classical

La forza del destino is an opera from Verdi’s heyday. Premiered four years after Un ballo in maschera, a very special moment in his production, it coincides with the prevailing taste for the exoticism of other worlds. Only […]

Two very rare videos from our archives. Watch here. Today is the 70th anniversary of his death and no orchestra that he worked with – Berlin, Vienna, Philharmonia – has bothered to commemorate it. Listen […]

The Wilhelm Furtwängler Society has shared with us an English version of Wolfgang Schreiber’s shrewd and timely overview of the conductor’s legacy, 70 years after his death. It’s an essential summary, from an internal-German perspective. […]

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: The sound of Berlin in the Weimar years is defined by Kurt Weill. More than any other composer, his music for the Bertolt Brecht shows conjured the jittery, […]

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra have uploaded one of their recent concerts – a fabulous programme that could have been designed only by one conductor – its present chief. The rundown: György Ligeti »Atmosphères« Richard […]

The enterprising Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva has shifted her recording work from Sony Classical to Naive, an interesting move. Here’s what they say on social media: naïve is honored to announce its collaboration with internationally […]

In our report on Wednesday’s performance of the Babi Yar Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, we found cause to praise the ‘impressive performance of the London Philharmonic male chorus’. This drew a prompt request […]

The  British pianist Ashley Wass has informed the Yehudi Menuhin School that he intends to leave at the end of the present academic year. Wass, 47, has been commuting for the past two years between […]

There has long been a theory that the German master lives on in the form of Valery Gergiev, the post-Soviet conductor who provided cultural reassurance and stability for the criminal regime of Vladimir Putin as […]

​On The Catwalk You may wonder why I would include a catwalk show on my online arts newsletter. I’m sort of wondering myself. It’s just that, having been born to a fashion family – everyone […]