What was it about the violinist Niccolò Paganini that so astounded his audiences? In our November issue, Julian Haylock explores a phenomenon. We also trace Paganini’s scandal-ridden and highly-lucrative tours around the UK during the 1830s. For this month’s BBC Music Magazine Interview, James Naughtie meets conductor Jaap van Zweden to talk about the challenges of recording Wagner and an exciting new chapter at the New York Philharmonic.
We also feature pianist Nick van Bloss this month, who argues that classical music’s leaders are not taking diversity seriously enough and are letting down disabled performers. With 2018 marking 100 years of women’s suffrage, we look back on the remarkable life and work of the composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth.
Elsewhere in the issue, we name the finest recordings of Vaughan Williams’s A Pastoral Symphony, and François Couperin is our Composer of the Month. And on your cover CD is a collection of virtuoso violin masterworks, performed by Jack Liebeck.
Click the image below to download the inlay for this month's free cover CD.
