In a dazzling performance, the jazz saxophonist draws out tracks from his latest album into giddy extemporisations, ceding the floor to a series of awesome soloists

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Chaka Khan on Prince, poetry and wild, wonderful nights: ‘No one’s done anything but craziness at 4am’ | Chaka Khan | The Guardian

The singer answers your questions about her drum skills, friendship with Joni Mitchell and more – and reveals unheard music with both Prince and Sia

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Joe Lovano: Homage review – jazz giant and freethinking trio harmoniously intertwine | Music | The Guardian

Backed by pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s group, the US sax elder plays freely around a song-rooted approach, resulting in sparkling, spontaneous exchanges

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk album review – controversial opera’s drama is dulled | Classical music | The Guardian

The impact of Shostakovich’s savagely ironic and historically significant composition is neutered in a disappointing recording taken from live performance

Guardian Book Blog

04.04.2025

Bartók: Piano Works album review – Sonya Bach guides us from romantic roots to expressionist power | Music | The Guardian

In six carefully selected works, the Korean pianist tracks the evolution of Bartók’s keyboard music but doesn’t tell the whole story

Guardian Book Blog

03.04.2025

Arts Council England defends support of classical music amid loss of trust | Arts Council England | The Guardian

Arts funding body responds to criticism as Wigmore Hall in London says it will operate independently from 2026

Guardian Book Blog

01.04.2025

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez review – still refreshingly alien | Classical music | The Guardian

The hands of pianist Tamara Stefanovich executed a mesmerising ballet as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins saluted this revolutionary composer

Guardian Book Blog

01.04.2025

Le Roi d’Ys review – the floodgates open to Lalo’s thrilling tale of love, rage and war | Opera | The Guardian

Chelsea Opera Group were at their best and conductor Paul Wingfield drove the score hard in this rare outing for the French composer’s startlingly original work

Guardian Book Blog

31.03.2025

The Tallis Scholars review – inspired pairing of Palestrina and Pärt brings shining warmth and clarity | Classical music | The Guardian

The consummate vocal ensemble beautifully highlighted symbolic connections between the 16th-century Italian composer and soon-to-be 90 Arvo Pärt

Guardian Book Blog

31.03.2025

DiDonato/Emelyanychev review – ingenious artistry brings Schubert’s bleak Winterreise to life | Classical music | The Guardian

Joyce DiDonato’s theatrical skills enabled her to feminise the cycle in a particularly original way, before Strauss’s Morgen! gave us all hope

Guardian Book Blog

30.03.2025

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Belonging review – a virtuosic take on Keith Jarrett’s seminal 70s album | Jazz | The Guardian

The American sax star follows in the footsteps of Jan Garbarek on a modern-day reprise full of verve

Guardian Book Blog

30.03.2025

The week in classical: Arias Reimagined; Rhythm of the Seasons; Out of the Deep; Turandot – review | Classical music | The Guardian

In a good week for baroque experiments, Handel meets Britney Spears and AI, while a whirlwind percussionist unpicks Vivaldi

Guardian Book Blog

29.03.2025

Wigmore Hall says it no longer requires public funding | Wigmore Hall | The Guardian

The classical music venue in London has raised £10m to become financially self-sufficient and will voluntarily withdraw from Arts Council England’s portfolio

Guardian Book Blog

29.03.2025

Errollyn Wallen: Orchestral Works album review – momentum and drive from the Master of the King’s Music | Classical music | The Guardian

Dating from 2000 to 2023, referencing folk dance, spirituals and house music and including works for voices, there’s real of variety and quality here

Guardian Book Blog

29.03.2025

Tales of Apollo and Hercules review – Handel double bill channels Don Draper and Hollywood musicals | Classical music | The Guardian

An imaginative melding of a 1710 Handel cantata and a 1751 oratorio results in a nifty two-act opera-ballet – and a dazzling cornucopia of images

Guardian Book Blog

28.03.2025

Britten Sinfonia/Berman review – haunting premiere about memories of the Holocaust | Britten Sinfonia | The Guardian

Michael Zev Gordon’s new piece about his Polish Jewish ancestors, for two narrators, a baritone and string orchestra, was performed with nuance, solemnity and intensity

Guardian Book Blog

28.03.2025

Dvořák and Price String Quintets album review – a pairing of passion and sparkle | Classical music | The Guardian

Dvořák’s Quintet No 2 in A major is full of charm, while Florence Price’s Piano Quintet in A minor is fleet of foot; this dream-team of chamber music makes them an excellent match

Guardian Book Blog

27.03.2025

Alexandros Kapelis/Berliner Barock Solisten review – ravishing period immersion in Bach’s keyboard concertos | Classical music | The Guardian

The Solisten’s historically informed style played on modern instruments, with Kapelis’s crisp piano articulation, made for a musical equivalent of Bridgerton

Guardian Book Blog

26.03.2025

Mishka Rushdie Momen review – the poignancy and power of Schubert unleashed | Classical music | The Guardian

The pianist captured the vast dynamic contrasts of Schubert’s sonatas; and her fine playing of William Byrd was a refreshing foil foil

Guardian Book Blog

25.03.2025

ACO/Tognetti review – a masterclass in chamber music-making | Classical music | The Guardian

The Australian Chamber Orchestra played with fearlessness, curiosity and style in music by Bach, Shostakovich and, most poignantly, Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this month

Guardian Book Blog

25.03.2025

Bill Ashton obituary | Jazz | The Guardian

Founder of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and tireless champion of talented young musicians

Guardian Book Blog

24.03.2025

The week in classical: Le nozze di Figaro; Die Zauberflöte – review | Classical music | The Guardian

In uncertain times, future stars shine in two new Mozart productions – a fizzing 80s Figaro and a hospital-set Magic Flute that strikes one uneasy note…

Guardian Book Blog

23.03.2025

Ravel: Fragments album review – Chamayou’s piano dances and dazzles in a luminous birthday celebration | Classical music | The Guardian

A must-listen for Ravel lovers, large-scale works such as Daphnis et Chloé shine alongside miniatures by contemporaries and more recent admirers

Guardian Book Blog

21.03.2025

Boulez: Livre pour Quatuor album review – first complete recording illuminates its vertiginous contrasts | Classical music | The Guardian

Moments of stillness and animation, spareness and exuberance, are highlighted in a confident performance of a work started in 1948 – now finally recorded with its fourth movement

Guardian Book Blog

21.03.2025

Steve Reich: ‘We all wish art could counter the direction of US politics. But it can’t’ | Steve Reich | The Guardian

Now 88, the minimalist composer has reissued his life’s work. He answers your questions about Bowie, the Grateful Dead, spirituality – and his complicated friendship with Philip Glass

Guardian Book Blog

21.03.2025

Turandot review – with high energy, mighty voices and delicacy, epic staging feels newly minted | Opera | The Guardian

Andrei Serban’s 1984 production of Puccini’s final opera is meticulously revived with Sondra Radvanovsky and SeokJong Baek both stellar in the central roles. In the pit, Rafael Payare brings care and lightness to the score<br>

Guardian Book Blog

21.03.2025

Sofia Gubaidulina obituary | Classical music | The Guardian

Russian composer whose music expressed the deep, emotional mysticism that sprang from her religious convictions

Guardian Book Blog

20.03.2025

Nash Ensemble at 60 review – world premieres and evocative old favourites | Classical music | The Guardian

From Simon Holt’s bird-like Acrobats on a Loose Wire to Helen Grime’s haunting Long Have I Lain Beside the Water, the four new works join more than 330 commissioned over the past six decades

Guardian Book Blog

17.03.2025

Uproar review – shimmering premieres showcase the dynamism of Welsh new music ensemble | Classical music | The Guardian

Ligeti’s mesmerising Chamber Concerto was the centrepiece of this Wales-focused concert, which moved from hedonistic piano to crystalline celeste

Guardian Book Blog

16.03.2025

Missed out on Glasto? Here’s 30 major festivals you can still book now | Music | The Guardian

From whomping dub soundsystems and clattering thrash metal to comedy, jazz and kids’ entertainment, this year’s UK festivals have something for everyone – and you’ve still got time to get in on the alfresco action

Guardian Book Blog

16.03.2025

44th Move: Anthem review – veers admirably from the beaten path | Jazz | The Guardian

Pianist and producer Alfa Mist’s latest project, with drummer Richard Spaven, showcases two musicians at the top of their game

Guardian Book Blog

14.03.2025

Levit/Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer review – edgy Prokofiev baffles and compels | Classical music | The Guardian

Under Iván Fischer’s baton, clarinettist Ákos Ács and pianist Igor Levit guided the orchestra to hurtling heights – buzzing speaker notwithstanding

Guardian Book Blog

14.03.2025

LPO/Edusei review – devastating Wijeratne and Martinů meet zany fun with Zappa | London Philharmonic Orchestra | The Guardian

London Philharmonic programme brought together aching music of exile and displacement with kooky excursions by the pop fusion guru

Guardian Book Blog

14.03.2025

Fauré: La Bonne Chanson and Other Songs album review – the ecstasy of unbuttoned love | Classical music | The Guardian

The later, string-quintet version of Fauré’s song cycle, celebrating his affection for the married Emma Bardac, is sung and played with beauty and finesse

Guardian Book Blog

14.03.2025

Artists have the power to stand up for truth, says Edinburgh festival director | Edinburgh festival 2025 | The Guardian

Performers can fight cynicism in age of Trump, says Nicola Benedetti as she announces 2025 programme

Guardian Book Blog

14.03.2025

Mahler Symphony No 3 album review – slightly sub-par outing for ‘least hysterical’ work | Classical music | The Guardian

Curiously the Czech Philharmonic, ideally placed as an interpreter of Mahler, don’t achieve the necessary ecstatic intensity here

Guardian Book Blog

13.03.2025

Czech Phil/Bychkov review – fiendish Mozart duo contrasts with gargantuan Mahler | Classical music | The Guardian

The Labèque sisters gave an uncannily composite performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos, then chief conductor Semyon Bychkov took the Czech Philharmonic through a mighty rendering of Mahler’s Fifth

Guardian Book Blog

10.03.2025

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato review – dazzling opening to London Handel festival | Classical music | The Guardian

Jonathan Cohen and his crack baroque ensemble Arcangelo seized upon the colourful pastoral with relish, lighting up Handel’s own parish church

Guardian Book Blog

10.03.2025

The week in classical: The Makropulos Affair; Uprising – review | Classical music | The Guardian

Orla Boylan captivates in Olivia Fuchs’s masterly Scottish Opera Janáček. And Jonathan Dove’s rousing new community opera puts down firm roots

Guardian Book Blog

09.03.2025

‘Reopen these youth clubs’: Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso on nurturing young artistic talent | Jazz | The Guardian

Drummer and band leader used Brits awards stage to spotlight clubs that help musicians like himself to thrive

home›Guardian Book Blog›Music

Guardian Book Blog - Music

Kamasi Washington review – hip-hop and P-funk inform an outrageously joyful set | Kamasi Washington | The Guardian

Chaka Khan on Prince, poetry and wild, wonderful nights: ‘No one’s done anything but craziness at 4am’ | Chaka Khan | The Guardian

Joe Lovano: Homage review – jazz giant and freethinking trio harmoniously intertwine | Music | The Guardian

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk album review – controversial opera’s drama is dulled | Classical music | The Guardian

Bartók: Piano Works album review – Sonya Bach guides us from romantic roots to expressionist power | Music | The Guardian

Arts Council England defends support of classical music amid loss of trust | Arts Council England | The Guardian

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez review – still refreshingly alien | Classical music | The Guardian

Le Roi d’Ys review – the floodgates open to Lalo’s thrilling tale of love, rage and war | Opera | The Guardian

The Tallis Scholars review – inspired pairing of Palestrina and Pärt brings shining warmth and clarity | Classical music | The Guardian

DiDonato/Emelyanychev review – ingenious artistry brings Schubert’s bleak Winterreise to life | Classical music | The Guardian

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Belonging review – a virtuosic take on Keith Jarrett’s seminal 70s album | Jazz | The Guardian

The week in classical: Arias Reimagined; Rhythm of the Seasons; Out of the Deep; Turandot – review | Classical music | The Guardian

Wigmore Hall says it no longer requires public funding | Wigmore Hall | The Guardian

Errollyn Wallen: Orchestral Works album review – momentum and drive from the Master of the King’s Music | Classical music | The Guardian

Tales of Apollo and Hercules review – Handel double bill channels Don Draper and Hollywood musicals | Classical music | The Guardian

Britten Sinfonia/Berman review – haunting premiere about memories of the Holocaust | Britten Sinfonia | The Guardian

Dvořák and Price String Quintets album review – a pairing of passion and sparkle | Classical music | The Guardian

Alexandros Kapelis/Berliner Barock Solisten review – ravishing period immersion in Bach’s keyboard concertos | Classical music | The Guardian

Mishka Rushdie Momen review – the poignancy and power of Schubert unleashed | Classical music | The Guardian

ACO/Tognetti review – a masterclass in chamber music-making | Classical music | The Guardian

Bill Ashton obituary | Jazz | The Guardian

The week in classical: Le nozze di Figaro; Die Zauberflöte – review | Classical music | The Guardian

Ravel: Fragments album review – Chamayou’s piano dances and dazzles in a luminous birthday celebration | Classical music | The Guardian

Boulez: Livre pour Quatuor album review – first complete recording illuminates its vertiginous contrasts | Classical music | The Guardian

Steve Reich: ‘We all wish art could counter the direction of US politics. But it can’t’ | Steve Reich | The Guardian

Turandot review – with high energy, mighty voices and delicacy, epic staging feels newly minted | Opera | The Guardian

Sofia Gubaidulina obituary | Classical music | The Guardian

Nash Ensemble at 60 review – world premieres and evocative old favourites | Classical music | The Guardian

Uproar review – shimmering premieres showcase the dynamism of Welsh new music ensemble | Classical music | The Guardian

Missed out on Glasto? Here’s 30 major festivals you can still book now | Music | The Guardian

44th Move: Anthem review – veers admirably from the beaten path | Jazz | The Guardian

Levit/Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer review – edgy Prokofiev baffles and compels | Classical music | The Guardian

LPO/Edusei review – devastating Wijeratne and Martinů meet zany fun with Zappa | London Philharmonic Orchestra | The Guardian

Fauré: La Bonne Chanson and Other Songs album review – the ecstasy of unbuttoned love | Classical music | The Guardian

Artists have the power to stand up for truth, says Edinburgh festival director | Edinburgh festival 2025 | The Guardian

Mahler Symphony No 3 album review – slightly sub-par outing for ‘least hysterical’ work | Classical music | The Guardian

Czech Phil/Bychkov review – fiendish Mozart duo contrasts with gargantuan Mahler | Classical music | The Guardian

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato review – dazzling opening to London Handel festival | Classical music | The Guardian

The week in classical: The Makropulos Affair; Uprising – review | Classical music | The Guardian

‘Reopen these youth clubs’: Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso on nurturing young artistic talent | Jazz | The Guardian

home
›
Guardian Book Blog
›
Music