Classical music & opera
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Covid has forced pianist Stephen Hough to play at different times – without a break. And he’s loved it so much, he doesn’t want to ever go back -
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Cambridge will be heard only on the BBC this Christmas Eve
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Despite lockdown and tier restrictions, there’s still plenty of new music-making across the UK available to an online audience. Here’s our pick of next week’s live-streamed and pre-recorded concerts -
Over the past few months, our Know the Score series introduced 20 great composers. But what of the many we couldn’t write about? Martin Kettle suggests some other names whose music is well worth exploring -
Composers, LSO musicians and dancers create two short films celebrating the empty Square Mile and its creative energies
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New releases from the Emersons, the Arod Quartet and Quartetto di Cremona -
4 out of 5 stars.
Koechlin: Les Chants de Nectaire, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Series review – perfectly formed flute miniatures
4 out of 5 stars.The French composer loved the flute and these short works are exquisite, be they playful, languorous or nostalgic -
New releases from pianists David Greilsammer and Khatia Buniatishvili; an exceptional Mozart ‘Gran Partita’; and his Requiem from the Coliseum -
4 out of 5 stars.
A Bag of Bagatelles: Piano Works by Birtwistle and Beethoven review – authority and clarity
4 out of 5 stars.Hodges’s cool virtuosity emphasises the links between two composers of muscular intricacy and resonance
People
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The composer tells Michael Segalov about restful days cooking, walking the dogs and playing Bach on the piano -
Bream helped cement the guitar in the classical tradition with composers including Britten and Arnold writing for him -
Mixing Britten’s folksongs with poetry and soundscapes, soprano Marci Meth took inspiration from the composer himself to create an album inspired by and embedded in the countryside that he loved -
The pianist and conductor has been busy in lockdown, practising the piano and arranging a festival of new music. But his fears for the future of music pre-date the pandemic
You may have missed
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Perhaps we have all taken privilege of music for granted, writes the conductor. Only by taking it away do we realise how essential it is. -
London church jettisons ensembles to focus on in-house provision at a time when freelance performers ‘on their knees’ -
His antisemitism made him a far-right icon. So what attracted reds and radicals from Lenin to George Bernard-Shaw to the tumultuous sounds of Hitler’s favourite composer? -
He helped galvanise the US civil rights movement, and today sparks intense debate about cultural dominance and the musical canon. In his 250th anniversary year can we listen to Beethoven and what he represents with fresh ears?
Guides
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Tom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene -
Over the past few months, our Know the Score series introduced 20 great composers. But what of the many we couldn’t write about? Martin Kettle suggests some other names whose music is well worth exploring
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Our series ends in Berlin, the classical music lover’s dream destination, with Berg, Busoni, Bowie and Bernstein. -
Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
Most viewed
Album of the week Regards sur l'Infini – glowing, intriguing French chamber music
4 out of 5 stars.