BBC Music Magazine

BBC Music Magazine is a must for anyone with a passion for classical music. Classical music connoisseurs and new enthusiast alike will enjoy the fascinating features and reviews of over 120 new works in every issue.

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Welcome

BBC Music Magazine

Have your say…

LETTER of the MONTH

NEW RELEASES ON WARNER CLASSICS AND ERATO

BBC National Orchestra of Wales names its new man • American Ryan Bancroft to begin as principal conductor in Cardiff next September

The wheels on the bass go round and round…

THE MONTH IN NUMBERS

Rising Stars • Three to look out for…

Sound Bites

JS Bach is put in prison by his disgruntled employer

Also in November 1717

Minster thief pipes up after 50 years of silence

DÉJÀ VU • History just keeps on repeating itself…

Erkki-Sven Tüür

Studio Secrets • We reveal who’s recording what and where...

REWIND • Great artists talk about their past recordings

Buried Treasure • Pianist Ivana Gavric introduces three rarities from her own record collection

The keys to success • Despite living in an age of equal temperament, where major and minor keys have a similar function, key signatures do still matter, insists Tom Service

FAREWELL TO…

Music to my ears • What the classical world has been listening to this month

CRITIC’S CHOICE

The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Richard Morrison • Should ENO really be training up critics to review its own shows?

A life with Beethoven • Recording all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas was the natural next step for Igor Levit, whose career has been shaped and moulded by the composer. Rebecca Franks meets a pianist who refuses to do anything by halves

Sonatas on stage • Live performances in 2020

Sonatas on disc • Five more cycles to explore

Gabriela Montero • James Naughtie heads to Barcelona to meet Gabriela Montero, and discovers how the Venezuelan pianist’s musical life and political activism go hand in hand

From piano to page • Gabriela Montero the composer

Living for kicks • Shostakovich’s love of football gave the Soviet composer an escape from day-to-day life and, says Erik Levi, it even had an impact on his music

Bach of the net! • Five further football fans

Horn of plenty • Andrew Green traces the meteoric rise and tragic end of French horn virtuoso Dennis Brain, who inspired a generation of musicians and music fans alike

Family affair • A French horn history

Spirit of the Glen • Malcolm Hayes marks St Andrew’s Day with a musical tour of the Scottish landscape, from moor to mountain, island to highland and loch to sea

A Scottish mystery • Mendelssohn’s travels

The Oberammergau Passion Play • Seize the rare opportunity to see this extraordinary event in beautiful Bavaria

Lecturer Tom Abbott

Details and practicalities

YOUR ITINERARY

Augsburg Germany • Freya Parr visits the Bavarian city to celebrate its most famous resident, Leopold Mozart, whose 300th anniversary falls this year

Writing for stage

Francis Poulenc • The French composer’s characterful style won him a wide audience far beyond Paris’s Périphérique, writes Caroline Rae

Poulenc’s style

POULENC Life&Times

Stabat Mater Giovanni Battista Pergolesi • Kate Bolton-Porciatti’s attention as she names the finest recordings

The composer

An intimate and affecting recording

Three other great recordings

Continue the journey… • Further works to enjoy after listening to Pergolesi’s Stabat...