The drama of Carlo Gesualdo
The vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six on the Renaissance composer’s arresting and daring works.
ByClassical music
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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Natalia Ponomarchuk: “War has its sounds. I recognise them wherever they appear”
The Ukrainian conductor on fleeing Kyiv, Mendelssohn and why “war shows the true faces of people”.
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Sibelius’s symphony without sequel
The composer lived for 33 years after his Symphony No 7 premiered a century ago. But he could never follow…
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John Tavener’s sacred music for a secular world
The English composer’s accidental masterpiece The Protecting Veil communicates a deep human longing for the eternal.
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Opera singer David Butt Philip on how Brexit is impacting British musicians
Could the world-beating tenor be one of the UK’s last great singers to build a career in Europe?
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The Rhapsody in Blue revolution
First performed 100 years ago, George Gershwin’s great experiment defined the jazz age and took popular music in a new…
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Revolution in the Wirral
Also this week: world-class music in schools, and making space for culture.
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Music in a time of war
The Ukrainian pianist Sasha Grynyuk and the Russian violinist Yuri Zhislin on playing together during the conflict.
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Ezra Pound’s experiments in sound
The poet’s music revealed his impulse to innovate and disrupt. Did it also hasten his slide towards fascism?
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A guide to Berlin’s orchestral etiquette
Also: My brush with bicycle “fascism” and a sobering threat to fiction writing.
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The women classical music forgot
Leah Broad’s Quartet restores the pioneering work and colourful lives of Britain’s finest female composers.
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Rachmaninoff’s enduring melodies
In his lifetime, his music was an escape from modernity – 150 years after his birth, the Russian composer bridges…
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From Roald Dahl to Ian Fleming, censorship is good for the book trade
Releasing bowdlerised books into a predictable storm of ridicule and then making the “classic texts” available is clever business.
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How Scott Ross broke the rules of classical music
The harpsichord “cowboy”, who died from Aids in 1989, left behind a heroic body of work.
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Bach’s accidental masterpiece
The keyboard works of The Well-Tempered Clavier sound more novel and luminous 300 years later than in their composer’s day.
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How The Shipping Forecast became the nation’s favourite lullaby
In the BBC podcast The Sleeping Forecast, the distinctive maritime weather report is read over classical music – with soporific…
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