BBC Music Magazine - 17 Apr 2025
VE DAY 80th ANNIVERSARY
40-PAGE SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS GUIDE!
Classical music’s key role in the Nazi war machine
Dona Nobis Pacem
Dietrich Fischer-dieskau
How Sibelius crafted beauty from personal turmoil
Why pianist Myra Hess was more than a WWII hero
Welcome
Rob Ainsley
Jessica Duchen
Erik Levi
Keep Calm and Compose
The sound of oppression
A voice for the ages
Pieces of me
Building a Library
Composer of the Month
Musical Destinations
Man on a mission
Festival Guide 2025
A different picture
The Full Score
Sound advice
Music that Changed Me
May Radio 3 highlights
Crossword and Quiz
Richard Morrison
Radio & TV
Letters
Recording of the Month
May reviews
Have your say…
From Schlesinger to Walter
Record price for a violin shattered
Thefullscore
Orchestra puts the presto in Preston car showroom
Veteran bassist brings Oscar joy
No blues, as Saint Louis thinks big
Wagner the revolutionary flees Dresden to avoid arrest
Also in May 1849…
Concert Heaven Concert Hell
The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites...
Myhero
Play it with a smile
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Richard Morrison
KEEP CALM AND COMPOSE
KEEP CALM AND COMPOSE
Home-grown works were promoted, but Britain had no rigid diktats or propaganda
Carols and secret codes
Putting the ‘V’ in Beethoven
The sound of oppression
The sound of oppression
Otherwise occupied
A journey into music
A different picture
A different picture
Hess on record
A voice for the ages
A voice for the ages
Lessons with the master
A joy to play with Pianist Alfred Brendel
Pieces of me
Pieces of me
Creative kids
Matthew Barley
Man on a mission
Collective agenda
Sound advice
Sound advice
Podium charisma
FESTIVAL GUIDE2025
United Kingdom
Welcome!
FESTIVAL GUIDE2025
United Kingdom
UK Summer Opera
Europe
Prague Czechia
Wenceslaus I
Jean Sibelius
Sibelius’s style
JEAN SIBELIUS
Ralph Vaughan Williams
The composer
A personal journey towards hope
Three other great recordings
Continue the journey…
A real rollercoaster of musical emotions
Welcome
This month’s critics
Ori Kam (viola)
This full-throttle Mahler 5 sets a fine new benchmark
Bacewicz • Lutosławski • Szymanowski
A dazzling album debut from Leia Zhu
Keyboard Concertos, BWV 1052-1054 & 1056
Violin Concertos
Blue Electra*; Last Dance at the Surf; To The New World**
Symphony No. 5; Violin Concerto*; Leviathan**
Piano Concertos Nos 9 ‘Jeunehomme’ & 12
The Four Seasons and Other Concertos (Vivaldi 8, Vol. 1)
Piano Concertos
Works by Price, Lera Auerbach, Lora Kvint and Errollyn Wallen
Works for Violin and Orchestra
Works by Liszt, Marcello and Rachmaninov
Sinfonia concertante; Notturno ungherese; Rhapsody
Works by Simon Dobson, Arthur Pryor, Philip Sparke et al
A memorable and moving Arabella
*Agamemnon; Symphonies Nos 6 ‘Sinfonia tragica’ and 12
The Magic Flute
Simon Boccanegra (1857 version)
Tosca
A glorious Easter selection from the brilliant Bevans
King Stephen; The Ruins of Athens; Leonore Prohaska
Missa Cambrensis
Via Crucis*; Consolations; Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Suite on Verses of Michelangelo; October
Songs etc by Chopin, Liszt, Offenbach, Viardot et al
Songs and arias by Arne, Biber, Monteverdi, Torri et al
Songs and arias by Berlioz, Gershwin, R Strauss et al
Works by Kerry Andrew, Alison Willis, Kerensa Briggs et al
Magical Dvořák crowns this pair of piano quintets
The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
Haydn: Piano Trios Nos 26, 31, 34, 36; Sally Beamish: Trance
Livre pour Quatuor
Song-poem In Honor of Ashoughs; Dance No. 1; Sonata for Violin and Piano; Gayaneh – Adagio for Solo Violin, Aisha’s Dance and Sabre Dance; Sonata-monologue for Solo Violin; Nocturne from Masquerade Suite; Dance (The Dancing Violin)
Piano Trios by Ravel and Schubert
Works by JS Bach, Bowen, Elgar, Gibbons, Sally Beamish et al
Works by Castello, Frescobaldi, Marini, Patta et al
Unrivalled Ravel in this clever tribute
Toccata, Partita and Suites for Solo Violin (Metamorphoses)
The Well-tempered Clavier, Book 2
Trois Gymnopédies; Gnossiennes Nos 1-5 etc
Works by Eckhardt-gramatté, Maconchy and Sally Beamish
Works arr. piano by Jon Batiste, Jeff Beal, Stephen Hough et al
Works by Debussy, Matthew Aucoin, George Xiaoyuan Fu and Ninfea Crutwell-reade
Works by Chopin, Schubert, Philip Glass, Alvidas Remesa
Works by Alain and Duruflé
Works by Franck and Tournemire
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind...
Piano Sonata in B minor etc
Jazz
A timely commentary
The Sound of Utopia
Edward Elgar and Adrian Boult
The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz Anne Sebba
From the archives
Passion and poignance
Unboxed
Easily affordable noise-cancelling headphones
Panasonic RB-M600B £80
We recommend…
Soundcore Q30 £79
Jlab Go Lux ANC £49
Tv&radio
Three to look out for
MAY’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS
Tv&radio
Inside Classical:
Elgar’s Enigma Variations
FEBRUARY SOLUTION No. 408
The BBC Music Magazine
PRIZE CROSSWORD NO. 411
THE QUIZ
FEBRUARY WINNER
The 2025 Awards winners!
Broadcaster, author, psychologist
at PressDisplay
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