Features
News, articles and features from the world of classical music
'Twice in my career, I missed my cue to appear on stage': tenor Jonas Kaufmann on his best and worst performances
Gods, kings and valkyries: 7 epic Wagner opera characters you should know
British soprano Susan Bullock selects the juiciest Wagner roles for singers to get their teeth into
Are robotic conductors the future of music – and can they ever be as good as humans?
Just like fads for Tamagotchi and Furbys, robotic conductors are currently flavour of the month – but they’re not a patch on the real thing, says Tom Service
Test Andre - Test
18 weird and wonderful Christmas album covers: our pick of the best
Christmas over the years has inspired a glorious array of quirky covers from record company designers. We present our favourites…
What's new?
Leroy Anderson: master of American light music and composer of Christmas classic 'Sleigh Ride'
Geoff Brown hears sleigh bells jingling and typewriters pinging as he celebrates the unique talents of America’s master of light music
Amahl and the Night Visitors: an iconic US Christmas TV tradition
In the Bleak Midwinter - the world's favourite Christmas carol
Ashutosh Khandekar heads back to a particularly bleak midwinter in the early 20th century, as he traces the chilly history of one of today’s most beloved carols
The 50 best Christmas carols of all time
Here's a list of the best-ever Christmas carols for the festive season, as voted for by 50 top choral experts from across the UK and US. Do you agree with their choices?
'I detest him'... 'The most sublime music ever'... 11 of the best quotes about Beethoven
Famous quotes about the great composer from other great minds and creatives
Artists
Best cellists: the 21 greatest cello players of all time, from Boccherini to Capuçon via Casals and du Pré
From Pablo Casals to Jacqueline du Pré, we celebrate some of the greatest cellists of the past 300 years
11 of the best contraltos of all time
Are these the best contraltos of all time? We pay our respects to the women from the lower reaches
Violinist Vilde Frang on squaring up to epic works and coping with imposter syndrome
The Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang is always drawn to a challenge – and, as she tells Ariane Todes, making difficult choices has helped her to grow as a musician
Composers
Stephen Sondheim: one of our greatest composers, in any genre
Stephen Sondheim transformed musical theatre through his groundbreaking works – yet he never appreciated his true impact, writes James Inverne
‘What a giftless bastard!': 15 juiciest composer insults
Sparks fly and verbal venom is spat, as John Evans explores the great names who simply loved to take potshots at each other
Karl Jenkins: from prog rock to the world's most performed classical composer
Welsh composer Karl Jenkins speaks to Amanda Holloway about creating an emotional connection with his many millions of fans across the globe
Instruments
The percussion family: meet 5 important instruments played by hitting, scraping or shaking
The marimba: all you need to know about the 'flutey' sounding percussion instrument
Our guide to the marimba, the atmospheric percussion instrument that has been gaining a foothold in the repertoire over the last 50 years
This is the instrument New York doesn't want you to hear
Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs laments the absence of a pipe organ from America's biggest city
Jazz
The 25 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 John Coltrane to John Dankworth, we've had a go at ranking the top 25 - and we've recommended an essential album from each
From jazz to classical: five surprising classical albums from jazz greats
Six of the Best Jazz Film Cameos
Whether it’s breaking the tension of a thriller or adding sparkle to a musical, jazz musicians have a history of making scene-stealing cameos on the silver screen. Neil McKim explores six of the greatest
Musical terms
What are microtones? The tiny building blocks of all music...
Though we may not always realise it, microtones – intervals of smaller than a semitone – are all around us when we listen to music, explains Tom Service
Tempo: a guide to one of music's most essential elements
Do you know your Adagio from your Allegro? Here’s a quick explanation of the musical term 'tempo' and a whistle-stop tour of the various tempi, with some famous examples for each
What makes a violin sound like that? Introducing timbre, one of music's fundamental building blocks
Our guide to timbre: a crucial source of colour and variety in music
Recordings
Essential Christmas albums: 10 timeless recordings to get you in the Christmas spirit
What is the perfect music to get oneself into the festive spirit? We ask ten of our writers to name the albums they couldn’t imagine Yuletide without
Gaspard de la nuit: inside Ravel’s famously haunting piano cycle
Rebecca Franks explores the twilight world of Ravel’s haunting and nightmarish cycle, Gaspard de la nuit, and finds the best recording of this virtuosic work
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante: lively, sorrowful, utterly beautiful. A guide to this extraordinary work and its best recordings
A guide to Mozart's lively, sorrowful and beautiful work for violin, viola and orchestra, and some of the best recorded versions available
Science of Music
Music for studying: 15 great works for mental focus and concentration
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
Calmness, flexibility and time to relax... How to maintain a healthy work-life balance
Violinist Chloe Chua shares how she maintains a healthy work-life balance...
Impostor syndrome: why even the greatest performers share our feelings of inadequacy
Even the most elevated artists sometimes suffer from impostor syndrome – but that vulnerability makes them even better musicians, explains Tom Service
TV and Film music
The ancient and unusual musical sounds at the heart of Gladiator II
Gladiator II features an epic score by British composer Harry Gregson-Williams and it features a host of fascinating instruments and an international cast of players…
Best Bond themes: which is the greatest theme from the James Bond franchise?
007 fan? Michael Beek counts down all the James Bond film theme tunes, from worst to best
Return to Wolf Hall: Creating the music for the Tudor TV epic...
With Tudor epic 'Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light' about to hit TV screens, composer Debbie Wiseman and director Peter Kosminsky talk to Michael Beek
Works
Fingers and nerves of steel: the 12 hardest pieces of music to play
Our guide to the 12 most difficult pieces of music to play ever - do you agree with our choices?
You know his Cello Concerto. But here's why the Elgar Violin Concerto should be better known
Best piano concertos of all time: 12 incredible works for piano and orchestra
These are some of the greatest piano concertos - the finest works ever written for piano with orchestra