Discovering the real Modest Mussorgsky
Sweetened arrangements of his works ensured the Russian composer’s afterlife – but left him hiding in plain sight.
ByClassical music
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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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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