classical cds

A symphony should be like the world, it should encompass everything. So said Mahler himself, and his ambitious First Symphony sets out to do exactly that. We have previously looked at Bychkov’s Fourth and Fifth […]

Valentin Silvestrov was forced to leave his native Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022, seeking refuge in Berlin. There is hope in this music but its eems rooted in a full realisation of teh […]

The term “Metanoia” makes sense as applied to Franz Liszt: it refers to a change of life direction in response to a spiritual event or conversion. And here we have the move from Liszt the […]

My final prom of the 2026 season is officially labelled “Strauss’ s Four Last Songs” – that piece the clear intended draw – but held so, so much more, not least my introduction to conductor […]

A few years ago, BEIJING, CHINA (Sept. 8, 2026) — The Beijing Music Festival (BMF) today announced programming for its 29th edition, taking place October 9–20, 2026, at venues across Beijing. Under the theme Beijing Cappella, the Festival […]

Broadly coinciding with Aigil Akhmetchina’s debut as Dalila at Covent Garden (which ran May 13-June 3), and released just a couple of weeks ago on 21 August 2026, Muher fatal – which means femme fatale […]

Vache Baroque and Out of Chaos at The Vache, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks. I thoroughly enjoyed Vache Baroque’s UK premiere of Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise last year in the lovely setting of the Chiltern […]

We need to hear more music by Amglo-Irish composer Ernest John (Smeed) Moeran (1894-1950). Arnold Bax referred to Moeran as “the last true Romantic”. His life was a toubled one: he was wounded in the […]

Elgar Variations on an Original Theme. Op. 36, ‘Enigma‘ (1888/9) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 (1877/8) Elgar and the Berliner Philarmoniker? Well, there is precedent of the orchestra in English music […]

As his Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem) in Pappano’s LSO performance proved conclusively (August 15), there are fewer if any better spaces to hold Berlioz’ monumental imagination.  From the religious to Goethe’s great work of […]