BBC Music Magazine

Sharing and innovation. These two themes form a connective thread that runs throughout our October issue – from our cover star, guitarist Sean Shibe, whose adventurous spirit finds expression through boundary-pushing collaborations that make the case

Reviews editor ‘It was great to meet Sean Shibe; unpretentious, adventurous and seemingly never happier than when he’s making music with friends, he’s one of the most interesting artists to emerge in the last decade.’ Page 26 Journalist and critic ‘S

Editor Charlotte Smith Vaughan Williams’s Six Studies in English Folksong Deputy editor Jeremy Pound Schumann’s Waldszenen Reviews editor Michael Beek Rota’s Sarabanda e Toccata Multi-platform content producer Steve Wright Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Son

Born: Paris, France Career highlights: A Mahler lieder recital I gave with the baritone Liviu Holender at the Philharmonie de Paris. The last piece was ‘Revelge’, the story of a drummer boy whose regiment falls in a trap during the night. The boy’s f

Durham University has renamed its Assembly Rooms Theatre in honour of its former chancellor. From now on, the Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre will pay homage to a man who, as well as serving in his university post from 2012‑22, is probably kn

Despite the rail and tube strikes, I made it to the ‘Impressions of Spain’ BBC Prom where I heard rising violin star María Dueñas, in a shimmering red dress, give a magnificent performance of Lalo’s fiendishly virtuosic Symphonie espagnole. Notwithst

If you had a time machine and a guaranteed return ticket, into what era would you like to be whisked? Despite the dentistry and the prospect of getting a terribly itchy scalp from wearing those gigantic wigs, I would plump for early 18th-century Lond

It’s quite the mixed crowd at St George’s Bristol, but that’s nothing unusual for a Manchester Collective gig, and even less so for the young man sitting centre-stage, electric guitar in one hand, cello bow in the other. Yes, you read that right. To

Sometimes a book changes your life. That was the case when Amy Granger came across Year of Wonder, written by the broadcaster and journalist Clemency Burton-Hill. Featuring a single, short piece of classical music for every day of the year, this trea

It’s 1 January, and you’ve just finished reading Burton-Hill’s Year of Wonder. But you’d still like a fresh fix of classical music this year, to expand your listening and discover new composers and pieces. Where do you turn? Well, there is, of course

Italian opera was on the slide in London during the 1730s and Handel’s fortunes were in a tailspin. Fortunately, the composer had something up his sleeve. Back in 1718, he’d turned the biblical tale of Esther into an English masque to be played befor

Sally Beamish’s Opus California (1999) was inspired by the state’s beaches, boardwalks and bridges, while Esa-Pekka Salonen’s LA Variations (1996) is a splashy salute to the ‘virtuosity and power’ of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and John Adams’s Hal

If you’re like me then you’ll turn to music as a distraction from the woes of the world. It’s lovely to escape into a symphony, lose yourself in a string quartet or get embroiled in an opera. Sometimes, though, music directly responds to global issue

Do you have new insights into the Fifth since you last recorded it? It was the first symphony I conducted when I was young, and every time I open the score there’s something new to discover. I think it’s a lifetime process; if I have the chance to li

Duo Duel*; Concerto for Orchestra *Matthew Strauss, *Svet Stoyanov (percussion); Houston Symphony/Robert Spano Naxos 8.559913 59:59 mins Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra forms the bulk of the music on this virtuosic recording, featuring full

Schulhoff: Five Pieces (arr. Honeck/Ille); Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck Reference Recordings FR-752 (CD/SACD) 59:04 mins Manfred Honeck began his long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra way

Il Trittico Asmik Grigorian (soprano) et al; Wiener Staatsopernchor, Vienna Philharmonic/Franz Welser-Möst; dir. Christof Loy (Salzburg, 2022) Unitel DVD: 808908; Blu-ray: 809004 181 mins I’d not had an opportunity to watch Asmik Grigorian before, bu

Piano Concertos, K107†, K175*; Church Sonata No. 17, K336*; Concerto Mov’t in G major† Robert Levin (harpsichord, organ); Academy of Ancient Music/*Laurence Cummings; †Bojan Čičić (violin) AAM AAM042 62:33 mins The tenth of 13 releases marking the lo

Works by Finzi, I Holst, Maconchy, Stanford, Sullivan and Vaughan Williams The Sixteen/Harry Christophers CORO COR16198 63:01 mins Stanford’s partsong ‘The Blue Bird’ is widely performed and recorded, but the seven other songs in the Op. 119 collecti

The story of Joseph Bologne (Chavalier de Saint-Georges) was ripe for screen adaptation – virtuoso violinist, composer, fencer, a Black artist and icon seemingly rubbed out of music history. Chevalier is a glossy dramatisation (think Amadeus-meets-Br

Partitas & Sonatas, BWV 1001-1006 Bojan Čičić (Baroque violin) Delphian DCD34300 146:01 mins (2 discs) In 1754 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach first documented the importance of his father’s Partitas and Sonatas to those intent on mastery of violin. Compos

Violin Sonatas Nos 1-4 Tianwa Yang (violin), Nicholas Rimmer (piano) Naxos 8.559937 Often associated with wackier tendencies, Antheil plays a more orthodox game in his four violin sonatas. The angularity of, say, Bartók is here, but there’s also lyri

String Quartets in G major, A major and E minor Constanze Quartett CPO 555600-2 71:41 mins A ‘diary, the story of his soul’, was how Shostakovich’s string quartets were once described, and so often the quartet is where composers turn to explore somet

Vox’s ‘Elite Recording’ of Gershwin Works for Piano and Orchestra – from 1974 – is a reminder of better times in the record industry. Not just in the freshness of the playing under Leonard Slatkin’s baton, but also in the quality and sumptuous length

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 3