the age of two. She became a first-rate pianist but when, at the age of 18, she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, her performing career was thwarted – unacceptable, you see, for the wife of a respected Boston doctor. However, she was allowed to compose. And compose she did: over 100 songs, piano pieces, chamber works, a Mass, a Piano Concerto (described as ‘fearless’, ‘triumphant’) and the ‘Gaelic’ Symphony (performed by major US orchestras). She’s recently been described as ‘America’s greatest Romantic composer’. This new three-part, multi-authored book explores Beach’s life and music through a variety of lenses.…

March round-up The Schumann Trilogy: three albums, three concertos and three piano trios from friends and chamber music partners Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov. Playing their period set-ups, they reveal the lyrical beauty of the trios as well as Schumann’s poetry and power, and their conversational interactions and intimacy. The concertos with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra are outstanding, the freshness of the sound illuminating them with unusual richness and radiance, and the bonus BluRay offers all three concertos live in Berlin. Truly inspirational Schumann, and superb value for money. (Harmonia Mundi HMX2904095.98; 3 CDs + BluRay)★★★★★ Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti was a child prodigy famed for his musicianship and virtuosity, from solo Bach to his friend Bartók, so why wouldn’t we want to eavesdrop on a Szigeti recital…

MARCH’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS Schedules may be subject to alteration. For up-to-date listings see BBC Sounds and iPlayer 1 FRIDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast 9am-12pm Essential Classics 12-1pm Composer of the Week Smetana 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 4.30-5pm The Listening Service 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert from Lighthouse, Poole. Elgar In the South, Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, Brahms Symphony No. 2. Pavel Kolesnikov (piano), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Alpesh Chauhan 10-10.45pm The Verb 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am Late Junction 2 SATURDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9-11.45am Record Review 11.45am-12.30pm Music Matters 12.30-1pm This Classical Life 1-3pm Inside Music 3-4pm Sound of Cinema 4-5pm Music Planet 5-6.30pm J to Z 6.30-10pm Opera on 3 10pm-12am New Music Show 12-1am Freeness 3 SUNDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12pm Sunday Morning 12-1pm Private…

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 396/March 2024, PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA to arrive by 19 Mar 2024 (solution in June 2024 issue). ACROSS 1/8 Composer saved shrill clarinets for dancing (7,8,8) 9 Former King of Belgium, a composer skilled in bass accompaniment (7) 10 Openings for the organist Cameron Carpenter about this audacious work by Bach? (7) 11 Communist suppressing a lot of hymn, like most hymns? (6) 12 Trumpets etc not performing – upset? (5,3) 14 Sure USA will be upset about old philosopher-composer (8) 15 Only one piano required for…

Patrick Doyle has scored some of the biggest films in modern cinema history and his music has reached a global audience of over a billion people. From Sense and Sensibility and Bridget Jones’s Diary to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Murder on the Orient Express, his film scores have earned him a multitude of awards. Beyond film, he is recognised for his music for the concert hall and recently composed King Charles III Coronation March, performed live at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023. I grew up in Birkenshaw, Lanarkshire, the seventh of 13 children. My childhood was full of music and mayhem! When I was five, I would listen for hours on end to the music on the television ‘test card’ – an old signal-testing static…

Rebecca Franks Writer and editor He’s a star countertenor, a brilliant breakdancer and, it turns out, one of those dream interviewees who is full of enthusiasm. Meeting Jakub Józef Orliński to hear about his latest passion – Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice – was a treat.’ Page 26 Steve Wright Content producer, BBC Music ‘What makes a piece of music an ideal studying companion? While drawing up my shortlist, I found myself mulling (and discussing) this question constantly. “Vocals: yes or no?” proved a particularly lively talking point…’ Page 56 Misha Donat Writer and composer ‘I was privileged to know Dallapiccola in his last years, and to spend time with him in both Florence and London. His immaculate appearance and perfectly chiselled music seemed to go hand in hand!’ Page 62…

2 …cups for Ray Chen (pictured below), the beneficiary of a bra thrown from the audience after he had played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in Munich. 30,500 …pounds to be paid by the Nevis Ensemble charity to musicians left out of pocket after its closure last year. 24 …hours of music by female and non-binary composers to be played continuously in a record-breaking concert by Donne Foundation. 54 …Oscar nominations for John Williams, whose nod for the score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny takes the composer past his own current record.…

Two Black Churches (2020) This uncompromising two-movement song-set reflects on the terror and tragedy of the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama and the 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston. UNKNOWN (2021) A bold dramatic song cycle written to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, based on poems by Marcus Amaker. The Cook-Off (2023) This comedic chamber opera is set around a fictional TV cooking competition. First staged in Chicago in May 2023, it receives its first fully staged production in Nashville this year.…

My love of Dorothy Howell’s music started accidentally. I had a recording of female-composed piano concertos scheduled with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, but the recording rights for one work were suddenly withdrawn. Enter Dorothy. Permission from the Howell Estate required a visit to meet and convince Merryn and Columb Howell (Dorothy’s niece and nephew). So we trotted off to Bewdley, Worcestershire, and shared an afternoon of affectionate anecdotes of ‘Auntie D’. After recording her stunning Piano Concerto, I returned to Bewdley, seeking more of Dorothy’s orchestral creations. Merryn unearthed several brown paper packages wrapped in string, and beneath the dust lay wonderful treasures – scores with Henry Wood’s original blue pencil and notes from Dorothy stuck inside! Some hadn’t seen the light of day for 80 years. Her music…

Pick a theme… and name your seven favourite examples With regular appearances at the Royal Opera House and English National Opera, Nicky Spence has also sung in venues all over the world. Specialising in psychologically complex roles, he has a particular attraction to the music of Janácek and Wagner, and has sung a good deal of contemporary repertoire. But he also casts his net well beyond the world of classical music. On 24 April he joins soprano Eleanor Dennis and pianist Dylan Perez for a survey of Scottish song as part of the Scotland Unwrapped season at London’s Kings Place. Robert Burns Ae Fond Kiss I grew up in Dumfries and Galloway, where Robert Burns is part of the fabric, and I sang his songs on my gran’s knee (‘poor…

‘I self-identified as a violinist at five. I had no concept of career, but I knew that was my calling’ Rachel Barton Pine is a violinist through and through. As a three year-old, the precocious youngster pestered her bemused parents for lessons following a performance by string students at her family’s church – and by the time she was five, she was ‘self-identifying’ not as someone who plays the violin, but as a violinist. ‘I had no concept of career,’ she says. ‘But I knew that was what I was meant to do with my life. That was my calling.’ True to her word, Pine never wavered from this belief. For her, the violin wasn’t just a means of entertainment, but a way to ‘nurture your soul and uplift your…

I kept having to remind myself, during my trip to the twin cultural hotspots of Bolzano and Toblach, which country I was in. Both, in fact, are in Italy, though the Austrian border lies close by. Not that you’d know from the language (primarily German) or the cuisine (hearty). It’s more helpful to think of the region as South Tyrol, a rugged land of scree-sloped mountain peaks and, it turns out, a thriving classical music scene. The formerly Austrian region was ceded to the Italians after World War I, which gives South Tyrol its intriguing dual identity: Italy’s northernmost (and wealthiest) district, it still feels culturally Germanic, with (according to a 2011 census) more than 60 per cent of the population using German as their first language. Wherever you find…

12-note technique Dallapiccola was the first important Italian composer to embrace Schoenberg’s (pictured left) 12-note method of composition, and it became fundamental to his way of thinking. Even the shapes of the 12-note rows he used could carry symbolic meaning – as for instance, in the opera Ulisse, with their wave-like formations suggesting the sea. Canons Dallapiccola was fascinated by canons of every kind. They permeate his music, their intricacy often lending it a seemingly metaphysical layer. In the Sonatina canonica for violin and piano even Paganini’s solo violin Caprices are subjected to canonic treatment in a sort of black humour. Self-quotation Continuity of thought and subject matter in Dallapiccola’s output is underlined by quotations from one work to another. The Canti di liberazione quote from both the Canti di…

For all the ups and downs of his career thus far, at the time of the premiere of The Queen of Spades the 50-year-old Tchaikovsky enjoyed both significant respect and no little celebrity. Championed by Tsar Alexander III, he used his standing to promote Russian music at home and abroad, where he was increasingly in demand. Though the perpetually hard-to-please critics were sniffy about his Fifth Symphony at its premiere in August 1888, the public largely gave it a warmer reception. Five years later, in October 1993, the enthusiastically greeted premiere of his Sixth Symphony would precede his death by just nine days.…

Just how important is Lionel Tertis in the story of the viola? Tertis is the father of modern viola playing. There were pieces written for viola before him – but in the late-19th century, while the piano, cello and violin all had their great virtuosos, the viola was left behind. He was the first viola professor at the Royal Academy of Music – before him, the role didn’t exist. He commissioned so much, and encouraged people to think of the viola as a solo instrument. How did the project come about? As well as commissioning, Tertis produced many arrangements for viola, and as a student at the Academy I wanted to record an album of these. A couple of years ago, the Tertis Foundation asked if I would be interested…

Olav Berg ● Crusell ● Weber Bassoon Concertos Dag Jensen (bassoon); Kammerakademie Potsdam/Gregor Bühl CPO 555 576-2 63:29 mins The 19th-century Finnish composer Bernhard Henrik Crusell was himself a clarinettist, but he wrote the concerto recorded here for his son-in-law Frans Carl Preumayr, who came from a prominent family of bassoon players. It’s somewhat let down by a repetitive polonaise finale, but its single-movement form is quite original, and so, too, is the way the soloist first enters, with an elaborate cadenza. The concerto’s centrepiece consists of variations on a theme by the popular opera composer Boieldieu. On a higher level is the concerto by Weber, with its fine slow movement and witty finale. Weber’s Andante e Rondo ongarese is his own arrangement of a piece he originally wrote for…

Lully Atys Reinoud Van Mechelen et al; Choeur de Chambre de Namur; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset Château de Versailles CVS126 172:48 mins (3 discs) Christophe Rousset’s latest Lully production is a bold experiment, in which he liberates the artists he directs to take risks within the aesthetic parameters he defines. Rousset leads the assembled musicians in the creation of a propulsive drama in which Lully, inspired by Philippe Quinault’s text, gloriously fused words with music. The story treats the collusion of King Célénus with the sorceress Cybèle to win their respective objects of desire, the nymph Sangaride and her secret lover Atys. Cybèle, discovering Atys’s passion for Sangaride, induces a madness in which Atys kills his lover, and later himself. This leaves both Cybèle and Célénus with matter for repentance.…

This triptych of songs for female voice and piano grew out of an intriguing case of ‘pseudotranslation’ concerning Debussy’s friend Pierre Louÿs. The poet claimed to have translated the collection, published in 1894 as Les chansons de Bilitis, from the ancient Greek. The poems, said Louÿs, were found on a tomb in Cyprus, signed by a courtesan named Bilitis. They were, in fact, his own creations… but even scholars were deceived. Debussy took three poems – La flûte de Pan, La chevelure and Le tombeau des Naïades – and created beautiful miniatures.…

Alkan ● Mendelssohn Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte; Alkan: 25 Préludes, Op.31 No. 8 Igor Levit (piano) Sony Classical 19658878982 43:20 mins This recording, which exists only in digital form, was produced at very short notice in early December, with Igor Levit and his team committing to donate all of the profits to two German organisations: OFEK Advice Centre for Anti-Semitic Violence and Discrimination, and the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism. ‘I made this recording out of a very, very strong inner necessity,’ Levit explains. ‘I spent the first four or five weeks after the attack on 7 October in a mixture of speechlessness and total paralysis. And it became clear that I had no other tools than to react as an artist.’ Hence his decision to record this selection of Mendelssohn’s…

QOW Trio The Hold Up Riley Stone-Lonergan (tenor saxophone), Eddie Myer (bass), Spike Wells (drums) Ubuntu UBU 151 mins I’m a great fan of the chordless trio format epitomised by this particular instrumental combination, and was unsurprised to have enjoyed this multigenerational group’s excellent debut recording – but this new release sees the band transcend mere excellence and move into the realms of the extraordinary. The album mixes classics by the likes of Monk and Ellington/Strayhorn with spirited originals from Stone-Lonergan, which works nicely. What’s truly remarkable, though, is the sense of integration that results. These are musicians working together with the kind of intuition that only comes from an intensive focus on the material and a profound collective self-awareness, allowing each track to come alive on its own terms…

Unsuk Chin Violin Concerto No. 1; Cello Concerto etc Berlin Phil/Myung-Whun Chung; Simon Rattle et al Berlin Phil BPHR 230411 (Live 2005-22) 118:43 mins (2 discs + BluRay) If you’re new to Korean composer Unsuk Chin, the magical world of her imagination will unfold around you in this luxurious edition from the Berlin Philharmonic. Chin has made her home in Berlin, and the orchestra has been championing her music for almost 20 years. It’s easy to hear why they find it so satisfying: the way Chin tests the limits of these superlative players with her exotic combinations of eastern and western sounds, the multi-layered harmonies and shimmering details, the emotional range from the ravishing beauty of the Violin Concerto’s slow movement to the pulverising climaxes of the Cello Concerto. Christian…

Sound opinions While I’m as susceptible as anyone to a name-check, I feel I should put things right apropos Jessica Duchen’s appreciative review of Trio Isimsiz’s Rubicon recording, which I produced, of piano trios by Brahms, Korngold and Coll: ‘… excellent recorded sound … I’m not at all surprised to see Andrew Keener credited here’ (February issue). Jessica is by no means the first reviewer to mix up the roles of producer and engineer. The producer is the musical supervisor of a recording session, counsellor to the artist if the artist is open to such things, sees to it that everything is covered well in one take or another, and strives to balance today’s demand for accuracy with preserving the flow of the music. And yes, I suppose the producer…

Wigmore honour Wigmore Hall has named Igor Levit as the latest recipient of its Wigmore Medal, awarded for outstanding contributions not just to the London venue itself but to the classical music world in general. At just 36, the Russian-born German becomes the youngest musician to receive the prestigious prize, and follows in the footsteps of the likes of fellow pianist Angela Hewitt, cellist Steven Isserlis and countertenor Iestyn Davies. Philadelphia guest Conductor Marin Alsop has covered an impressive geographical spread with the posts she has held over the course of her glittering career, but her latest appointment brings her a little closer to home. The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced that the New York-born Alsop, whose CV includes positions in Bournemouth, Sao Paulo and Vienna, will begin as its new…

5th: The Italian chemist and physicist Alessandro Volta dies in Como, aged 82. As well as discovering and isolating methane in the 1770s, in 1800 Volta went on to invent the voltaic pile, an early form of electric battery. His many admirers included Napoleon Bonaparte, and the SI unit of electric potential will later be named ‘the volt’ in his honour. 7th: In what will later be known as the ‘Shrigley Abduction’, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a 30-year-old aspiring politician, tricks Ellen Turner, the 15-year-old daughter of a wealthy Cheshire mill owner, into travelling with him to Scotland where he marries her at Gretna Green. Tried and jailed for three years, Wakefield will nonetheless go on to enjoy a successful career in colonial development. 9th: The bass Franz Xaver Gerl dies…

Charlotte Smith Editor Inspired by the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall’s 15th-anniversary broadcast in January, I’ve been delving into its archives to unearth a wealth of performances. First up was Martha Argerich in Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto under Daniel Barenboim – a magnetic display of athleticism belying her 82 years. Janine Jansen in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto under Sakari Oramo also had me transfixed. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor As most of March falls in Lent, I plan to spend it teetotal, accompanied by some alcohol-free listening. As far as I’m aware, no-one has ever written a piece inspired by lime cordial or zero per cent IPA, so I’ll head instead for JS Bach’s Coffee Cantata BWV 211. Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan’s 2004 recording is a wonderfully aromatic blend, ideal…

The ukulele: the sound of pseudo-tropical holidays and the strains of George Formby cleaning windows; a slight, four-string cousin of the guitar designed to make a soundworld of jingly-jangly innuendo. What else is there to say? A whole lot! Because the ukulele plays everything from massed Beethoven to solo Bach, as well as being the choice of thousands of schoolchildren and families, as it knocks the recorder off the top spot as the classroom’s favourite musical instrument. And the ukulele is the sonic soul of Hawaii, where the instrument was born. Ukulele means ‘jumping flea’, named after one of its first virtuosos, Colonel Edward William Purvis, who was small in stature, fidgety by nature – and the vice-chamberlain of King Kalākaua in the late-19th century. His fingers moved like fleas…

On Auxiliary Fire Service during the Blitz, Lough once had to put out the blaze at a record production factory. On eventually entering the building, he spotted a clump of discs which had been melted together. On top was his own Hear My Prayer. By a desperate irony, he attended the fire which ravaged his beloved Temple Church in 1941 (pictured above). ‘To watch it burn was terrible,’ he understatedly recalled. A kind of added celebrity came his way during the war in the shape of a propaganda film showcasing the AFS’s work. There he is, acting out a scenario in which his control room suffers a direct hit.…

It all started on 2 January last year. Scrolling idly through Instagram, I came across a post from the American violinist Hilary Hahn with the hashtag #100daysofpractice. She had explained in a previous post, ‘Last time, in January 2022 — which feels like years ago! — we embarked on a gentle 100 days, and it was really rewarding. This time, it feels right to explore the intersection of self-motivation and self-compassion. What do you think? Might you join?’ Not normally one to hoist my decisions to hashtags or crazes (‘I did sit-ups for 17 days and this is what happened!’; ‘I drank beetroot juice for three weeks and look at me now!’), I had a strange impulse. It was nearly three years on from lockdown, during which I had taken…

‘Northern Ireland today is completely unrecognisable from where I grew up in the 80s and 90s,’ says Conor Mitchell. ‘Belfast is an incredibly sophisticated and modern city that’s home to independent theatre companies, a symphony orchestra and an opera company – but not one of them has Belfast in its name. Why? It’s bizarre. And why are there so few people in Northern Ireland with Northern Irish accents talking about Northern Irish art? We don’t need other people to voice our concerns, we need to carve out our own path. ‘I founded the Belfast Ensemble in 2017 because I wanted to create an indigenous company focused on making new art here in the North, bringing in a more European aesthetic and more opportunities for multimedia projects. I’ve been really pleasantly…

The tiny wooden lodge outside Toblach was the last of three composing huts where Mahler sought refuge and inspiration during his lifetime. From 1893-96, the young Mahler took summers at Steinbach am Attersee, where he had a hut built with views of the lake. It was during this period that Mahler composed his Second and Third Symphonies, as well as songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Later, from 1900-07, the composer had a villa (and, naturally, composing hut) built on the shores of the Wörthersee, near the present-day Slovenian border. During these years, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies came into being.…

Valery Gergiev (conductor) Gegam Grigorian (Hermann) et al; Kirov Opera Decca 438 1412 This performance was recorded live in 1992 in the very theatre where The Queen of Spades was premiered. Of all European traditions, the Russians – largely, of course, as a consequence of long-term artistic isolation following the 1917 Revolution – have held on most tightly to their national musical attributes and sense of style. There are obvious advantages when a Russian ensemble presents a Russian opera, not only with respect to Slavic vocal qualities and an intimate relationship with the text. From the opening scene of this Kirov account onwards, the listener experiences an authentically Russian set of colours in terms of choral sound, an orchestra of ideal range and quality, and even a boys’ chorus that…

A Lionel Tertis Celebration Works by Tertis, Bowen, Brahms, Bridge, Schumann, Vaughan Williams et al (trans. Tertis et al) Timothy Ridout (viola), Frank Dupree, James Baillieu (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM905376.77 128:00 mins (2 discs) If violists owe Lionel Tertis an inescapable debt of gratitude, with this release Timothy Ridout repays those dues handsomely. Inspired by the violinist Fritz Kreisler – and arguably doing for the viola what his contemporary Casals, also born in 1876, was accomplishing for the cello – Tertis set about raising the instrument’s profile, in the process tackling the problem of solo repertoire head-on through commissioning, composing, and arranging. Self-taught and a latecomer (he didn’t take up the instrument until he was 19), Tertis’s achievement is roundly celebrated across two discs, each with a stand-out pianist. Bookending…

Franck ● Chausson Franck: Symphony in D minor, Chausson: Symphony in B flat major Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/Jean-Luc Tingaud Naxos 8.574536 71:08 mins The pairing of the Franck and Chausson symphonies is a favourite standby and understandably so: at around 70 minutes they fill a CD and share a musical language. Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud understands that the Franck is essentially a work of contrasts, and offers us a wide range of both tempos and dynamics, so that tensions between the two extremes become a guide for the rhetoric. Franck’s long lines are intelligently and variously phrased, so there are no places where the argument flags. The only downside is that, from time to time, the first violins are swamped by the brass. Tingaud’s performance of the Chausson is more arguable.…

Vivaldi Concerti per una vita Le Consort/Théotime Langlois de Swarte (violin) Harmonia Mundi HMM902373.74 148 mins (2 discs) Anyone who believes the old joke that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 400 times should listen to this. It follows on from the same performers’ 2022 recording of concertos by Leclair, Locatelli and Vivaldi, but this time focuses exclusively on the Red Priest’s output. The album’s title, Concertos for a Life, describes a programme that traces Vivaldi’s 40-year output from a transcribed aria by his teacher Giovanni Legrenzi to the valedictory chaconne from his RV 583 Violin Concerto. In between are works relating to his performers, pupils and dedicatees. Some are claimed as ‘world premiere’ recordings; others are presented in unfamiliar guises – like the Genoa manuscript version of ‘Summer’ from The…

Fanny Mendelssohn ● Felix Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn: Die erste Walpurgisnacht; Vom Himmel hoch; Fanny Mendelssohn: Hiob; Gartenlieder Julia Doyle (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto) et al; Crouch End Festival Chorus; London Mozart Players/David Temple Chandos CHSA5318 (CD/SACD) 71:53 mins Of the many current recordings to pair the sibling composers Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, this is one of the most unusual yet, featuring choral rarities by both – and the music offers some surprises. Felix’s cantata Vom Himmel hoch, though written while the composer was in Italy and exploring music in Rome, is so Lutheran that he seems to be trying to become Bach. It’s full of deliberately rousing, celebratory sounds, but memorable for sadly little else. As for Die erste Walpurgisnacht, a secular cantata based on Goethe in which a druid…

WF Bach ● JG Goldberg Trio Sonatas Ensemble Diderot Audax ADX11203 56:23 mins Johann Gottlieb Goldberg is best known for the attachment of his name to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Born in 1727, he was a child prodigy who may have studied with Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann in Dresden and also, perhaps, with JS Bach in Leipzig. He died at the age of 29 having left two ambitious harpsichord concertos, several delightful keyboard polonaises, a couple of sacred cantatas and five trio sonatas. The violinist Johannes Pramsohler and his Ensemble Diderot have chosen four of the trio sonatas for their new release. A fifth, in C minor, is featured on one of their previous discs. Goldberg’s style is an interesting blend of counterpoint and chromaticism, bringing to mind some of…

New Baroque Works by Oscar Gorman-Tysoe, Erik Valdemar Sköld, Massimo de Lillo, Samuel Howley, Alex Petshaft Ada Witczyk (baroque violin) First Hand FHR160D 24:14 mins In 2020, as a response to Covid lockdowns, the Polish-British violinist Ada Witczyk co-founded the Růžičková Composition Competition. As a vehicle for fostering the creation of new works for historical instruments, the annual competition commemorates the legacy of Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. New Baroque, available only on digital platforms, features five miniatures for solo violin commissioned from Růžičková Competition laureates – we hear music by composers based in England, Wales, Italy, Sweden and the US. Lasting between three-and-a-half and six minutes, these highly idiomatic works are a testament to the intimate, tactile nature of the connection between instrument and player, and the appeal of a…

Bacewicz Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. 2 WDR Sinfonieorchester/Łukasz Borowicz CPO 555660-2 Bacewicz’s music is always absorbing, with great rhythmic drive and underlying tension. The works on this beautifully performed disc add playfulness and sonic adventure to that drama: both the Symphony No. 2 and Musica sinfonica in tre movimenti have a neo-classical zip, and creative musical figures (a string quintet’s tremolandos and trills, for example) abound. Delightful. (SW)★★★★★ Brahms Orchestral & Vocal Works Orquesta y Coro Comunidad de Madrid/Marzena Diakun IBS Classical IBS132023 From Schicksalslied’s gorgeous opening onwards, this sumptuously performed album of Brahms works for chorus and orchestra gently lures us into the world of the composer at his most benign. Agnieszka Rehlis is a warmly expressive soloist in the Alto Rhapsody, while the exquisite Four Songs Op. 17…

TV speaker, soundbar or surround sound system? All TVs will benefit from separate speakers. Soundbars are the most practical upgrade for cinefiles, while a more complex multi-speaker surround-sound system will offer the best in immersive theatre. What connectivity do I need? The inputs needed will depend on the age and intelligence of your TV – the latest smart designs often come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless convenience. If you have an older model, be sure your chosen speaker or soundbar has either an HDMI or optical cable. Can my existing speakers work with the TV? Very possibly, if they have the right inputs. Apple’s impressive HomePod speakers work wirelessly with your TV, but only if you have an Apple TV box plugged into the back. Likewise, Amazon’s Echo devices…

The great Spanish soprano Victoria de los Ángeles (1923-2005) rivalled the likes of Maria Callas and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as one of the 20th century’s most treasured female voices. So the release of Victoria de los Ángeles: The Warner Classics Edition (Warner Classics 5419722928) is cause for celebration. The 59-CD box draws together recordings made between 1948 and 1977, and spans complete operas, arias and a rich treasury of song. You’ll find some of de los Ángeles’s most celebrated roles within, such as Puccini’s Madam Butterfly and Mimì (La bohème), Massenet’s Manon, Gounod’s Marguerite (Faust) and Bizet’s Carmen. Rarities, meanwhile, include a first CD appearance for a 1964 song recital with pianist Gerald Moore at the Royal Festival Hall. Next, to the Medieval Ensemble of London, a pioneer of the period…

1. Whose opera The Love for Three Oranges was premiered at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago on 30 December 1921? 2. For which recently invented instrument did Tchaikovsky score the solo part of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in his ballet The Nutcracker in 1892? 3. The first movement of which orchestral work of 1914 quotes ‘have a banana’ from the popular song ‘Let’s All Go Down the Strand’? 4. First performed by tenor Peter Pears in 1947, which operatic title character gets drunk when his lemonade is spiked with rum at the Loxford village May Day festival? 5. ‘Entrée joyeuse des vendangeurs et vendangeuses’ (Entry of the grape pickers) features at the beginning of which 1841 ballet by Adolphe Adam? 6. The composer pictured above is best known…