The great conductor Seiji Ozawa has died at the age of 88. As a tribute we reprint an article by Philip Clark from 2014 reflecting on Ozawa's life and career up to that point...
"Classical music is one of the best things that ever happened to mankind. If you get introduced to it in the right way, it becomes your friend for life."
Happy birthday Yo-Yo Ma! 🎈
When Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring sparked a riot at it's premiere in 1913, it is unlikely that the composer dreamed, amid the maelstrom, that one day the piece would be reinvented in such an inspired way - played by three melodica virtuosos...
#MelodicaMen
Happy birthday Johann Sebastian Bach! Bach has been called 'the supreme arbiter and law-giver of music'. He is to music what Leonardo da Vinci is to art and Shakespeare is to literature, one of the supreme creative geniuses of history.
Happy birthday Gustav Mahler!
Mahler is the last great Romantic symphonist.
He wanted to express his view of the human condition, to set down his lofty ideals about Life, Death and the Universe.
Discover him here >
In the December issue of Gramophone – out now – we mark 100 years since the birth of Maria Callas by asking what the iconic singer's legacy means to artists and audiences today...
Celebrating the life of Jacqueline du Pré, whom we lost on 19 October 1987.
Her most celebrated disc is of the Elgar Cello Concerto, a work she made her own, which she recorded with one of her mentors, Sir John Barbirolli.
Happy birthday Dmitri Shostakovich!
Shostakovich at his best is among the most vital and original of 20th-century composers in music notable for rapid exchange of emotional extremes from the sublime to the banal, sarcastic wit to brooding melancholy
NEWS - Last year's Van Cliburn winner, Yunchan Lim, signs to
@deccaclassics
. Yunchan Lim has attracted huge attention since becoming the youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition last year. Find out more...
On 18 May 1911, the world lost one of the last great romantic symphonists and one of the greatest composers of the era - Gustav Mahler.
Discover more about the composers life and music here...
Many congratulations to
@houghhough
- one of the most admired and beloved of British cultural figures - who has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
Our Recording of the Month is
@grosvenorpiano
's new album of Chopin's piano concertos for
@deccaclassics
with
@RSNO
and
@itselimchan
. Here is Grosvenor in the finale of the First Concerto – absolutely spellbinding...
Hilary Hahn interview: ‘Lockdown has taught me a lot about what art means to people, and what happens when the availability of it changes’.
@violincase
’s new album for
@DGclassics
marks the end of a sabbatical that reminded her what’s worth fighting for:
On 18 May 1911, the world lost one of the last great romantic symphonists - Gustav Mahler.
His music was conceived on the grandest scale and employed elaborate forces.
Discover more about his life and music here...
The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras has announced that conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, will not be returning to the organisation.
Read 👇
One of the most gifted musicians of her time, Clara Schumann's music has a depth and originality that has inspired many outstanding recordings. Here are 10 of the finest ...
The brilliant Maria Callas would have been 95 today.
Her genius for interpretation and spine-tingling voice remain with us through her extraordinary recordings. There was authority in all that she did, and in every phrase that she uttered.
Discover more:
Daniel Barenboim named as first honorary conductor of Berlin Philharmonic.
The great Berlin orchestra recognises half a century of musical collaboration....
read more here >
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...
Ludwig Van Beethoven died on 26 March 1827.
With the possible exception of Wagner, no other composer has, single-handedly, changed the course of music so dramatically and continued to develop and experiment throughout his entire career
Happy birthday Gustav Mahler!
Mahler is the last great Romantic symphonist, music conceived on the grandest scale and employing elaborate forces. Spend a moment with one of the greatest in history:
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Choral, was first heard in Vienna exactly 200 years ago, on May 7, 1824. To celebrate, on our website today you can explore guides to the symphony, a new podcast, and a 'Gramophone Collection' on the greatest recordings...
‘King of kings’, ‘Titan of the piano’, ‘The Ukrainian tiger who burnt bright’ … Did any pianist ever attract more adulatory labels than Vladimir Horowitz? Michelle Assay celebrates the life and career of the great pianist - and makes a case for his ...
Paying tribute to the brilliant Glenn Gould whom we lost on 4 October 1982.
Gould assumed an iconic status during his life. Eccentric and opinionated, he abandoned concert-giving aged 31 to focus on studio recording.
A defiant vote of confidence in classical music: The English Concert plans to create a digital library of Handel's 42 operas, 29 oratorios, and more, making them freely accessible to all. Find out more...
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto has become a favourite among soloists and audiences. Mark Pullinger considers recordings spanning 70 years and selects his overall top choice...
When Stravinsky's
#TheRiteofSpring
sparked a riot at it's premiere
#onthisday
in 1913, it is unlikely that the composer dreamed, amid the maelstrom, that one day the piece would be reinvented in such an inspired way - played by three melodica virtuosos...
#MelodicaMen
📰 NEWS 📰
@annalapwood
, organist, Director of Music at
@pembroke1347
College, Cambridge, and one of the most welcoming and active ambassadors of classical music's younger generation, has today been signed by
@SonyClassicalUK
Read here 👇
"We are musicians because of you."
A conducting dynasty. Heartfelt words for their father, Neeme, who receives this year’s
#GramoAwards
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Happy birthday Claude Debussy!
Debussy was among the most influential of all the 20th century’s composers. His lyrical gift, idiosyncratic harmonies, colours and rhythms helped him create a new sound world. Explore our thought-pieces and reviews 👉
Sibelius's only concerto was both a passionate outburst and a farewell to romanticism. From the archive, Leif Segerstam and Tasmin Little take us inside the concerto...
Sergey Rachmaninov died on 28 March 1943.
Few musicians have successfully followed two musical disciplines, but Rachmaninov managed three: composer, conductor and pianist
Celebrating the life and of Fryderyk Chopin, who died on 17 October 1849.
Few composers command such universal love as Chopin; even fewer still have such a high proportion of all their music in the active repertoire.
Explore Chopin:
Here is every recording of JS Bach's music to have won a Gramophone Award since 1977, featuring outstanding accounts of the St Matthew Passion, Goldberg Variations, Cello Suites and more 👇👇👇
Happy birthday Joseph Haydn!
Haydn was among the most prolific of all great composers and he wrote in every form: 104 symphonies, nearly 90 string quartets, 62 piano sonatas, dozens of concertos, oratorios, masses, choral works and opera, to name a few...
Here is every recording of JS Bach's music to have won a Gramophone Award since 1977, featuring outstanding accounts of the St Matthew Passion, Goldberg Variations, Cello Suites and more 👇👇👇
Happy birthday Francis Poulenc!
One of his friends described Francis Poulenc as 'half monk, half guttersnipe', which goes halfway to describing his music...
Click to explore Poulenc.
Happy birthday Franz Liszt!
Liszt was the very embodiment of the Romantic spirit. He worked in almost every field of music, and to each field he contributed a significant development.
Explore the life and brilliant works of Franz Liszt >>
BREAKING: Apple Music launches a new standalone app for classical music.
It will offer access to the world’s largest classical music catalogue with over five million tracks...
NEWS: Chandos Records acquired by Naxos founder Klaus Heymann.
Klaus Heymann writes: ‘I decided to acquire Chandos personally to give Ralph the certainty that the label will remain independent long-term’
Read the story...
Happy birthday Johannes Brahms!
One of the giants of classical music, Brahms appeared to arrive fully armed, found a style in which he was comfortable – and stuck to it throughout his life.
Find out more here >
Today we celebrate the life of Franz Liszt, who died on 31 July 1886.
Composer, teacher, Casanova, writer, pioneer, philanthropist, philosopher and one of the greatest pianists in history, Liszt was the very embodiment of the Romantic spirit
Antonín Dvořák died on 1 May 1904.
A love of the countryside and nature pervades his work. He was noted for his sunny, out-going disposition, qualities that are reflected in his music – no turmoil or neuroticism, no dark, brooding side. Discover more ➡
We are pleased to reveal the shortlist for the 2024 Gramophone Classical Music Awards, presented with
@PrestoMusicCom
. Explore the Top 3 recordings in each category and read the original Gramophone reviews on our website today
#GramoAwards
Out today - Gramophone’s May 2024 cover features the South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim, who became an overnight sensation when he became the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022...
Happy birthday George Gershwin! 🎈
No composer has done more to weld the two opposing cultures of serious and popular music together. The works he fashioned have stood the test of time as well as changes in musical fashion.
Explore Gershwin >>
‘King of kings’, ‘Titan of the piano’, ‘The Ukrainian tiger who burnt bright’ … Did any pianist ever attract more adulatory labels than Vladimir Horowitz? Michelle Assay celebrates the life and career of the great pianist - and makes a case for his ...
Happy birthday Hector Berlioz!
The arch-Romantic composer, Berlioz’s life was all you’d expect – by turn turbulent and passionate, ecstatic and melancholic.
Explore Berlioz with our thought-pieces and reviews:
Happy 222nd birthday Franz Schubert 🎈
Schubert was not the first of the Romantics but he was, as one writer put it, 'the first lyric poet of music'. The ideas came tumbling out like water from a spring.
Discover more about Schubert >
Many happy returns to Alfred Brendel, who is 90 today!
Back in January 2009, one of the world’s great pianists, gives his final interview to as he retires from the concert platform.
Happy birthday Tchaikovsky!
Tchaikovsky is the most popular of all Russian composers, his music combining some nationalist elements with a more cosmopolitan view, but it is music that could only have been written by a Russian...
Many happy returns to Alfred Brendel, who is 88 today!
Back in January 2009, one of the world’s great pianists, gives his final interview to as he retires from the concert platform.
Article:
Happy birthday Leonard Bernstein!
Like no other musician of his age, he was able to straddle the extremes of the musical world as both an intellectual and composer. This weekend we'll celebrate the legacy this great figure left behind
#BernsteinAt100
Today we celebrate the life and works of George Gershwin, who died on 11 July 1937.
No composer has done more to weld the two opposing cultures of serious and popular music together.
Find out more here 👉
Puccini died on 29 November 1924.
Puccini’s sound world is unique and unmistakeable with its opulent yet clear-cut orchestration. His masterly writing for the voice guarantees the survival of his music for many years to come.
Discover more:
Many happy returns to Arvo Part, who is 84 today.
One of the most popular of today's composers, Arvo Pärt has said, ‘I have discovered it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a moment of silence, comforts me.'