Our Choices The

BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Oliver Condy Editor Just before going to press, a new Warner recording of Bernstein’s symphonies performed by the Orchestra dell’accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano landed on my desk. It’s been on my player for a few days now as I marvel at superbly crafted and orchestrated, not to mention utterly thrilling, works that to my mind place Bernstein at the forefront of 20th-century orchestral composers.

Jeremy Pound Deputy editor Given the lengthy period of warm weather we’ve had over summer, it was uncannily prescient of July’s Buxton International Festival to programme Iain Farrington’s wonderful Heatwave for flute, oboe and piano, played by Juliette Bausor, Daniel Bates and Simon Lepper. Over three movements, Farrington explores the various moods created by a hot, sticky day in a city, from feisty tempers to sleepy sultriness. It’s great fun.

Rebecca Franks Managing editor I was hooked by Handel’s Agrippina at The Grange Festival this summer. While the whole cast was strong, Anna Bonitatibus was particularly compelling in the title role, as chief plotter of Claudius’s downfall. Director Walter Sutcliffe brought out all the dark comedy of this political satire – there are, of course, profound moments but mainly this was great entertainment.

Michael Beek Reviews editor Requiem masses are not typical holiday listening, perhaps, but that’s exactly what I loaded onto my phone for six days in Majorca. There I was, reclining by the pool in the company of Mozart, Haydn, Fauré, Saint-saëns, Britten, Berlioz, Verdi and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sobering, yes, but the final journeys into paradise seemed fitting as I lay beneath the palms. Freya Parr Editorial assistant Having recently moved house and upgraded from a shoebox-sized bedroom to one that feels palatial in comparison, I now have room for a record player. Rostropovich (below) playing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 sounds more gritty on vinyl than I’d have imagined, and my new flatmates are already cursing my penchant for high-octane early-morning orchestral music.

Alice Pearson Disc editor Little-known and, in my opinion, much underrated Breton composer Paul Le Flem’s Sept pièces enfantines are charming and evocative miniatures, originally written for piano but later brilliantly orchestrated. Le Flem acknowledged his influences as ‘my native Brittany, Debussy and D’indy’, all of which are apparent in these miniatures.