Gramophone Magazine

Gramophone enriches your classical music experience and connects you with great recordings. Packed with features across all classical music genres, our globally acclaimed writers will inform and entertain you with independent and intelligent editorial and more than 150 reviews in every issue. Our reputation is founded on our acclaimed critical analyses of the latest CD releases, in-depth features and interviews with classical stars, and our comprehensive coverage of recorded and live music. Please Note: This price excludes VAT which will be added when you checkout.

Happy 80th birthday to a truly great pianist • Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Gramophone Magazine

GRAMOPHONE Editor’s choice • Martin Cullingford’s pick of the finest recordings from this month’s reviews

FOR THE RECORD • Remembering the incomparable Christa Ludwig

ONE TO WATCH

GRAMOPHONE Online • The magazine is just the beginning. Visit gramophone.co.uk for …

ORCHESTRA Insight … • Orchestre Métropolitain Our monthly series telling the story behind an orchestra

ARTISTS & their INSTRUMENTS • John Challenger on Salisbury Cathedral’s Father Willis organ

GRAMOPHONE GUIDE TO … Piano Trio • Richard Bratby on a medium that allows for orchestral vision in miniature form

FROM WHERE I SIT • The days of making cuts in symphonic repertoire are thankfully over says Edward Seckerson

FREE SPIRIT • At 80, Martha Argerich’s fire still burns brightly and her playing is as fresh and inventive as ever. Tim Parry speaks to some of her friends and colleagues to get a sense of what makes her so unique

SOME KEY EVENTS ACROSS EIGHT DECADES: MARTHA ARGERICH’S LIFE IN MUSIC

MARTHA ARGERICH ON RECORD • Four albums highlighting her temperament and personality

BRAHMS, BANDS, & all that jazz • Julian Bliss, the brilliant British clarinet virtuoso, tells Martin Cullingford about his three new, and refreshingly diverse, recording projects – all a natural extension of who he is as an artist

In with the new • Miloš and composers Joby Talbot and Howard Shore tell James Jolly the story behind the guitarist’s Decca concerto album – which looks forward, not back

GRAMOPHONE Festival GUIDE 2021 • Welcome to our annual guide for the UK , Europe, the US and beyond! Music-making may look a little different this year but there’s still much to enjoy, online and in person, as festivals take stock , rebuild and look to the future

GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH • Harriet Smith enjoys a triumphant celebration of a great Mozart year with first-rate performances from Leif Ove Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Orchestral

Handel’s Rodelinda • Poring over its autograph score, conductor Harry Bicket enthuses about the opera to David Vickers

Chamber

HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN PIANO TRIO • Marina Frolova-Walker explores the first three volumes of a new five-disc survey of the piano trio in Russia

DEFINING MOMENTS

Sergio Fiorentino • Despite a phenomenal technique and a vast repertoire, this fascinating Italian pianist was often underrated and overworked. The pianist Paul Wee gives him the attention he deserves

Instrumental

KAIROS’S ‘SOLO’ SERIES • Liam Cagney listens to solo works by five contemporary composers who embrace the challenge of writing for a solitary instrument

Joan Tower • It’s high time that this figure, long celebrated in the US, received better recognition on British shores, says Richard Whitehouse

TOWER FACTS

Vocal

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20 in Dminor, K466 (1785) • Do you have a...