classical music & opera
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Disputed Beethoven manuscript fails to sell at auctionSotheby’s hits out at ‘irresponsible’ academic who publicly questioned legitimacy of work credited to Beethoven’s hand, despite not inspecting it in person. But Professor Barry Cooper says he is backed by other scholars -
Krenek: Orpheus und Eurydike CD review – Kokoschka's bitter tale is fascinating rarityErnst Krenek’s setting of the underworld myth, from a play by Oskar Kokoschka written after his turbulent affair with Alma Mahler, is patchy but delivered with love
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Das Rheingold: Hallé/Elder at Bridgewater HallSamuel Youn’s Alberich and Iain Paterson’s Wotan were among the highlights of the Hallé’s revelatory concert performance of Wagner’s Rheingold under Mark Elder -
Pauline Oliveros, 'deep listening' pioneer, dies aged 84The influential improviser and experimental composer coined the ‘deep listening’ concept that preached active and thoughtful awareness of sound
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Bram Van SambeekFrom sampling, Jordi Savall and Stravinsky, to the wonders of Muse and Vivaldi, the bassoonist on the music that inps
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The Kreisler Story CD review – Daniel Röhn channels KreislerDaniel Röhn (violin), Paul Rivinius (piano)
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CPE Bach: Der Frühling CD review – excellent, tight-knit playingCafé Zimmermann, Rupert Charlesworth (tenor)
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facing the music
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Yo-Yo Ma: 'I'd like to learn the theremin. It's got a remarkable sound and history.'The cellist on growing up with Schubert and Schumann, and the fascination of the theremin
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Francesco Tristano: 'Karaoke choice? Madonna’s Vogue. With choreography, no kidding.'From Keith Jarrett’s new musical grammar to John Cage’s iconoclasm via Bach and Busoni, the composer and pianist tells us what inspires him
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weekly from the archive
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David Munrow profile - 'not even Mick Jagger has such versatile lips'9 March 1971: Meirion Bowen on the scholar, virtuosic musician and crumhorn whizzkid at the forefront of the period-instrument movement, who died tragically young 40 years ago
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Beethoven: 'Even among his oldest friends, he must be humoured like a wayward child'From the archive, 23 April 1827: Following the death of Beethoven, the Observer publishes a personal account of the eccentric and prodigiously talented composer
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Wagner wines, collars and cravats, and the man himself in a velvet cap: our report from the first Bayreuth festivalFrom the archive, 11 August 1876: The Guardian reports from the very first Bayreuth Wagner festival, presided over by the composer himself.
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The Boston Globe’s initiative to fund a classical music critic by nonprofit groups raises troubling questions for arts critics on both sides of the AtlanticA subsidised critic is the thin end of a dangerous wedge
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London's new concert hall project has stalled – and it's no great lossArguments in favour left many unconvinced, and with his Barbican concerts Simon Rattle has already showed the difference he can make to a venue’s sound
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you may have missed
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Lulu, English National Opera – Kentridge makes Berg's opera a serious visual feastWilliam Kentridge and conductor Mark Wigglesworth underplay the humour as Brenda Rae proves a tireless, enigmatic heart to a production awash with projected imagery
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Teodor Currentzis is classical music breaking the four-minute mileThis young Greek conductor’s recordings of Mozart operas have redefined music and changed my life with their profound vision, energy and face-punching force
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Gareth Malone: 'I was a bohemian'The choirmaster who used to sell ice creams on Bournemouth beach is angling for his next Christmas No 1 – and teaching Team GB how to sing the National Anthem properly
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Behind the scenes at the Last Night of the PromsPhotographer Teri Pengilly was given exclusive access to the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday to watch preparations for the biggest night in classical music’s calendar
guides
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Tom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed musical historyTom Service's survey of the 50 symphonies that changed classical music
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A guide to contemporary classical musicTom Service introduces 50 composers from the contemporary classical music scene
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First night Alice's Adventures Under Ground review – Barry's breathless and brilliant raid on Lewis Carroll