Featured Today

 CD Spotlight. Musical Spirit - Berlioz overtures, heard by Howard Smith. '... commendable intuition and skillfulness ...'

Anniversaries: Nellie Melba; Tamara Brooks

Today's concerts: Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno (A King for the Day); London, UK; Lehár: The Merry Widow; Athens, GR; Marin Music Chest Young Artists' Concert; Mill Valley, US; Le Rossignol en amour - music for Baroque flute and harpsichord; Nottinghamshire, UK; London Mandolin Orchestra with flautists Jan Coetzee and Nim DiRicci; London, UK; Wagner, Schumann and Beethoven - London Philharmonic Orchestra; Eastbourne, UK

Recent Articles

Ensemble. Beautifully Captured - Mike Wheeler listens to the Mavron Quartet

Ask Alice - Leaded bows and rackets for classical music agony aunt Alice McVeigh

Classical music news - Maxim Vengerov Festival; more ...

Ensemble. Restrained Intensity - Mike Wheeler drops in on the City of London Sinfonia's Fauré Requiem tour

Ensemble. Political Tragedy - Giuseppe Pennisi attended a performance of Wagner's 'Rienzi' in Rome

Ensemble. A Fascinating Insight - Georg Tintner's 'The Ellipse' and music by other Viennese émigrés, heard by Malcolm Miller

Andrew Schartmann's Musical Tidbits - The Anatomy of Music. Part V: Some Notes on Composition

Ensemble. Somewhat Different - Handel's 'Giulio Cesare' live in HD fascinated Maria Nockin

Classical music news - Steve Martland; more ...

CD Spotlight. Historically Significant - 'Didone Abbandonata' by Johann Hasse, heard by Howard Smith. 'Michael Hofstetter directs a consistently dramatic, high tensile performance.'

Classical music news - Roman Trilogy; more ...

Ensemble. A Virtuoso Storm - Alexander Romanovsky joins Cristian Mandeal and the Hallé Orchestra, heard by Mike Wheeler

DVD Spotlight. Considerable Turmoil - 'La Battaglia di Legnano', reviewed by Robert Anderson. '... Verdi patriotic is not necessarily Verdi at his most subtle.'

Ensemble. Troubles in Florence - Giuseppe Pennisi was at the opening night of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

CD Spotlight. Shining Through - The classical inheritance of Schubert's Symphonies impresses Andrew Schartmann. '... a fascinating perspective ...'

CD Spotlight. A Controversial Figure - Choral works by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, heard by Gerald Fenech. 'Soloists and choral singing are of the utmost quality ...'

Ensemble. Prism of Time - Malcolm Miller looks back to a Simon Bainbridge performance last summer, and forward to Wigmore Hall's Bainbridge Study Day this month

Classical music news - Allegri Quartet; more ...

Ensemble. Warmly Resonant - J S Bach's B minor Mass, heard in Derby Cathedral by Mike Wheeler

Ensemble. Interesting and Dramatic - Liszt's Dante Symphony and Antonio Estévez's Cantata Criolla, heard by Maria Nockin

Classical music news - János Starker (1924-2013); Call for scores; more ...

The Life of Antonio Vivaldi - Susan Budig's short poem about Venice's 'Red Priest', composed in the form of a classical rondeau

Classical music news - Jacob Avshalomov; Lalgudi Jayaraman; Jean-Michel Damase; more ...

Andrew Schartmann's Musical Tidbits - The Anatomy of Music. Part IV: Hybrid Themes

CD Spotlight. War and Peace - Music by Karabits and Silvestrov, heard by Howard Smith. 'Another enterprising feather in Naxos' richly plumaged cap.'

Ensemble. A Popular Success - Some harsh criticism from Gregory Moomjy on Offenbach's 'La Périchole' at New York City Opera

Ensemble. Vibrant and Wild - Wagner's 'Flying Dutchman' enthralls Giuseppe Pennisi

Ensemble. Warmth and Clarity - Smetana, Beethoven and Dvořák from The Czech Philharmonic, heard by Mike Wheeler

A Thoughtful Account - Richard Uttley plays Beethoven, Grieg, Britten, Bartók, Debussy, Timothy Jackson, Liszt and Schumann, reviewed by Mike Wheeler

CD Spotlight. Consummate Skill - Music for newly designed oboes impresses Patric Standford. '... as fascinating and challenging as it is revelatory.'

CD Spotlight. Somehow Different - Joshua Pierce's tribute to John Cage, recommended by Ron Bierman. '... either hypnotic or annoyingly eccentric.'

Ensemble. Rhythm and Irony - Eighteenth century Neapolitan cello concertos fascinate Giuseppe Pennisi

CD Spotlight. Infinite Changes - Sally Pinkas plays Fauré, heard by Andrew Schartmann. '... fine interpretations of this underplayed repertoire.'

DVD Spotlight. An Operatic Cinderella - Verdi's 'Il Corsaro' impresses Robert Anderson. '... a very sensitive staging ...'

DVD Spotlight. Quite Riveting - Pergolesi's 'L'Olimpiade' impresses Gerald Fenech. '... sound and visuals are top-drawer stuff.'

CD Spotlight. Neo-classical Verve - Music by victims of the Nazi death camps, heard by Howard Smith. 'Worth its weight and then some, in Euros.'

So Much, For So Many - R Murray Schafer's 'My Life on Earth and Elsewhere', read by A P Virag