Apple News RSS
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2025: winners announced!
Drumroll please... Here are the winners of the 20th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards
This is the world's most famous classical concert. But it had some dark beginnings
How Clemens Krauss and the Nazis set off a Vienna New Year tradition in 1939
Debussy changed music forever. These 12 works prove it
Pianist George Lepauw guides us through the Debussy works he thinks any non-classical music fan would enjoy
It takes work to engage with classical music... But the rewards are huge
These are some of the saddest songs ever written
Our round-up of some of the saddest and most haunting songs in musical history
The contrabassoon: the orchestra’s deepest voice
Meet the contrabassoon: classical music’s deepest voice and unsung hero of the orchestral underworld
Music for studying: 15 great works that will boost your focus and banish distractions
What is the best music to aid a little learning? These are the best pieces of music for studying and keeping you on task and concentrating when the going gets tough and you're feeling easily distracted
Out now: our May 2025 issue, featuring World War II, the Nazis, Myra Hess, Sibelius and more
Here's your guide to the May 2025 issue of BBC Music Magazine, featuring the music of World War II, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Sian Williams and much more
Think you don’t like classical music? These 7 works will change your mind
Violinist James Ehnes selects pieces to play for sceptics who don’t believe they’ll like classical music
Best Beethoven symphony: all nine masterpieces, ranked and rated
Ranking the nine Beethoven symphonies is a somewhat herculean and, of course, a controversial exercise. But here's what we think. What about you?
Darkest nursery rhymes: the eerie truths lurking beneath your favourite childhood songs
From Jack and Jill to Three Blind Mice, many of our best-loved nursery rhymes have some sinister meanings behind their cheerful lyrics. Read on for our guide to the darkest nursery rhymes of all time
‘My fingers were slipping all over the keys’: clarinettist Julian Bliss on his nightmare concert in the rain
The hair was long - and so were the songs. In praise of prog rock, classical music's unruly cousin
What happens when classical music-style levels of ambition, invention and sheer length are grafted onto pop music? The answer, as Meurig Bowen explains, is Prog Rock
Best of Satie: eight perfect introductions to his eccentric, captivating sound world
A selection of the finest – and oddest – pieces by the French composer and eccentric Erik Satie
This cat gets emotional listening to music
Snoop, a beautiful black and white cat, gets surprisingly emotional over classical music—he even looks like he’s shedding a tear while listening to Chopin. Clearly, he's feeling all the feels.
Korngold Symphony in F sharp: a searing account of the misery of life in Nazi Germany
Despite Korngold’s denials, there is much to suggest that his Symphony in F sharp is a grim depiction of the dark days of Nazism, argues Jessica Duchen
George Gershwin wrote some of the 20th century's most joyous music. Here are seven of his best works
What are the greatest pieces of music written by the jazz-influenced classical composer, George Gershwin?
Baroque composers: 11 of the greatest musicians from a dazzling era of music
Just who were the Baroque’s finest exponents? Great names abound, but here are ten of the best Baroque composers who should be on anyone’s list…
From the streets to the stage… Brad Kella on how winning Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’ changed his life
If you’re a fan of Channel 4’s keyboard contest The Piano, you’ll be very familiar with Brad Kella, the young composer-pianist who won the last series. Here he reflects on a crazy year, owning a Steinway and how music has changed him for the better…
Mozart was knighted as a teenager. But the reason is stranger than you think
In 1770 Pope Clement XIV awarded the 14-year-old Mozart a papal knighthood and the prestigious Order of the Golden Spur. Here's how it happened...
Review: Ravel Fragments (Bertrand Chamayou)
In his review, Nicholas Kenyon enjoys Bertrand Chamayou’s vision and gripping performance in a clever tribute to Ravel
Review: Dvořák & Price – Piano Quintets (Takács Quartet)
Takács Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin are on sublime form in contrasting piano quintets by Dvořák and Florence Price, says Jan Smaczny in his review
Review: Attende domine (The Bevan Family Consort)
In her review, Alexandra Wilson finds much to enjoy in this glorious family album of beautiful music for Lent and Passiontide from the brilliant Bevans
Review: R Strauss – Arabella (DVD/Berlin, 2023)
In his review, David Nice is enthralled by this memorable and moving Berlin staging of Strauss’s colourful opera, Arabella