Record Review Podcast: Recent Episodes
BBC Radio 3
Building a Library: a guide to the best recordings of the greatest classical music. Experts review a wide range of recordings of a well-known piece, ending with a recommendation.
Dr Katy Hamilton picks her top recording of Mendelssohn's 3rd Symphony, the 'Scottish'.
Jonathan Cross makes a recommendation from recordings of Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat.
Joseph McHardy surveys recordings of JS Bach's Cello Suites and makes a recommendation.
Alice Farnham surveys recordings of Mahler's Symphony no.5 and makes a top recommendation
Jeremy Sams picks his favourite recording of Schubert's String Quartet in G major D.887.
Charlotte Gardner's personal recommendation from recordings of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons
Conductor Ben Gernon picks his favourite recordings of Respighi's La Boutique Fantasque.
Nigel Simeone surveys recordings of Janacek's Sinfonietta and makes a top recommendation.
Marina Frolova-Walker recommends her favourite recording of Weber's opera Der Freischutz.
Pianist Kathryn Stott picks her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2.
Tasmin Little makes a top recommendation of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K.364
Jonathan Cross picks his top recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.1 'Winter Daydreams'
Jeremy Sams' personal recommendation from recordings of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande.
Katy Hamilton's personal recommendation of Beethoven's String Quartet no.15 in A minor.
Yshani Perinpanayagam picks her favourite recording of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major.
Laura Tunbridge joins Andrew to discuss lieder by Clara Schumann in Building a Library.
Kenneth Hamilton chooses his favourite version of Mozart's Piano Sonata no.15 K.533/494
Marina Frolova-Walker's recommendation for Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture.
Jeremy Summerly chooses his favourite version of Britten's seasonal Ceremony of Carols.
Gillian Moore chooses her favourite version of Wagner's orchestral piece, Siegfried Idyll.
Simon Heighes' recommendation of Bach's Concerto for flute, violin & harpsichord BWV.1044
Nicholas Kenyon selects his favourite version of Mozart's Symphony no.40 in G minor K.550.
Schumann's Piano Trio no.1 in D minor Op.63 in Building a Library with Allyson Devenish.
Tasmin Little selects her favourite version of Franz Schubert's Octet in F Major D.803.
Lucy Parham selects her favourite piano version of JS Bach's 6 English Suites BWV.806-811
Jeremy Sams chooses his favourite recording of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.
Elin Manahan Thomas's recommendation for the ultimate recording of Britten's War Requiem.
Simon Heighes chooses his favourite recording of Haydn's Symphony No 100 in G Major ‘Military’
Ben Gernon chooses his favourite recording of the complete ballet of Ravel's Mother Goose
Pianist Allyson Devenish picks the ultimate version of Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise.
Sarah Lenton chooses her favourite version of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty.
Tom Service chooses his favourite recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Flora Willson chooses her favourite recording of the piano version of Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin
Jonathan Cross with a personal recommendation for Stravinsky's second ballet Petrushka,
Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Schubert Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D. 485.When he wrote his fifth symphony at the age of 19, Schubert was working unhappily as an assistant teacher in his father's school. But he was nevertheless on a compositional roll with songs, chamber music and four other symphonies to his name, all of which were performed by amateur and professional musicians made up from family and friends.This genial, small-scale group gave the 1816 premiere of the symphony in the home of Otto Hatwig, violinist in Vienna's Burgtheater orchestra. And the jolly music seems to echo that cheerful ensemble, Schubert picking up from the classical models of 25 years earlier, seemingly oblivious to Beethoven's decade-plus of ground-breaking musical developments that were soon to become so influential.
Erik Levi chooses his favourite recording of Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No 1 'Kreutzer Sonata'Composed in only nine days in 1923, Janáček's compact, emotionally supercharged String Quartet No 1 takes its title from Leo Tolstoy’s 1889 novella where a wife and her violinist lover play Beethoven’s 'Kreutzer' Sonata together before the jealous husband murders his adulterous wife. Janáček's music roils with the conflicted passions of tormented love, desire and jealously of Tolstoy's story. But there was emotional turmoil in Janáček's life, too. Long-fed up with his wife, in 1915 Janáček had fallen deeply in love with Kamila Stösslová who, happily married and 40 years his junior, made sure that Janáček's love remained unrequited. And if that was unfortunate for Janáček, it was surely lucky for us as he poured his feelings for Stösslová into music which blazes with a truly exceptional emotional intensity.
Kate Kennedy chooses her favourite recording of Britten's Peter GrimesThe opera Peter Grimes is set in a fictional small town that bears some resemblance to Britten's home of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on England's east coast. It is a drama about outsiders and oppression. As Britten himself said, it was "a subject very close to my heart – the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual". The score is full of great orchestral descriptions of the Suffolk coast and highly dramatic confrontations.
Hannah French has been listening to recordings - old and new - of Handel's Water Music, whittling them down until she can herald the ultimate version to buy, download or stream.
Marina Frolova-Walker chooses her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.
Hannah French has been listening to recordings - old and new - of Handel's Water Music, whittling them down until she can herald the ultimate version to buy, download or stream.
Building a Library: Kenneth Hamilton chooses his favourite recording of Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor.Frédéric Chopin composed this glorious concerto in 1829 when he was 20 and before he had finished his formal education. It was first performed in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist. It was actually the first of his two piano concertos to be written. Like all Chopin's works, it is full of haunting melodies and thrilling piano writing. The nocturnal middle movement in particular is a golden moment, inspired by Chopin's romantic idolization of Konstancja Gładkowska.
David Owen Norris chooses his favourite recording of William Walton's Viola Concerto.It was conductor Sir Thomas Beecham's suggestion that Walton should write a viola concerto for the virtuoso Lionel Tertis. But things did not go according to plan when Tertis sent back the music by return of post saying it was 'too modern'. So the 1929 premiere was given by Paul Hindemith (who had been sent the concerto by the BBC's Edward Clark) at the Queen's Hall, just around the corner from Broadcasting House. It was a success and Tertis, in the audience, relented. But although he subsequently played the concerto, Tertis continued to disparage it and was heard to say that Walton had 'murdered' the viola.Despite its inauspicious beginning, Walton's Viola Concerto has long been recognised as one of his most important early works and is well established a cornerstone of an albeit limited repertoire. Perhaps the root of its appeal is to be found in its dedication 'to Christabel', the lyrical melancholy and poetic longing at the concerto's heart reflecting Walton's unrequited passion for Christabel, Lady Aberconway.
Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony with Gillian MooreOlivier Messiaen's only symphony was written for an orchestra of enormous forces. The title comes from two Sanskrit words. "Lîla" means play in the sense of the divine action upon the cosmos. It also means love. "Turanga" is the time that runs, like a galloping horse and that flows, like sand in an hourglass; it's both movement and rhythm. The meaning of "Turangalîla" was best summed up by Messian himself as "a love song; a hymn to joy." He described the joy of Turangalîla as "superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited".
Mozart's 'Dissonance' Quartet is the last of a set of six famously dedicated by Mozart to his 'very dear friend' Joseph Haydn. Soon after he arrived in Vienna in 1781, Mozart came to know Haydn's recently published Op. 33 set of innovatory string quartets which, said Haydn, had been composed in ‘a new and special way'. It was no idle boast. Not only more concentrated and sophisticated than any previous string quartet, the Op. 33s also employed all four instruments in a more equal, conversational style than ever before.For Mozart, responding to the Op. 33s with his own set of quartets became a longer and more arduous compositional challenge than any other he ever undertook. The 'Dissonance' got its nickname in the 19th-century, well after Mozart's death, on account of its mysterious slow introduction, with its complex and unsettling harmonies. It caps the set of six which impressed its dedicatee so much that, shortly after the 1785 premiere, Haydn declared to Leopold Mozart that 'Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.'
Beethoven's 23rd piano sonata is stormy and intense, so earned the nickname "Appassionata" or "Passionate". Pianist Iain Burnside has been listening to a wide range of recordings, old and new, to pick the ultimate version to buy, download or stream.
Purcell's magnum opus was written as a series of masques to be performed at the end of the acts of a special version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Arguably the greatest British composer before the 20th century, Purcell left us a tantalizing array of music for use in theatrical productions, which shows what an unsurpassed gift he had for matchings words and mood with music. Apart from the small-scale masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas, none of these pieces quite hangs together as a satisfying work of music theatre. The Fairy Queen is the closest we have to that. Written in a hybrid form of spoken drama and masque, it is notoriously difficult to bring off on the stage. But it is ideal for home listening. Nicholas Kenyon sifts through a strong field of some of the greatest names in baroque performance.
Yshani Perinpanayagam chooses her favourite recording of Debussy's Images for Orchestra.Composed between 1906 and 1912, Images is Debussy’s final concert work for orchestra. Over its three sections it abundantly displays his customary sophistication and flair for orchestral sonorities and for painting pictures in sound. The first and last parts of the triptych are folk-inflected: the enigmatic Gigues quotes 'The Keel Row' from Northumberland and two French folk tunes feature in Rondes de printemps. The middle (and most often performed) section, Ibéria, is itself a triptych. Even though Debussy famously spent no more than an afternoon in Spain, Ibéria's three movements conjure up the sights, sounds and smells of Spain so evocatively that even his Spanish contemporaries were impressed.
Emily MacGregor chooses her favourite recording of Shostakovich's String Quartet No 8 in C minor. Written at white heat in just three days, Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet is also his most personal - indeed, it opens with a form of the composer's own initials. Emily has been listening to recordings from throughout the quartet's life - from its first performers to young ensembles of the present day.
Ben Gernon chooses his favourite recording of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No 2.This concerto is full of glorious melodies and deserves a place in everyone's collection. Prokofiev was on a concert tour when he wrote the piece and later wrote, "the number of places in which I wrote the Concerto shows the kind of nomadic concert tour life I led then. The main theme of the 1st movement was written in Paris, the first theme of the 2nd movement at Voronezh, the orchestration was finished in Baku and the premiere was given in Madrid." The concerto is more conventional than Prokofiev's early experimental works and its romantic heart has made it a perennial favourite.
Edward Seckerson chooses his favourite recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in A minor.More often than not, Mahler's symphonies end positively, whether in triumph, exaltation, joyful exuberance, quiet bliss, or resignation and acceptance. But the Sixth is unique in its tragic, minor-key conclusion and this Symphony as a whole is among his darkest music. Intriguingly, he wrote it during one of the happiest periods of his life, the summers of 1903 and 1904. Mahler was convinced that, in his music, he had the ability to foresee and even predict events and, painful though it might be, as an artist he could not avoid doing so. And in 1907, when he looked back on the Sixth Symphony's finale with its 'three hammer blows of fate' he could point to the death of his daughter Maria, the diagnosis of the severe heart disease which would kill him, and the bitter end of his decade as director of the Vienna Opera. Closer to our own times, some have suggested that, as well as tragic autobiography, Mahler was predicting the tragedies of a whole century.
Lucy Parham chooses her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's 24 piano preludes.Rachmaninov's 24 piano preludes in all the 24 major and minor keys are a glorious treasure trove of different pianistic styles from lyrical to barn-storming. He wrote and published them at different times, and didn't regard them as a unified set. Unlike the keyboard preludes of Bach and Chopin they are not organized according to their keys either. But for a feast of piano playing, they are an essential thing for your library. And some of the titans of the keyboard have recorded their interpretations, including the composer himself how recorded a selection of them.
Tom Service chooses his favourite recording of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D minor.Beethoven's final complete symphony is one of the summits of classical music. The famous final movement features four vocal soloists and a chorus in a setting of the "Ode to Joy" by Friedrich Schiller. Many of the world's greatest conductors and orchestras have tackled this musical Everest including Furtwangler, Toscanini and Karajan alongside conductors of later generations like Mackerras and Harnoncourt and it still inspires new recordings from today's performers.
Jeremy Sams chooses his favourite recording of Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A minor.Ravel was living in the Basque country not far from the town where he was born when completed his Piano Trio in 1914, just after the outbreak of World War I, far away from the front line. But there are no grim premonitions in this music and its lush harmonic sound world, full of Basque dance patterns and playful rhythmic sleights of hand, is characterised by the sort of lavish instrumental textures so typical of this master orchestrator. And based on Classical structures (Ravel joked "I’ve written my trio. Now all I need are the themes."), including a haunting passacaglia as its emotional centre of gravity, the Trio is a deeply satisfying musical journey which needs outstanding musicians to meet its exacting demands.
Natasha Loges chooses her favourite recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 ('Elvira Madigan').Perhaps the only piece of music to be named after a Swedish slack line dancer, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 gained its soubriquet after its remarkable slow movement was used as part of the soundtrack to the 1967 film Elvira Madigan. But circus acts or no, this concerto from 1785 is Mozart at the absolute height of his powers, the foremost pianist-composer of his day, breaking new ground with a series of concertos whose musical depth, virtuosity, inventiveness, woodwind writing and symphonic scale were all unprecedented.There are literally hundreds of recordings of this great work, many made by the giants of 20th- and 21st-century piano-playing on modern pianos. But intriguingly, there is a much smaller, if growing number made by musicians who use instruments of the period, allowing us to hear the extraordinary range of colours and textures conjured up by Mozart and which he himself would have heard.
William Mival chooses his favourite recording of Richard Strauss's symphonic poem Don Juan.
In Strauss's Don Juan, the infamous libertine bursts onto the stage with a dazzling flourish. The following 16 minutes are no less compelling, the irresistible, swaggering Don superbly evoked through sumptuous and virtuosic orchestration, including tender violin and oboe solos and heroic, triumphant horn calls. Strauss, in his mid-20s, could already do it all! It's music that, even after 130 years, still keeps orchestras and conductors on very much on their mettle.
William Mival chooses his favourite recording of Richard Strauss's symphonic poem Don Juan.
In Strauss's Don Juan, the infamous libertine bursts onto the stage with a dazzling flourish. The following 16 minutes are no less compelling, the irresistible, swaggering Don superbly evoked through sumptuous and virtuosic orchestration, including tender violin and oboe solos and heroic, triumphant horn calls. Strauss, in his mid-20s, could already do it all! It's music that, even after 130 years, still keeps orchestras and conductors on very much on their mettle.
William Mival chooses his favourite recording of Richard Strauss's symphonic poem Don Juan.
In Strauss's Don Juan, the infamous libertine bursts onto the stage with a dazzling flourish. The following 16 minutes are no less compelling, the irresistible, swaggering Don superbly evoked through sumptuous and virtuosic orchestration, including tender violin and oboe solos and heroic, triumphant horn calls. Strauss, in his mid-20s, could already do it all! It's music that, even after 130 years, still keeps orchestras and conductors on very much on their mettle.
Katy Hamilton with her pick of recordings of the last and greatest of Edvard Grieg's three violin sonatas, written when the composer was living in Troldhaugen in 1886-7.
Richard Wigmore chooses his favourite recording of Joseph Haydn's Harmoniemesse in B flat.
In 1802, when Haydn completed the Harmoniemesse (having, as he put it, "toiled wearily and laboriously"), the 70-year-old was acknowledged as Europe's greatest living composer. The mass setting, Haydn's last major completed work, never gained the same popularity as his two late oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. But it has long been recognised as one of Haydn's supreme achievements into which, despite old age and failing health, he poured a lifetime of experience to create music both fresh and inspiring. The orchestra is the largest Haydn used for any of his six masses and its name comes from its large section of wind ('harmonie') instruments.
The pianist Joanna MacGregor's pick of the ultimate recording of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto in B flat minor, Op. 23
Tchaikovsky's famous piano concerto is one of the most popular concertos in the repertoire - full of swaggering great tunes and still, soulful melodies. And many of the piano titans of the past and present have recorded it. Joanna will cut a swathe through the available recordings and come up with a suggestion for your library. And there should be plenty of fireworks along the way.
Elin Manahan-Thomas's chooses her favourite recording of Schumann's song-cycle Myrthen.
The 26 songs that Schumann published under the title Myrthen (Myrtles) were all composed in 1840, the year in which great songs flowed out of him in a great flood of inspiration. He gave a beautifully bound edition of the Myrthen songs to his bride Clara on the eve of their wedding that year. This cycle contains some of Schumann's most popular songs such as Der Nussbaum and Die Lotosblume. And some of the greatest Lieder singers from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to Christian Gerhaher have recorded their interpretations of many of these great songs.
Simon Heighes with his pick of recordings of Mozart's sparkling and tuneful Symphony no.31 in D, nicknamed the "Paris" Symphony.
Continuing Radio 3's Vaughan Williams Today season, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, Kate Kennedy chooses her favourite recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.
In Vaughan Williams' modal and folk music-inflected The Lark Ascending a solo violin takes flight above the orchestra evoking for many the very essence of an idealised English countryside. But this popular work, written on the eve of the First World War, has perhaps inevitably become freighted with nostalgia for both a lost generation and a rural way of life which was soon to vanish forever.
Bach's St Matthew Passion is one of the most profound and popular choral works with many diverse interpretations of record to choose from, and Joseph McHardy joins Andrew McGregor to recommend his favourite.
Roger Parker recommends a recording of Brahms Double Concerto in A minor.
The Double Concerto was Brahms' last orchestral work, composed in 1887. It was written partly as a gesture of reconciliation towards his friend the violinist, Joachim. The old friends had fallen out over Joachim's divorce. The concerto has been praised for its "vast and sweeping humour". It needs two brilliant and well matched soloists.
Roger Parker recommends a recording of Brahms Double Concerto in A minor.
The Double Concerto was Brahms' last orchestral work, composed in 1887. It was written partly as a gesture of reconciliation towards his friend the violinist, Joachim. The old friends had fallen out over Joachim's divorce. The concerto has been praised for its "vast and sweeping humour". It needs two brilliant and well matched soloists.
Nigel Simeone with his pick of recordings of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.
Strauss's sparkling operetta premiered in 1874 and has been delighting audiences and listeners ever since. It has been fortunate on record, and Nigel discusses with Andrew a huge range of performances and styles.
Nigel Simeone with his pick of recordings of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.
Strauss's sparkling operetta premiered in 1874 and has been delighting audiences and listeners ever since. It has been fortunate on record, and Nigel discusses with Andrew a huge range of performances and styles.
Nigel Simeone with his pick of recordings of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.
Strauss's sparkling operetta premiered in 1874 and has been delighting audiences and listeners ever since. It has been fortunate on record, and Nigel discusses with Andrew a huge range of performances and styles.
Allyson Devenish chooses her favourite recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No 1 in B flat, D.898
Schubert began composing this masterpiece in 1827, the year before his death, at the same time as working on his famous song cycle Die Winterreise. It was a period in his life of illness and melancholy. But this work is brimming with lyricism and life force. Robert Schumann said of it: “One glance at Schubert's Trio in Bb and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.” The work has attracted all the great performers of chamber music, from Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals to the Beaux Arts Trio to the best musicians of today.
Allyson Devenish chooses her favourite recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No 1 in B flat, D.898
Schubert began composing this masterpiece in 1827, the year before his death, at the same time as working on his famous song cycle Die Winterreise. It was a period in his life of illness and melancholy. But this work is brimming with lyricism and life force. Robert Schumann said of it: “One glance at Schubert's Trio in Bb and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.” The work has attracted all the great performers of chamber music, from Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals to the Beaux Arts Trio to the best musicians of today.
Allyson Devenish chooses her favourite recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No 1 in B flat, D.898
Schubert began composing this masterpiece in 1827, the year before his death, at the same time as working on his famous song cycle Die Winterreise. It was a period in his life of illness and melancholy. But this work is brimming with lyricism and life force. Robert Schumann said of it: “One glance at Schubert's Trio in Bb and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.” The work has attracted all the great performers of chamber music, from Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals to the Beaux Arts Trio to the best musicians of today.
Tom Service chooses his favourite recording of William Walton's Symphony No 1 in B flat minor.
In 1932, with the spectacular success of Belshazzar's Feast behind him, Walton began his Symphony No 1. But, always a slow worker, the symphony took him two painful years to complete – painful because what lay behind most of the Symphony was the emotional upheaval that came with the end of a relationship. The result was the greatest English symphony of its time, its darkly menacing first movement bursting with seemingly elemental power, is followed by a bitter scherzo marked Presto 'con malizia' ('with malice'), a melancholic slow movement and a joyful major key finale.
Elin Manahan Thomas compares recordings of Beethoven's Missa solemnis and chooses her favourite.
Beethoven's setting of the Solemn Mass is one of the monuments of choral music. Written between 1819 and 1823, it is widely thought of as one of Beethoven's towering achievements. It was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, one of Beethoven's most generous patrons as well as pupil and friend. The copy given to Rudolf was inscribed with the phrase: "From the heart – may it return to the heart!"
Edward Seckerson compares recordings of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony in E minor and chooses his favourite. Today, Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony is one of the composer's most popular works. Rachmaninov composed it in Dresden, during a period of retirement from concert activities, and conducted its premiere in Saint Petersburg in January 1908, to great critical acclaim. In his 2nd symphony, Rachmaninov introduces a single motto at the beginning that appears and evolves in each of the four movements, a compositional idea that can also be seen in Tchaikovsky, who was a great early influence on him. The symphony is a large-scale work lasting an hour that begins with dark, brooding melodic lines and ends in a triumphant scherzo finale.
Roger Parker chooses his favourite recordings of Haydn's operas.
Joseph Haydn is possibly one of the greatest composers who wrote operas which are hardly known. He wrote 17 of them, and opera occupied a great deal of his composing life. During the 1770s and 1780s, Haydn ran an opera company for his employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. They put on up to 150 performances per year. Haydn's operas are not often performed today, but they contain some great music, which Roger explores.
Flora Willson chooses her favourite recording of Debussy's La mer.
Debussy composed La mer between 1903 and 1905. It is a brilliant and exciting orchestral showpiece that conjures up the many moods of the sea. Debussy corrected proofs of the score while on holiday at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne on the English Channel coast. He described Eastbourne to his publisher, Durand, as "a charming peaceful spot: the sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness".
Anna Lapwood compares recordings of Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes and picks a favourite.
When Peter Grimes premiered in 1945 it immediately put Britten, uniquely among his compatriots, in the first rank of the world's opera composers. As well as the consummate solo vocal and choral writing, the orchestra, too, plays a vital role in Britten's dark drama of alienation and hypocrisy in a small Suffolk fishing community. Several purely orchestral episodes sometimes punctuate, sometimes push forward the narrative and four of these were published separately as the Sea Interludes. Much performed and recorded, Britten's dazzling orchestration vividly conjures up Dawn, Sunday Morning, Moonlight and a Storm.
Jonathan Cross compares recordings of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony in 3 Movements and picks a favourite.
The first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements began life as a piano concerto. And in a failed bid to join the ranks of well-paid movie composers in Hollywood where Stravinsky now lived, the second movement, with its prominent harp part, was originally conceived to accompany a vision of the Virgin Mary in the 1943 film Song of Bernadette. Stravinsky's genius was to add a third movement, related to the first, and so create a cohesive, satisfying and brilliant whole despite the disparate origins of its first two parts. He completed the Symphony in 1945 and, despite a deeply felt sense of exile, loss and nostalgia, it's perhaps some of the most American-sounding of Stravinsky's music, capped by a resplendent final chord, straight out of Hollywood.
Nigel Simeone joins Hannah to discuss a wide variety of recorded performances of Janacek's opera Jenufa.
Completed in 1902 Jenufa was Janacek's first great masterpiece. It is a tragic tale of small-minded village attitudes, infanticide and redemption. But as with all Janacek, the music is totally life-enhancing without being in the least sentimental. At the heart of the story is the strong but complicated relationship between Jenufa and her mother: they share some of the most heart-breaking music in the opera.
Mark Lowther joins Andrew to discuss a huge range of recorded performances of the Fourth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was born 150 years ago this autumn. First performed in 1935, its austerity and directness seem to presage the looming horror of World War II.
Laura Tunbridge recommends her favourite recording of Beethoven's String Quartet in F, Op 18 No 1.
In Vienna at the end of the 18th century, Beethoven was in his late 20s, the supreme keyboard composer-improviser of his day. With dogged determination and a degree of circumspection he began picking off various genres over which the shadows of the late Mozart and the very much alive Haydn loomed large. With piano sonatas, piano trios and string trios under his belt, it took two laborious years to complete the Op 18 set of six string quartets. The first of the set was intended to make a big impression. Its imposing scale and wide expressive range are typical of the young Beethoven, including a restless dynamic energy and a tragic slow movement inspired, he said, by the tomb scene of Romeo and Juliet.
Allyson Devenish compares recordings of Chopin's Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor and chooses her favourite.
Chopin's final piano sonata was composed in 1844 and dedicated to Countess Émilie de Perthuis. It is a work of immense complexity, both technically and musically, and comprises four movements. The sonata opens with heavy chords in B minor, but journeys through a Scherzo and dream-like Nocturne, before ending in a dazzling Finale, which starts in B minor but ends triumphantly in a B major Coda.
Composer, prominent conductor and influential composition teacher, Zemlinsky was at the centre of turn-of the century Viennese musical life. Among his distinguished pupils were Arnold Schoenberg (who also happened to be his brother-in-law), Berg, Webern and Korngold. He also taught and was romantically involved with Alma Schindler until she decided to marry a certain Gustav Mahler. And it's Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which provided the model for Zemlinsky's best-known work, his1923 Lyric Symphony. Mahler had chosen Chinese poetry for his song-symphony and Zemlinsky, too, looked east, setting poems by the then fashionable 1913 Nobel Prize-winning Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. The seven texts, an exploration of love, are sung alternately by baritone and soprano, accompanied in lush late-Romantic style by a large orchestra.
Messiah is Handel's best-known work and one of the most frequently performed choral works in western music. It was composed in 1741 with a text compiled from the King James Bible. It is full of show stoppers such as "For unto us a child is born", "The trumpet shall sound" and the ever-rousing "Hallelujah" chorus.
Gillian Moore compares recordings of Mahler's Ninth Symphony and chooses her favourite.
Mahler's final completed symphony is a monumental achievement ranging in emotion from wild passion to deep despair and finally resignation. He wrote it in 1908 and 1909 but did not live to see it performed. Leonard Bernstein said of the last movement: "It is terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate. In ceasing, we lose it all. But in letting go, we have gained everything."
Inspired by the tumult of the impending French Revolution, Mozart's intricate and sublime opera Le nozze di Figaro proved explosive yet rapidly became one of the true masterpieces of the genre. Nicholas Kenyon discusses a wide range of interpretations with Andrew, before settling for what he believes to be the ultimate recording to buy, download or stream.
Perhaps the deepest-felt of Beethoven's piano concertos, the G major poses both interpretative and technical challenges of the highest order. Joanna MacGregor has been listening to a wide range of different interpretations and discusses with Andrew her ultimate recommendation to buy, download or stream.
Dedicated to 'dem lieben Gott' (the beloved God), Bruckner's monumental Ninth Symphony in D minor was intended to be the culmination of his life's work. Bruckner began working on the Ninth Symphony in the summer of 1887, immediately after finishing his Eighth, but he died in 1896 before finishing the fourth and final movement. Nonetheless, Bruckner's Ninth Symphony is often performed as a mighty, visionary large-scale three-movement work. Shimmering strings and low brass start the opening movement, Feierlich, misterioso, followed by the Scherzo and an achingly expansive Adagio.
Franz Schubert's last chamber piece, the String Quintet in C major (D. 956), is one of the most sublime pieces in the repertoire. It is scored for a standard string quartet plus an extra cello. The work remained unpublished at the time of Schubert's death in November 1828 and after it was belatedly premiered and published in the 1850s, it gradually gained recognition as a masterpiece. Knowing that Schubert died so soon after composing the work, makes many people hear a valedictory quality in the music.
The Serenade's status as a darkly dazzling 20th-century classic is founded on Britten's unerring ear for finding and setting English poetry, coupled with his instinctive sense of instrumental and vocal virtuosity. Its six texts, from Ben Johnson to Tennyson, deal with night and the corruption of innocence, themes which preoccupied Britten throughout his career. Both the solo writing and the interplay between voice and horn are based on the strengths of the two musicians for which it was written, Britten's long-time partner, Peter Pears and the horn player Dennis Brain. They made the first recording in 1944, a year after the premiere, and since then many subsequent recordings, most often featuring British tenors, have followed.
Bach's Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV1043, affectionately known as the 'Double Concerto', is one of the most popular works of the Baroque repertoire. The two solo parts of this concerto have survived in Bach’s own handwriting, in an autograph that dates from around 1730, when Bach was living in Köthen.
The outer movements illustrate the influence of the Italian Baroque style on Bach in their brisk rhythms, fugal imitations and much of the intricate passage work, while the central movement is deeply expressive as the melodic lines weave between the two violins.
Born in Moscow 150 years ago this year, Alexander Scriabin's music for solo piano has been recorded by many of the great pianists over the last century. But where to start if you're not familiar with this late-Romantic, sometimes elusive repertoire? David Owen Norris is on hand to navigate through some key pieces and makes some recommendations.
Building a Library: Jeremy Sams recommends his favourite recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe (complete ballet).
Maurice Ravel described his ballet, Daphnis and Chloe as a choreographic symphony. The story concerns the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé. Ravel began work in 1909 after a commission from Sergei Diaghilev and it was premiered in Paris by his Ballets Russes in 1912. The orchestra was conducted by Pierre Monteux, the choreography was by Michel Fokine, and Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina danced the parts of Daphnis and Chloé. With rich harmonies and lush orchestrations it is one of Ravel's most popular works.
Simon Heighes recommends his favourite recording of Haydn's Symphony No 49 in F minor, 'La Passione'.
This sombre and darkly dramatic Haydn symphony is one of a series of visceral minor key symphonies reflecting Haydn's reaction to the German proto-Romantic literary movement, 'Sturm und Drang' – Storm and Stress – where passionate subjectivity and turbulent self-expression were the order of the day. The symphony was one of the most popular during Haydn's lifetime and its ominous, almost continuous F minor intensity and arresting dynamism still make an impact today.
Pianist Lucy Parham picks through the greatest recordings of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Sonata.
Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, in B-flat minor was composed in 1913 and revised it in 1931. Three years after his third piano concerto was finished, he moved with his family to Rome and started working on his second piano sonata. It is a mighty but technically challenging piece. Rachmaninov himself was not satisfied with the work and revised it in 1931. In 1940, the pianist Vladimir Horowitz created his own edition which combined elements of both previous versions.
Building a Library: Emily MacGregor recommends a her favourite recording of Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra.
For Bartók, the circumstances surrounding the composition of his Concerto for Orchestra could hardly have been more miserable. In 1940 he fled his native Hungary to escape the Nazis and spent the remaining five years of his life in the United States, those years blighted by despair, painful illness and abject poverty. But unknown to Bartók, two fellow Hungarians, violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Fritz Reiner, conspired to persuade Serge Koussevitzky to offer a generous commission. In 1943, the glamorous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra visited Bartók in his New York hospital, and flamboyantly presented the composer, not only with a commission for an orchestral work but also a $500 down payment. Bartók began work in August and finished the Concerto for Orchestra just under three moths later. It spotlights, often with brilliance and playfulness, all the sections of the orchestra and perhaps only its central Elegy, which Bartók called a 'lugubrious death-song', reflects the circumstances of its composition. The work's recorded history begins at the beginning in 1944 with Koussevitzky and the Boston SO and has been much recorded ever since, a 20th-century classic by one of the century's greatest composers.
Katy Hamilton surveys the key works and recordings of American composer Amy Beach and chooses her favourite.
Born in 1867 in New Hampshire, Amy Beach became the first successful American female composer, and her 'Gaelic' Symphony was the first symphony to be composed by an American woman. Despite great success during her lifetime, Amy Beach's music was neglected after her death in 1944, but enjoyed a renaissance in the late 20th century.
Marina Frolova-Walker recommends a version of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony in Building a Library.
Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No 5 in B-flat major in just a month in the summer of 1944 during World War II. He intended it as "a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit." The 1945 premiere was conducted by Prokofiev himself and the symphony has remained one of the composer's most popular works.
Perhaps the first of Mozart's extraordinary sequence of 'late' piano concertos, the D minor, K466, has attracted pianists as varied as Edwin Fischer and Mitsuko Uchida, many directing the orchestra from the keyboard. Tom Service guides us through a selection of the finest of these, with a recommendation for the essential recording to buy, download or stream.
Pianist Iain Burnside with a recommendation of the ultimate recording of the third, and arguably greatest, of Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano.
Edward Seckerson recommends a version of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major was at first dedicated to Lenin. But eventually the composer dedicated it to the besieged city of Leningrad, where it was first played in 1942, during the siege by German and Finnish forces. It soon became popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to fascism and totalitarianism. The work is still regarded as an important musical testament to the 27 million Soviet people who lost their lives in World War II.
Natasha Loges compares recordings of Brahms's String Quintet No 1 in F major, Op 88, and chooses her favourite.
Brahms composed his String Quintet No 1 in F major in 1882 during a summer sojourn in the Austrian Spa town of Bad Ischl. Like the Mozart string quintets, it is written for two violins, two violas and one cello and Brahms intimated to his friend Clara Schumann that it is one of his finest works. To his publisher, Simrock, he said 'that you have never before had such a beautiful work from me'.
The Quintet comprises three movements: a glowing Allegro non troppo ma con brio and an exuberant fugal finale bookend an expansive and passionate slow movement.
Henrich Schütz is one of the most important composers before JS Bach. But with over 500 surviving works and despite his pivotal position as the first German composer to achieve international fame and repute, Schütz is perhaps still not as well known as he should be. Kirsten Gibson surveys recorded collections of the 17th-century composer and recommends the best one for anyone unfamiliar with his music.
Roger Parker talks to Andrew about the wide range of approaches to one of Mozart's masterpieces, the Divertimento in E flat, K563, from classic recordings from the 60s and 70s to young ensembles' recent additions to the catalogue.
Mark Simpson compares recordings of Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie and chooses his favourite. The epic Alpine Symphony is Strauss's vivid evocation of the thrills and spills of a day out in his beloved Bavarian Alps, including dangerous moments and a glacier on the way up to a spectacular view from the summit. On the way down there's a violent thunderstorm and at the end, as the sun sets and night falls, the deep, emotional satisfaction of having completed an arduous and exhausting journey. The 1915 tone poem thrillingly tests an orchestra, at once collectively, its individual sections and its principal players. And it also tests a conductor who has to convincingly marshal a score calling for 130-plus musicians including 34 brass players (with 12 offstage horns) and a percussion section stocked with, among other things, wind machine, thunder machine and cowbells. Spare a thought, too, for the recording engineers... Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Hannah French surveys the key works works and recordings of Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka and chooses her favourite.
Zelenka was born in Central Bohemia in 1679 and, after his musical education in Prague and Vienna, he spent most of his professional life in Dresden. Much admired by Bach for the harmonic inventiveness of his counterpoint, and friends with Telemann, Pisendel and Weiss, Zelenka was considered one of the giants of the Baroque era. Zelenka's music is also inspired by Czech folk music and it was Smetana who is credited with rediscovering the music of his forebear during the 19th century.
David Owen Norris chooses his favourite recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto.
Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor was composed for the violinist Fritz Kreisler, who gave the premiere in London in 1910 - and Elgar made a recording with the young Yehudi Menuhin in 1932 that has become a classic. The score has the inscription "Herein is enshrined the soul of ....." The five dots are one of Elgar's enigmas, and many names have been suggested to fit the inscription. Elgar said of the Violin Concerto, "It's good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it."
Presented by Andrew MacGregor.
There has never been a more prodigiously talented child composer than Felix Mendelssohn and proof of that is his Octet. Written in 1825 when he was 16 years old, it was unprecedented in form: there had been double quartets but nothing like this where all the instruments are combined with unique brilliance and clarity of texture. Above all, though, it's the Octet's sheer lyrical joyousness and exuberant energy that set it apart, the teen Mendelssohn's generosity of spirit thrillingly combined with his compositional genius.
Haydn's Mass in Time of War is sometimes known as his Paukenmesse because of his prominent use of timpani for dramatic effect. It's one of the best known of his fourteen mass settings, and has been lucky on record. Richard Wigmore talks to Andrew about the work and about the very different approaches performers have brought to it, and settles on the ultimate recording to buy, download or stream.
Nigel Simeone chooses his favourite recording of Lehar's The Merry Widow.
The Merry Widow by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár is one of the most popular operettas in the repertoire. It's the story of a fabulously rich widow, and the political shenanigans involved in making sure her fortune stays in the principality by finding her the right husband. Since its 1905 premiere in Vienna, it continues to captivate and charm audiences with its tuneful score, including hits such as the "Vilja Song", "You'll Find Me at Maxim's" and the "Merry Widow Waltz".
Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Simon Heighes compares recordings of Bach's Coffee Cantata and chooses his favourite.
Among Bach's secular cantatas, perhaps the most famous and frequently recorded is Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht – the Coffee Cantata – BWV 211.
Probably composed in 1734 for a performance at Leipzig's Zimmermann Coffee House with the student group collegium musicum, the comic cantata satirises the Saxon obsession with coffee, depicting a family dispute between father and daughter, Schlendrian and Liesgen, at odds about the benefits of the hot drink.
Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals.
The Carnival of the Animals is a glorious romp in fourteen movements by Camille Saint-Saëns. It is for two pianos and chamber ensemble; and is among his most popular. Includes well-known movements like Elephants, Fossils and the Swan.
Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Allyson Devenish compares recordings of Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, and chooses her favourite.
Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, is considered to be one of the greatest song cycles of the 19th century. Composed in 1840, Liederkreis comprises 12 songs which set poems by the German Romantic poet, Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. Together, the 12 songs explore themes of loss, loneliness, nocturnal mystery, ecstasy and reverie. Schumann himself considered the Liederkreis, Op 39 to be the most romantic music he had ever written, and he wrote to his wife that the cycle had 'music of you in it, dearest Clara'.
Presented by Kate Molleson
Musicologist Marina Frolova-Walker chooses her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a set of dazzling variations for piano and orchestra on Paganini's 24th Caprice for solo violin, was premiered in 1934 in Baltimore by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski with Rachmaninov playing the solo part. Rachmaninov had already written four piano concerti, and this Rhapsody parades as a one-movement piano concerto that takes Paganini's theme on a journey through brisk and highly virtuosic variations at the beginning and end and through richly lyrical variations in the slower middle section. The Rhapsody has become a cornerstone of the virtuoso piano repertoire and it has also been adapted for ballet.
Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Music researcher and writer Katy Hamilton chooses her favourite recording of Liszt's Sonata in B minor.
When Clara Schumann described Liszt's 1854 Piano Sonata in B minor as 'truly terrible' it reflected an influential school of 19th-century thought (Brahms fell asleep when he first heard it). But for Liszt himself it was his breakthrough piece which established him as a 'proper' composer, one for whom musically-driven formal organisation and inspired ingenuity were paramount, rather than a mere pianist whose music was generated by the need to demonstrate his transcendent technique.
Posterity has sided with Liszt, not Clara – and so have successive generations of performers, reflected in a recorded legacy that is a veritable Who's Who of the great pianists of the last century and our own.
Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Leonard Bernstein's exuberant Chichester Psalms was one of the composer's many strong connections with the UK, commissioned for the 1965 Southern Cathedrals Festival at Chichester Cathedral. Music journalist Edward Seckerson talks to Andrew about the background to the piece, whilst whittling down the available recordings to come up with the finest recording to buy, download or stream.
Musicologist Professor Natasha Loges chooses her favourite recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A major, Op.47, more commonly known simply as the Kreutzer Sonata, is one of the most technically challenging pieces in the violin repertoire. Leo Tolstoy immortalised the work in his notorious and daring 1889 novella The Kreutzer Sonata, which was promptly censored by the Russian authorities and, a year later, prohibited in newspapers in the USA. Beethoven composed his Kreutzer Sonata in 1803 and originally dedicated it to his friend and leading virtuoso of the day, George Bridgetower. They premiered the work together in May 1803 at Vienna's Augarten Theatre, allegedly sight-reading the entire work. Shortly afterwards, the two men fell out and Beethoven changed the dedication to the French violin pedagogue, composer and conductor, Rudolphe Kreutzer. It is said that Kreutzer himself hated the sonata and refused to play it. The dedication, however, has remained. It is a lengthy three-movement work in which a serene Andante with variations is bookended by two fiery outer movements. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Iain Burnside chooses his favourite recording of Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Wind K.452. Mozart wrote his famous Quintet in E flat major for Piano and Winds in 1784 and it was premiered at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna. Shortly afterwards, Mozart wrote to his father: "I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life." It is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. And most people seem to agree with the composer that it is indeed one of his best pieces - with its amazing wind-writing and life-enhancing energy. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Musicologist Dr Flora Willson chooses her favourite recording of Mahler's orchestral song cycle Das Lied von der Erde.
Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, 'Song of the Earth', is a set of six songs for two voices and orchestra, but is it a song-cycle or a symphony? Mahler certainly intended for Das Lied von der Erde to reflect the world in co taining everything, the whole range of human emotions and earthly experience, but the work doesn't easily fall into either the category of song-cycles or truly symphonic works. Mahler drew his texts for Das Lied from a compendium called The Chinese Flute, a translation of Chinese poems by the German poet Hans Bethge.
Mahler wrote Das Lied von der Erde in 1908-9 within a year of losing his beloved daughter Maria and receiving the diagnosis of the heart condition that would kill him in 1911. The work begins and ends with two of Mahler's most famous songs: Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde (The Drinking Song of Earth’s Sorrows) and Der Abscheid (The Farewell), a hauntingly beautiful, bleak and heartrending farewell to life as the 'sun sets behind the mountains.' The intervening songs are the introspective‘Der Einsame im Herbst’ (The Lonely One in Autumn) for mezzo soprano, the sprightly ‘Von der Jugend’ (Of Youth) for tenor, ‘Von der Schönheit’ (Of Beauty) depicting an innocent scene by a river bank where girls are picking flowers but are then briefly threatened by the arrival of boys on horseback, and ‘Der Trunkene im Frühling’ (The Drunkard in Spring).
Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Conductor and choral expert Jeremy Summerly chooses his favourite recordings of Carl Orff's iconic cantata, Carmina Burana. Carl Orff composed his cantata in 1936, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. The poems cover a wide range of subjects, which are just as topical today as they were in the 13th century: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust. Orff said to his publisher "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin." It became the most famous piece of music composed in Germany at the time. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Academic and Sibelius enthusiast Dr Leah Broad chooses her favourite recordings of Sibelius' Violin Concerto. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Baroque music specialist Dr Simon Heighes chooses his favourite version of Bach's Motets. These technically challenging works contain some of Bach's very best music and can be thrilling in performance by a top-notch group of singers. They're also the only of Bach's vocal works that stayed in the repertoire without interruption between his death in 1750 and the 19th-century Bach Revival. Recordings reviewed include performances by The Sixteen and Voces8 & The Senesino Players. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Pianist and composer Yshani Perinpanayagam chooses her favourite recording of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2. We hear at the keyboard, amongst others, Alexander Melnikov, Cristina Ortiz and the composer himself. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Broadcaster and baroque flautist Hannah French selects her favourite recording of CPE Bach's Cello Concerto in A Major. Cellists featured include Alison McGillivray, Steve Isserlis and Truls Mørk. Conductors range from Andrew Manze and Jonathan Cohen to Gustav Leonhardt and Susanne von Gutzeit. Andrew McGregor presents.
Writer Anna Picard chooses from her favourite recordings of Bedřich Smetana's set of six symphonic Czech tone poems, Má Vlast. Performances range from 1939 to 2016, and include no less than six versions by the Czech Philharmonic. Andrew McGregor presents.
Writer and lecturer Richard Wigmore chooses his favourite recording of Haydn's Oxford Symphony, No. 92 in G Major.
Performances featured include: the Hanover Band, conducted by Ron Goodman; the London Symphony Orchestra with Colin Davis; and Thomas Fey conducting the Heidelberger Sinfoniker.
This is an edited version of the regular Building a Library slot where guest experts review available recordings of a work from the classical music repertoire and give a recommendation. Presented by Andrew McGregor.
Katy Hamilton picks her favourite recording of R Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat major
Nigel Simeone chooses his favourite recording of Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel.
Natasha Loges recommends recordings of Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80
Katy Hamilton recommends recordings of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No 29 in B flat, Op 106, 'Hammerklavier'
Nicholas Baragwanath recommends recordings of Tchaikovsky's best-loved opera, Eugene Onegin
Hannah French recommends recordings of Vivaldi's set of twelve concerti 'L'estro armonico' Op. 3
Nicholas Kenyon recommends recordings of Mozart's Symphony no.39 in E-Flat Major, K.543
Mark Lowther recommends recordings of J. S. Bach's Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042
Katy Hamilton recommends recordings of Dvořák's Piano Trio no.4 in E minor "Dumky" Op.90
Sarah Devonald recommends recordings of Wolfang Amadeus Mozart's Serenade No.10 in B-flat, 'Gran Partita', K.361/370a
Tom McKinney recommends recordings of Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor, FP 61
Kate Molleson recommends recordings of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.19
Hannah French recommends a recorded version of Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonata Op. 5.
Richard Morrison recommends recordings of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op 81
Alexandra Coghlan recommends recordings of Thomas Tallis' The Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Helen Wallace recommends a recording of Haydn's String Quartet Op. 20 No. 3 in G minor.
Harriet Smith recommends recordings of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major Op 109.
Sarah Devonald recommends recordings of Dvorak's Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22.
Tom Service recommends a recorded version of Mozart's Prague Symphony - No. 38 in D, K504
David Owen Norris recommends a recorded version of Schubert's Piano Sonata in B flat D960
Katy Hamilton chooses the best recording of Brahms' String Quartet No.3 in B flat major.
Richard Sisson recommends the best recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma!
Gerard McBurney recommends the best recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No.11 in G minor
Jeremy Summerly recommends a recorded version of Henry Purcell's My heart is inditing Z.30 in a live edition of Building a Library
These 6 lively concertos were compiled into a set and published by John Walsh in 1734. Richard Wigmore surveys recordings and makes a recommendation.
Prokofiev was soloist at the concerto's 1921 premiere, which has become his most popular.
Liederkreis was written in the year he devoted to song composition after marrying Clara.
William Mival assesses recordings of Mahler's epic Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection' and makes a recommendation.
A journey from the darkness of a funeral march via the terror of the Last Judgement through to the light of redemption and, finally, resurrection is not to be undertaken lightly.
Andrew McGregor celebrates Record Store Day 2017 and 60 years of Record Review with a special programme broadcast live from Spiritland, a listening café just north of King's Cross in London.
Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata was overshadowed by the success of his Piano Concerto No. 2.
Kodaly's joyful work is based on the Hungarian dances of Galanta where he lived as a boy.
Set in the Egypt of the Pharaohs, Verdi's Aida premiered at the Cairo opera house in 1871
Mozart's final instrumental work was written for his friend, clarinettist Anton Stadler.
Messaien's piece was premiered at a prisoner of war camp, outdoors in the rain, in 1941.
Building a Library on Schoenberg's epic cantata Gurrelieder. Nicholas Baragwanath guides us through this gargantuan late flowering of 19th-century Romanticism in which Schoenberg wove together a sumptuous score that can be surprising to people accustomed to the more astringent sound world of his later works.
Kate Kennedy explores the music of an underrated English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon sifts through the available recordings of Bach's B minor Mass. It was one of Bach's last compositions, completed in 1749, the year before his death. He refashioned music that he had composed throughout his career. The Mass was never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime but is now regarded as a supreme masterpiece.
Ben Walton compares recordings of Rossini's hugely popular opera on Beaumarchais's play.
Tapiola is Sibelius's final masterpiece for orchestra. Andrew Mellor recommends a version
Harriet Smith compares recordings of Schubert's piece, which baffled its 1828 audience.
David Owen Norris sifts through the available recordings of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 21
Flora Willson pans for gold in available recordings of Puccini's California-based opera
Symphony No.99 is an example of late, great Haydn. Richard Wigmore recommends a recording
Tess Knighton compares recordings of 'Ensaladas' of the early 16th century Mateo Flecha
Our weekly Proms Composer is German composer, organist, pianist, and teacher Max Reger.
British composer Emily Howard (born in Liverpool in 1979) is this week's Proms Composer.
Summer Record Review's weekly look at a Proms Composer explores recordings of Thomas Adès
Tess Knighton gives a recommendation for Victoria's Masses from among available versions.
Marina Frolova-Walker recommends a recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6, 'Pathétique'
Sara Mohr-Pietsch surveys music by Hildegard of Bingen & makes a personal recommendation
Erica Jeal recommends a recording from the available versions of this great song cycle.
Daniel Grimley recommends a version from the available recordings of Delius's Sea Drift
Andrew Mellor compares recordings of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.5, the ‘Reformation’. It was written to mark the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession in 1530, a critical event of the Protestant Reformation
Edward Seckerson joins Andrew live to recommend a recording of Jerome Kern's Show Boat.
Anna Picard compares recordings of Mascagni's perennially popular 'Cavalleria Rusticana'
Ivan Hewett surveys recordings of music by Henri Dutilleux, a composer with a unique voice who took inspiration from the tradition of Ravel, Debussy and Roussel, but created a sound world of sensuous harmony and colour that was all his own.
Jeremy Summerly compares recordings of Mass No. 6 in E flat, D950, by Schubert - a powerful masterpiece, written during the final year of the composer's life.
Harriet Smith compares recordings of Bartok's Second Piano Concerto, widely recognised as one of the most technically challenging pieces in the repertoire, and makes a personal recommendation.
Building a Library: Richard Wigmore compares recordings of Mozart's Symphony No. 36 in C major, K425, known as the Linz Symphony, which was written in just four days during the Mozarts' stopover in the Austrian town of Linz whilst travelling in late 1783. When the local count heard of their arrival he announced a concert, and the composer had very little time to provide a symphony for it!
As part of BBC Music's Ten Pieces Secondary, which aims to open up the world of classical music to children aged 11 and above, Hannah French compares available versions of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major and makes a personal recommendation. A favourite of the trumpet repertoire and possibly Haydn's most popular concerto, this work was composed in 1796 while the composer was working on The Creation. It was written for his long-time friend Anton Weidinger who had developed a keyed trumpet which could play chromatically, unlike the natural trumpet which had a more limited choice of notes.
Tess Knighton compares recordings of Monteverdi's least-known opera, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and makes a personal recommendation
Andrew Mellor compares recordings of Nielsen's 'Sinfonia Espansiva' and makes a personal recommendation
Harriet Smith compares recordings of Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor, Op.49, and makes a personal recommendation
Sarah Lenton recommends a recording from the available versions of Offenbach's opera, The Tales of Hoffmann
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood compares recordings of Mozart’s Horn Concertos and makes a personal recommendation.
Helen Wallace compares recordings of Walton's Cello Concerto and makes a personal recommendation
William Mival recommends a version from the available recordings of Scriabin's Prometheus
Roger Parker compares recordings of Verdi's first Shakespearean opera Macbeth and makes a personal recommendation
Kirsten Gibson recommends a recording from the available versions of Purcell’s Music for Queen Mary’s Funeral and Funeral Sentences
Marina Frolova-Walker makes a recommendation from the available recordings of Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake.
David Nice recommends a version from the available recordings of Sibelius's 4th Symphony.
Richard Morrison recommends a recording from the available versions of Elgar's 2nd Symphony.
Jeremy Summerly discusses Haydn's Nelson Mass, his Missa in angustiis, live in the studio with Andrew McGregor
Flora Willson recommends a recording from the available versions of Bizet's opera Carmen
David Owen Norris recommends a recording from the available versions of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio.
Sarah Walker recommends a recording from the available versions of Schubert's Piano Sonata in A major D. 959