The earworms of Erik Satie
The dapper composer who invented background music was driven by a profound if offbeat religiosity.
ByClassical music
The fascist afterlife of The Four Seasons
Vivaldi’s masterwork, forgotten after his death, found new popularity when it was co-opted by Italian nationalists.
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The top ten piano trios
Dominic Degavino of the Mithras Trio on the greatest examples of the form.
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The sound of Auschwitz
A new documentary marking the 80th Holocaust Memorial Day tells the extraordinary story of the camp’s 15 orchestras.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams’ bitter symphony
The composer’s exhilarating Sinfonia antartica was met with a mixed response on premiere – and still sits oddly in his…
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The indulgent sadness of Angelina Jolie’s Maria
The opera singer Maria Callas is Pablo Larraín’s latest glamorous, unhappy, unknowable muse – or is it Jolie herself?
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New year, same me
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there's no point in making aspirational resolutions.
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Berlioz’s Christmas hit
The composer was not religious but saw his L’enfance du Christ as a deeply human story – and audiences deemed…
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Mendelssohn’s pinnacle of music-making
The beauty of the composer’s piano trios is renewed in the hands of three virtuosos.
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Longing for Labour, once again
Also this week: meditations on love and loss, and the bliss of the Berlin Philarmonic.
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The Tallis Scholars at Saffron Hall: sublime and moving
“Mysteries and Miracles” explores several centuries of sacred music.
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The friendship that made Shostakovich
The Gates of Kyiv explores the friendship between the composer and the pianist Maria Yudina – and the horrors of…
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Gustav Holst beyond The Planets
The composer, born 150 years ago this month, should be better known for his many other great works.
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Florence + the Machine at the Proms: a thrilling two hours of pure emotion
This imaginative orchestral reworking of her debut album Lungs was part film score, part pop song, and totally euphoric.
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Listening to Debussy at thrash metal volume
One shouldn’t use a fork to scoop ear wax out, but I was getting frantic.
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Beethoven and the Romantic spirit
The composer’s Third Cello Sonata, an underrated masterwork, cuts up the musical form and reassembles it anew.
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Discovering the real Modest Mussorgsky
Sweetened arrangements of his works ensured the Russian composer’s afterlife – but left him hiding in plain sight.
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The drama of Carlo Gesualdo
The vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six on the Renaissance composer’s arresting and daring works.
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How apartheid shaped classical music
Four composers reveal the musical legacies of the regime – in South Africa and beyond.
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Schumann and the arrival of spring
How the composer moved from riotously original piano music to the light-footed symphony that made his name.
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