Features
News, articles and features from the world of classical music
How different is composing an opera from writing film and television music?
After 20 years composing for film and television, David Buckley reflects on the shift to opera and the unexpected ways his experience of writing for the screen shaped his approach to composing for the stage
9 pieces that catch our greatest composers on, frankly, a bad day
Genius doesn’t guarantee you will create a winner every time, writes Richard Morrison
Why the 18th-century fortepiano is far more versatile than the concert grand
Play Mozart or CPE Bach on a modern grand piano if you like, says Tom Service, but to hear the music as they wanted it, it’s time to bring on the fortepiano!
The bizarre music piece where one player sits in the other's lap
Step forward Ligeti, Stockhausen and, er, Mozart: here are classical music's strangest, craziest and weirdest compositions
The 7 essential works by Edward Elgar – as chosen by British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber
British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber picks the most marvellously memorable works by Edward Elgar
What's new?
Think classical music isn’t for you? These 11 thrilling works might change your mind
Classical music isn't all dusty masterpieces and solemn concert halls. These 11 thrilling works offer passion, beauty, drama and unforgettable melodies.
So you want to get into jazz? Start with these 13 essential albums
From Miles Davis to Herbie Hancock, these 13 albums reveal the many faces of jazz – soulful, swinging, romantic, strange and endlessly rewarding
So, we ranked the 21 greatest violinists of all time. The top two are almost impossible to separate
Who are the finest violinists ever to have been recorded on disc? We ask 100 of today’s leading players to name their inspirations…
The 27 greatest symphonies ever written: visionary masterpieces that still astonish us
From Beethoven’s thunderous defiance to Mahler’s cosmic visions, these are the 21 symphonies that have astonished listeners for generations
The life of a Hollywood session musician is often stressful and rarely credited… but never dull
Violinist Thomas Bowes, veteran of countless movie scores, reveals the secrets of recording a Hollywood soundtrack
Artists
Yuja Wang: a guide to the celebrated pianist and her best recordings
Meet the world-famous Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, and discover some of her best recordings
Virtuosos: seven incredible musicians we wish we'd seen play live
The BBC Music Magazine team chooses the virtuosos from history they would love to have seen perform
‘The whistles and boos were terrifying… but the show must go on!’: baritone Nicola Alaimo
Composers
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: the brilliant wartime composer who found himself torn between Germany and Italy
George Hall explores a greatly underrated composer who united Italian and German influences in a range of colourful operas
From chemical experiments to engine design, these are the most inventive composers
Rebecca Franks explores how some composers moved beyond music to apply their creativity to all sorts of scientific and practical inventions
We ranked the 25 greatest British composers of all time
We asked 167 top international musicians to vote for the best British composers of all time. Here are the results… Do you agree - and who was voted number one?
Instruments
Ouch! Five terrible treatments of the piano
Surprisingly, this is the most expensive piano in the world. Here's the story
This is the most expensive piano ever sold at auction. It's less about the piano itself than its unique place in cultural history....
Is this music's eeriest instrument?
We explain the workings of the unusual instrument, the Ondes Martenot, that takes centre stage in Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony
Jazz
Jazz pianists ranked: these are jazz's 15 greatest magicians of the piano
Who are the best jazz pianists of all time? Here, in alphabetical order, are 15 of the greatest ivory tinkers in the history of jazz
From jazz piano in cocktail bars to starring in Wicked: Jeff Goldblum's musical memories
Best jazz saxophonists of all time, ranked - and the albums you need to add to your library now
Who is the best jazz saxophonist of all time? From Johnny Hodges to John Coltrane, we've had a go at ranking the top 15 - and we've recommended an essential album from each
Musical terms
Minimalism was much more than a return to basics... it was a revolution
Meet the dangerous musical sound known as the 'devil in music'
For centuries, the tritone - a musical interval spanning three whole tones - has added tension, drama and mystery to music by everyone from Bach to Bernstein
What is a symphony? | Inside the symphony: everything you need to know about one of music's quintessential building blocks
Haydn wrote more than 100. Brahms wrote four, all amazing. Mahler put the whole world into his. All you need to know about the symphony
Recordings
'All-conquering': inside Bach's mighty B minor Mass – and its greatest recording
The sheer variety and craftsmanship of JS Bach’s final choral masterpiece, Mass in B minor, enthral Paul Riley as he chooses the finest recordings
Nathan Henninger: orchestral music in an age of streaming and cinema
Outliers: these 21 albums sound like nothing else their bands ever made
Some albums defy expectations. From Beatles to Neil Young, these outliers reveal bands daring to experiment... and sometimes bewildering their fans
Science of Music
Here's why lullabies are so good at sending your baby to sleep
Why are lullabies so effective at encouraging babies to sleep? Musicologist and new mother Madeline Castrey investigates
What makes music feel ‘alive’?
We explore the hidden frequencies in music that trigger an emotional response
Scientists have been studying why male humpback whales sing together. And something special is going on
Over a million years, male humpback whales have developed a repertoire of songs whose purpose scientists are now keen to establish, says Tom Service
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TV and Film music
We ranked the 18 greatest rock soundtrack moments of the 1990s
The perfect song can make a great movie scene unforgettable, as these classic tracks prove
World Cup TV theme tunes: the 7 most unforgettable melodies from World Cups past
The football was (mostly) unforgettable - and so was the soundtrack. We remember seven World Cup theme tunes that defined entire tournaments
7 mind-blowing musical depictions of nature in the movies
Conductor Laurence Equilbey picks the best musical depictions of nature on the big screen
Works
5 great works written by composers late in life
Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez: the Spanish guitar masterpiece and its best recordings
Rob Ainsley basks in the warmth of the Spanish sun as he explores the finest recordings of this iconic piece for guitar and orchestra
The Brandenburg Concertos: why Bach’s masterpiece was so nearly lost forever
Without a series of calamitous events, JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos might never have come to be, explains Clifford Hall
