BBC Music Magazine

BBC Music Magazine is a must for anyone with a passion for classical music. Classical music connoisseurs and new enthusiast alike will enjoy the fascinating features and reviews of over 120 new works in every issue.

Welcome

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

BBC Music Magazine

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LETTER of the MONTH

Climate change sets the tone at The Ivors Awards • Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Thomas Adès among this year’s big-name winners

Enjoy a taste of Telemann as winegrowers go for Baroque

THE MONTH IN NUMBERS

SoundBites

RisingStars • Three to look out for…

Schumann throws himself into the ice-cold Rhine

Also in February 1854

Salzburg invites Merkel to take a long-term pew

DÉJÀ VU • History just keeps on repeating itself…

Stewart Goodyear

StudioSecrets • We reveal who’s recording what and where…

REWIND • Great artists talk about their past recordings

BuriedTreasure

How Satie liberated music

FAREWELL TO…

Music to my ears • What the classical world has been listening to this month

Our Choices The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Richard Morrison • Why the early music revolution of the 1970s was truly a moment to savour

BBC music MAGAZINE AWARDS2022 • VOTE NOW and help to name the best classical recordings of the past 12 months

The great perfectionist • Jascha Heifetz’s formidable technique and instantly recognisable sound made him a superstar among violinists, but behind that seemingly effortless ability lay hard graft and a generous heart, as Julian Haylock explains

A view from the violin • Jack Liebeck on Jascha Heifetz

Ludovico Einaudi

A little classical learning • Six who chose to go popular

Musicalman • We pay tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim, a true giant of musical theatre, as both a lyricist and composer of over a dozen acclaimed works, famously beginning with West Side Story…

The voice of the people • Not only lovers and tyrants, but also entire nations and peoples have been represented on the operatic stage – a tradition which is still very much alive, as Gavin Dixon reveals

Operatic shipwrecks • Britain misses the boat

NorthernLight • Stephen Pritchard visits Iceland, where a much loved orchestra and a local piano superstar have helped to bring in a golden era for classical music

Iceland’s choral landscape • The unique sound of the Arctic

Stratford-upon-Avon England • The Warwickshire town famous for a certain local playwright is also full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, as Claire Jackson discovers

William Shakespeare

John Luther Adams • Rebecca Franks describes how the American composer found his distinct musical style by abandoning all for the wilderness of Alaska

Adams’s style

JOHN L ADAMS Life&Times

George Frideric Handel Acis and Galatea • Created for a wealthy earl’s estate, Handel’s Ovid-inspired pastoral brilliantly brings its subjects to life; Paul Riley seeks the best versions

The composer

Curnyn’s lovers snatch the crown

Three other great recordings

Continue the journey… • We suggest five works to explore after Handel’s Acis and Galatea…

Prepare to be totally spellbound by Brahms • Erik Levi is left breathless by pianist Alexandre Kantorow’s lithe and lyrical performance of the epic Sonata No. 3

Welcome

An interview with Alexandre Kantorow

Orchestral

Lean and lyrical Bruckner from Linz • The orchestra’s latest entry in its cycle is an experience, says Michael Tanner

BACKGROUND TO… Brahms’s Symphony No....