György Ligeti’s Sonic Influence: From Inspiring Radiohead to Composing Music as Piercing as ‘a Knife through Stalin’s Heart’
In Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the appearance of the big black monolith is intensified by strange, ominous music. Voices and instruments cautiously creep outwards from a low B-flat,…
Masterpieces of Classical Music in the 21st Century
We will select the greatest culture since 2000, carefully compiled by critics and editors. We begin with a countdown of defining classical music compositions, from X-rated opera to high-tech string…
‘My life is beautiful’: Felix Klieser, Virtuoso Horn Player Using His Toes, Makes Proms Debut
The German musician refused to let being born without arms stop him from becoming a horn virtuoso. As he prepares for the Royal Albert Hall concerts, he explains why the real…
Review of Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History: Fighting Orchestrated Racial Discrimination
From Chevalier De Saint-Georges to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, black classical musicians and composers have been largely written out of the canon. This fascinating one-off asks why Bringing black classical compositions back…
This Resounding Symphony of Freedom: ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’
As the summer heat radiates, a symphony resonating with a sense of liberty graces our hearts. The U.S. Marine Band breathes life into the majestic composition of SOUSA’s ‘The Stars…
Witness the Musical Brilliance of an 80-Year-Old Street Pianist Hailed as a ‘Profound Genius’
Natalie Trayling is an Australian street performer. While I had seen street performers with various talents such as singers and dancers, there was something different in Natalie. She is “arguably…
Unveiling the Delight of Classical Music: Anything but Dull!
All too often Classical music is given a raw deal and summarily dismissed as boring, or perhaps worse still irrelevant. In part, I think some of these sentiments come from the experiences people have…
The Saddest Classical Music Pieces Guaranteed To Make You Cry
Which pieces of classical music are guaranteed to make you cry? Miserere Nostri by Tallis Setting just three words – ‘Miserere nostri, Domine’ (‘Have pity on us, Lord’) – Tallis’s penitential anthem…
The Top 10 Most Underrated Composers
There are composers who everyone knows and there are composers who no one knows. There’s also a ‘middle’ category of composers whose names may be familiar to music-lovers, but whose…
‘They deserve a place in history’: Map of female composers created by a music teacher
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his sister, Maria Anna, who was also a child musical prodigy, at the piano. Photograph: Imagno/Getty Images Two siblings, both considered child prodigies, dazzled audiences across…