Welcome to BBC Music Magazine's December 2024 issue! This month, we take a deep dive into Modest Mussorgsky's unique piano masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition.
On the work's 150th anniversary, Jessica Duchen takes us on a guided tour of Mussorgsky’s vivid, extraordinary piano suite, including the various atmospheric paintings that the Russian composer recast into such memorable music.
Elsewhere in this issue, Alexandra Wilson looks at how, down the decades, opera productions have promoted themselves in adventurous, colourful and sometimes unlikely ways. Jeremy Pound assemvles an entire conductors' orchestra: a symphonic ensemble made up of musicians far better known for waving the baton, but who also played an instrument to a high standard. Did you know that Arturo Toscanini was a fine cellist and Mark Elder knows his way around a bassoon? These and many more fascinating conductor-instrument matches are revealed.
From casette tapes to streaming, Claire Jackson revels in the joys of compiling assorted classical music playlists, while Rebecca Franks discovers the various ways in which music can aid people living with multiple sclerosis. And, as the much-praised adaptation of Hilary Mantel's gripping Tudor epic Wolf Hall returns to our screens, the show's composer Debbie Wiseman shares with Michael Beek the art of creating an enticing Tudor TV soundtrack.
As she releases the complete violin works by her fellow Italian, the composer Ferruccio Busoni, violinist Francesca Dego explains to our editor Charlotte Smith why it's always essential to keep an open mind - and open ears. For our travel feature, Ariane Todes enjoys Swedish music aplenty in Stockholm; our Composer of the Month is the talented but ill-fated Franz Schmidt, for whom a cataclysmic decision late in life saw him left out in the cold; and for Building a Library, Jeremy Pound digs out the very best recordings of Fauré’s immortal Requiem.
Here's a look at our cover CD this month, featuring lush, opulent works by Szymanowski and Zemlinsky, in splendid performances from the BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductors Ryan Bancroft and Sakari Oramo. Click here or on the image to see the track details for this month's cover CD.
