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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guardian Book Blog

09.03.2025

Dunedin Consort/Butt review – A bog, but not standard as Fennessy’s new cantata premieres | Classical music | The Guardian

Inspired by the ancient Faddan More Psalter unearthed after 1,000 years, the Dunedin Consort’s commission was direct and timeless in an utterly convincing way

Guardian Book Blog

08.03.2025

Everybody Loves the Sunshine is just one point of perfection in Roy Ayers’ astonishing catalogue | Music | The Guardian

Ayers’ genre-bending jazz-funk sound produced one fantastic album after another – and then found a new lease of life in hip-hop sampling

Guardian Book Blog

08.03.2025

Mozart: Serenades; Gran Partita review – bright tones and period-instrument agility | Classical music | The Guardian

The Gran Partita is a supreme instrumental masterpiece and Baldeyrou and his ensemble do it full justice in this first disc of a Mozart series

Guardian Book Blog

08.03.2025

Roy Ayers obituary | Music | The Guardian

Jazz-soul vibraphonist and band leader best known for his laid-back summer track Everybody Loves the Sunshine

Guardian Book Blog

07.03.2025

Alabaster DePlume: A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole review – stunning sax melodies to silence the cynics | Music | The Guardian

While some listeners might baulk at the earnest spoken-word incantations, you can’t argue with DePlume’s outstanding melodies, played with tremulous vibrato

Guardian Book Blog

07.03.2025

Michael Wollny Trio: Living Ghosts review – exceptional free-improv seance, with added Nick Cave | Music | The Guardian

<strong>(ACT)</strong><br>With bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Eric Schaefer, the German pianist’s unpredictable live album nimbly traverses the genre’s history

home›Guardian Book Blog›Music

Guardian Book Blog - Music

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sofia Gubaidulina obituary | Classical music | The Guardian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dunedin Consort/Butt review – A bog, but not standard as Fennessy’s new cantata premieres | Classical music | The Guardian

Everybody Loves the Sunshine is just one point of perfection in Roy Ayers’ astonishing catalogue | Music | The Guardian

Mozart: Serenades; Gran Partita review – bright tones and period-instrument agility | Classical music | The Guardian

Roy Ayers obituary | Music | The Guardian

Alabaster DePlume: A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole review – stunning sax melodies to silence the cynics | Music | The Guardian

Michael Wollny Trio: Living Ghosts review – exceptional free-improv seance, with added Nick Cave | Music | The Guardian

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