The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites
Oliver Condy Editor
I’ve been enjoying exploring the music of the US composer Amy Beach, including the mighty piano Prelude and Fugue from 1917. The opening section is thoroughly Lisztian with its virtuosic writing and chromatic harmonies, while the fugue is austere and angular but brilliantly worked out.
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
A BBC Symphony Orchestra concert on Radio 3 introduced me to John Adams’s The Wounddresser, sung by Marcus Farnsworth. Setting words by poet Walt Whitman, who was a hospital volunteer in the US Civil War, Adams conjures up the dark misery of the battlefield with a haunting soundscape that reminds me a little of Holst.
Rebecca Franks Managing editor
Having a hankering to listen to Bach, I put on Beatrice Rana’s recording of the Goldberg Variations and was transfixed. She brings a rare serenity to the Aria, and plays the variations with a wonderfully luminous touch. It all seemed to fit the mood of a summer evening perfectly.
Michael Beek Reviews editor
Reading Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertaining memoir, Unmasked, has led me to discover the music of his father, William Lloyd Webber. I’ve since fallen for the lilting beauty of The Moon, written for string orchestra, and the unashamed romanticism of his symphonic poem Aurora.
Alice Pearson Disc editor
I’m always keen to remind people that Widor’s famous Toccata rounds off an organ symphony of five equally colourful movements. Those ecstatic arpeggios sound stunning under the fingers of Ben van Oosten at the organ of St Ouen in Rouen, crowning the full symphonic experience.
Freya Parr Editorial assistant
Sitting in a rowing boat in Hyde Park on the hot May bank holiday weekend, I turned to the only recording I could find on my phone for company: Lucas Debargue’s recording of Szymanowski’s Piano Sonata No. 2. Its luxurious melodies and clear recorded sound made me more than happy to have it on repeat for two hours on the water.