All The Right Notes

For her latest disc, violinist Tasmin Little turns to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. She pairs this popular masterpiece with the premiere recording of a companion piece, Roxannna Panufnik's Four World Seaons for violin, string orchestra and Tibetan singing bowl. The recording is on Chandos. Find out what the BBC Music Magazine team made of the recording, plus enjoy clips from the disc, in this episode of...

On the cover CD of the Christmas issue of BBC Music Magazine, the King's Singers present a festive feast of Christmas music from across the ages. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works, complete with extracts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

Elgar is the focus of our December Recording of the Month. In this superbly programmed disc for Hyperion, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins perform the ever-popular Enigma Variations and In the South (Alassio). They also turn the spotlight on several First World War rarities – Une voix dans le désert, Carillon and Le drapeau belge – and give us the first recording o...

In this episode of 'First Listen', the BBC Music Magazine team explores a disc of brass band music played by the Tredegar Town and Cory Bands. War Memorials pays tribute to those lost in the two world wars and features on-disc premieres of pieces by Robin Holloway, Gavin Higgins, John McCabe, Lucy Pankhurst, Simon Dobson and Paul McGhee. Music by Britten frames the programme. Find out what the tea...

Our November Recording of the Month features CPE Bach's three Cello Concertos. Nicolas Altstaedt is the brilliant soloist in these works, which are important links between the Baroque and Classical concerto and also brilliant pieces in their own right. The German-French cellist appears with Arcangelo and director Jonathan Cohen, and the disc is out on the Hyperion label. Join deputy editor Jeremy...

On the cover CD of the November issue of BBC Music Magazine, we present JS Bach's The Art of Fugue, arranged and played by Mahan Esfahani, with the help of instrumentalists from the Academy of Ancient Music. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the work, complete with extracts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn...

On the cover CD of the November issue of BBC Music Magazine, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers perform works by giants of contemporary American music, Steve Reich and John Adams. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works, complete with extracts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad...

On the cover CD of the October issue of BBC Music Magazine, we present ten modern British masterworks, all commissioned by BBC Radio 3. The works were chosen and performed by the orchestras for which they were commissioned. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works, complete with extracts. To read an interview with Judith Weir about her t...

The American composer Ben Johnston has spent much of his musical career exploring the world of microtonality. His ten string quartets are incredibly challenging for the performers, but in 2002 the Kepler Quartet was formed to perform and record this complete cycle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our September Recording of the Month is Where'er you walk: arias for Handel's favourite tenor. This wonderful recital features tenor Allan Clayton, Classical Opera and conductor Ian Page, who explore the life and music of the 18th-century tenor John Beard. Handel forms the core of the programme, but there's also music by William Boyce and Thomas Arne. Hear extracts from this recording in this podc...

Cellist Raphael Wallfisch and pianist John York explore music written by the British composer Rebecca Clarke on their latest recording, on the Lyrita label. A professional viola player and composer, Clarke is best known for her Viola Sonata, heard here in her transcription for cello, and Piano Trio. But in this disc Wallfisch and York also turn the spotlight on her unpublished Cello Rhapsody. Find...

On the cover CD of the September issue of BBC Music Magazine, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony No. 3, conducted by Donald Runnicles. In this podcast, acting deputy editor Rebecca Franks and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the work, complete with extracts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choic...

This year it's the 150th anniversary of Erik Satie. So raise your bowler hat to soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, who have put together one of the most interesting discs of the French composer's music to come out this year so far. Satie's 1919 cantata Socrate is the centrepiece of this programme. Find out more about this unusual masterpiece in this podcast, plus hear extracts...

The Beethoven symphonies remain a true test for any orchestra, and here the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic and its conductor Sir Simon Rattle record them together for the first time. This lavish set is our July Recording of the Month. Hear clips from the recordings and discussion about the music here, in this podcast presented by editor Oliver Condy and reviews editor Rebecca Franks. Hosted on...

On the cover CD of the August issue of BBC Music Magazine, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists give live performances of early works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Webern. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works on the disc, complete with extracts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices....

Leoncavallo is best remembered for his opera Pagliacci, but Zazà was a big success in its time too. Now Opera Rara has revived it in this recording by the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maurizio Benini. The cast includes Ermonela Jaho in the title role, Stephen Gaertner, Riccardo Massi and Patricia Bordon. Join the BBC Music Magazine team for this episode of First Listen for c...

On the cover CD of the July issue of BBC Music Magazine Donald Runnicles conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mahler's epic ninth Symphony, recorded live at the BBC Proms in 2014. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works on the disc, complete with extracts.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

On the cover CD of the June issue of BBC Music Magazine, we celebrate the music of Felix Mendelssohn, as we ask whether Schumann was right to call him the 'Mozart of the 19th century'.  In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works on the disc, complete with extracts.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more a...

Our June issue Recording of the Month features Martinu's piano trios, wonderful but still underrated chamber works by one of the great 20th-century Czech composers. They are brilliantly performed here by the Smetana Trio, on a recording for the Supraphon label. Join editor Oliver Condy and reviews editor Rebecca Franks to find out more about the music and this recording, and hear clips from the CD...

Our Recording of the Month in the May 2016 issue features Janáček's life-affirming Glagolitic Mass. Edward Gardner conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the Edvard Greig Chor, the Bergen Cathedral Choir and Choir of Collegiûm Mûsicûm on this disc, which also includes Janáček's Adagio for orchestra, Hail Mary and Lord's Prayer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Trinity College Choir follows up its superb 2012 Howells Requiem album with a recording exploring the music he wrote for King's College, Cambridge. Stephen Layton conducts; the disc is out now on the Hyperion label. Hear clips from the recording and find out what the BBC Music Magazine team made of the performances in this episode of First Listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Handel's famous Water Music is given a vibrant, fresh performance by the Akademie für Alte Musik on a new Harmonia Mundi recording. It's our April Recording of the Month. In this podcast hear clips from the recording as well as discussion about the music with editor Oliver Condy and reviews editor Rebecca Franks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad...

On the cover CD of the April issue of BBC Music Magazine, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yehudi Menuhin by featuring the great violinist in performances of Bartók's Second Violin Concerto, plus sonatas by Brahms and Tcherepnin. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works on the disc, complete with extracts. Hosted on Aca...

As a follow-up to her Seven Sisters album featuring British female composers, pianist Diana Ambache turns to chamber music by their French counterparts. In this episode of 'First Listen', the BBC Music Magazine team discusses Liberté, egalité, sororité, featuring music by Louise Farrenc, Lili Boulanger, Claude Arrieu, Germaine Tailleferre, Mel Bonis and Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Hosted on Acast. See...

On the cover CD of the March issue of BBC Music Magazine, pianist Anne Queffélec plays solo works by Satie, Honegger, Hahn, Poulenc and Mompou, and is joined by fellow pianist Frank Braley and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Grant Llewellyn for Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos. In this podcast, deputy editor Jeremy Pound and editorial assistant Elinor Cooper introduce the works on the d...