Works
Best of Chopin: 11 unmissable works by the Romantic icon
From the Minute Waltz to the Funeral March, we choose some of the very finest pieces by the great Polish composer and pianist
Best Mahler symphony: ranking the nine completed symphonies from music's epic emotional storyteller
We've ranked all nine Mahler masterpieces from our least favourite to the absolute best
Best of Brahms: 15 essential works by the genius who mixed Romantic fire with classical soul
Here are 15 pieces that brilliantly demonstrate the genius of Johannes Brahms, who straddled Classical and Romantic, order and emotion, like no one else
Are musicals the new opera?
Were Rodgers & Hammerstein the Puccini of the mid-20th century? If so, where do operas end and musicals begin? James Inverne explores the classical origins of today’s musicals…
These are the pieces that made you fall for classical music
Back in 2014, we asked BBC Music Magazine readers to tell us about the pieces that first drew them into the wonderful world of classical music. Here are some of the many responses we received...
Ranked: the 20 greatest operas of all time (and the recordings you need)
From Monteverdi to Berg via Mozart and Puccini, we count down the 20 best operas of all time. Did we miss your favourite?
Fifteen works that their composers bitterly regretted
The sorry tales of pieces that, for one reason or another, would go on to haunt their own composers
These are the 15 best stage musicals of all time (the top 5 were tough)
Ranked: the greatest musicals ever put on the stage
Epic, emotional, essential: the 6 Mahler works you must hear
We name the very best pieces of music written by the symphony's great synthesist Mahler
Best of Beethoven: his 20 greatest masterpieces, ranked
Michael Tanner selects and explores Beethoven's top 20 must-hear masterpieces, choosing from the very best of the great composer's extensive output
7 unforgettable moments when music captured the magic of sport
Tenor Pene Pati selects seven times classical music provided the soundtrack for top sporting events
Hardest music: the 12 most fiendishly difficult works in all of music
Our guide to the 12 most difficult pieces of music to play ever - do you agree with our choices?
'I can’t think of anything more beautiful': 7 perfect classical works for beginners
Violinist James Ehnes selects pieces to play for sceptics who don’t believe they’ll like classical music
Elgar's Cello Concerto gets all the love. But this Elgar work is every bit as beautiful
Best protest songs: 15 timeless fusions of music and defiance
Our guide to 15 of of the most powerful and rousing protest songs in history
Favourite Franz Liszt work: six great pianists name a best-loved piece from the great Romantic
We ask six Liszt pianists to name one work by the composer that inspires them above all others
Eleven incredible pieces of music written by teenagers
From Schubert to Shostakovich, these stunning works prove youth is no barrier to genius—prepare to be astonished
Struggling to sleep? Try these 11 dreamlike melodies
We guide you through the pieces of music that will help relax the mind, calm the nerves and send you off to sleep
Musicians told us their dream and nightmare works to perform. And one composer comes up A LOT
Which works do orchestral players love to play? And which do they dread? We head round the sections of some of Europe’s finest ensembles to find out
Best of Tchaikovsky: 11 thrilling masterpieces by Russia's greatest composer
Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker, the Pathétique... Tchaikovsky's repertoire is stuffed full of melodic and emotional masterpieces. Here are 11 of the greatest
7 fabulously fantastical pieces inspired by ancient mythology
Operatic director Thomas Guthrie selects the best examples of music inspired by ancient mythology
Feeling stressed? These 10 beautiful classical pieces are guaranteed to bring calm to your day
The BBC Music team and reviewers on the music they turn to for a sense of calm
A ghostly commission: the dark legend of Mozart’s Requiem
Mozart’s Requiem is shrouded in mystery. Unfinished, ghostwritten, commissioned in secrecy, it remains hauntingly powerful and endlessly debated
Music's greatest goodbye: the story of Beethoven's sublime Late Quartets
Though deaf and in declining health, the ageing Beethoven remained inventive to the end, as his astonishing late quartets prove