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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Taiwan’s state-of-the-art concert venue opens at last • The long-delayed Taipei Performing Arts Center gets set to begin its first season

Cash-strapped cathedral sad to announce choir closure

THE MONTH IN NUMBERS

Sound Bites

Rising Stars • Three to look out for…

Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ brings his life to a close

Also in October 1893…

Lister-inspired organ work gives the code to joy

DÉJÀ VU • History just keeps on repeating itself…

Jay Capperauld

We reveal who’s recording what and where…

REWIND • Great artists talk about their past recordings

Buried Treasure

The wonders of space • The acoustic environment in which music is performed is of crucial importance to the way that audiences both hear and interpret it, argues Tom Service

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 • Musical excellence is entirely possible in the state sector – if given a chance

Finding flow • With a new Warner Classics recording contract and a year-long residency at London’s Southbank Centre to his name, Abel Selaocoe’s star is in the ascendant. But as the South African cellist tells Charlotte Smith, he has a higher mission – to bridge the divide between African and Western music

A legendary mentor • Selaocoe on working with Yo-Yo Ma

A voice of one’s own • Selaocoe on improvising

Sharon Bezaly

Creating a golden sound • Sharon Bezaly’s unique flute

Changinglives • As Buskaid celebrates its 25th anniversary, Leon Bosch explains the success of the South African string training programme

Lessons about life

A memorable folk trail • Rick Jones steps into Vaughan Williams’s shoes and dons his boater as he follows the composer’s folksong trail around Surrey and Sussex

Analogueage • Over the past few years, a resurgence of interest in vinyl recordings has taken popular music by storm. Cellist Leonard Elschenbroich tells Simon Heighes why classical musicians should also take an interest

A fragile early legacy • Sound recording pre-vinyl

Man on a mission • In conversation with Michael Church, the pianist Evgeny Kissin speaks out about the invasion of Ukraine and how this relates to his experiences of anti-Semitism while growing up in the USSR

A child’s perspective • A poem by Kissin, aged ten

Passing the test • Forget tweedy examiners behind desks, bland pieces and those dreaded aural tests. Graded exams are not what they used to be, as Clare Stevens explains

Boulder United States • Jeremy Pound admires both the mountains and the plains as he explores the various delights of this year’s Colorado Music Festival

Nikolai Medtner • Admired by Rachmaninov and outstanding as a pianist, Medtner had a subtle yet hauntingly distinct compositional style, says Francis Pott

Medtner’s style

NIKOLAI MEDTNER Life&Times

Antonio Vivaldi Gloria, RV589 • Andrew Stewart introduces Vivaldi’s much loved choral masterpiece, and finds the recordings which reveal its drama and expressive heart

An account of wonder and reverence

Continue the journey… • We suggest five more works to explore after Vivaldi’s Gloria, RV589

Kurtág, Prohaska and Faust make sparks fly...