Features
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Jacob Obrecht: a restless musical mind
The generation of composers born around 1450 used to be known as the ‘Josquin-generation’ after their most famous member, but in the last 20 years or so it has been recognised how many of them were creative personalities of quite comparable stature. This generation is significant too in that, for the first time, the number of truly first-rate composers whose fame has survived down to us can no longer be counted on the fingers of one hand: here is a group of musicians to match what Renaissance painting, sculpture and architecture have to offer.
20th May 2011
FOCUS
Six symphony cycles to mark Mahler's centenary
May 18 marks the centenary of the death, in Vienna, of Gustav Mahler. Few composers enjoy his popularity, a popularity that has grown enormously during the past half century. Once conductors aspired to record a Beethoven symphony cycles, these days a Mahler cycle is more sought after. As an anniversary gesture, we offer a number of different symphony cycles – The Gramophone Mahler cycle, A cycle by living conductors, A live Mahler cycle, A not-the-obvious cycle, A historic cycle (featuring conductors who knew and worked with Mahler) and a DVD Mahler cycle.
19th May 2011
FOCUS
The great Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba - on her birthday
To mark the birth of Dame Nellie Melba, we revisit an article from March 2009, in which the late John Steane paid tribute to the great Australian soprano
19th May 2011
FOCUS
The Gramophone reviews list
You can now read reviews of recent Editor's Choice recordings – our pick of each month's leading releases – online, plus a selection of reviews of other recordings. Click the relevant month below to find the full list – and every review also contains a buy button straight through to a retailer.
19th May 2011
FOCUS
The health benefits of singing
Can singing make us healthy? Not if you happen to be an operatic heroine it would seem, the most unfortunate example being that of Antonia from Les contes d’Hoffmann , who manages literally to sing herself to death. Such cases aside, the consensus is that singing is good for us. Less, however, is known about the specific health benefits associated with singing, the focus of this weekend’s Chorus! Festival at the Southbank Centre.
12th May 2011
FOCUS
Nine nines to mark the birthday of Beethoven's Choral Symphony
On May 7, 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven co-conducted – alongside Michael Umlauf – the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, the Choral Symphony, at the Kärntnertortheater. The audience received the work with an ovation and, as the story goes, the deaf composer had to be turned to face his thrilled public at the work's conclusion.
5th May 2011
GALLERY
Southbank celebrates Festival of Britain anniversary
Sixty years ago London’s South Bank hosted the Festival of Britain. The 1951 event aimed to help create a sense of optimism in a war-scarred...
27th Apr 2011
FOCUS
The emancipation of Nordic folk music
The road of the pioneer is rarely a smooth one, and conductor Grete Pederson knows it. She’s recalling the time she first suggested members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra adopt techniques from the folk tradition in certain vernacular-inspired repertoire. It didn’t go well. ‘What are you trying to do?’ some players asked her. ‘This is just rubbish’ protested others. And they weren’t the only ones.
19th Apr 2011
FOCUS
Milton Babbitt assessed
When Milton Babbitt died in January of this year, I speculated in my Gramophone obituary that if only Babbitt-the-man had kept mum about his theories, Babbitt-the-composer might have had an easier time of it.
18th Apr 2011
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