Our Choices
The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites
Oliver Condy Editor
A visit to the Cromford Steam Rally in August proved a surprisingly musical affair, with several fairground organs blasting forth (including a steam-driven carousel organ and one built into the boot of a car). Over in the marquee, meanwhile, the Chapeltown Silver Prize Band’s selection of arrangements and original works went marvellously with a burger and beer.
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
The recent news that conductor Vasily Petrenko is to leave the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021 has had me revisiting some of the highlights of his 12 years there so far. Their 2010 recording of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is, for me, the stand-out moment: from the hair-raising assault of the second and third movements to the unsettlingly mysterious stillness of the fourth, it’s an impressively masterful performance.
Rebecca Franks Managing editor
Many happy returns to Thea Musgrave, whose 90th birthday was marked at this year’s Proms. I loved her orchestral piece Phoenix Rising, superbly performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Richard Farnes. It’s a colourful, vivid score that traces the phoenix’s ascent from the ashes. But there’s a comic theatrical twist too, that had the audience softly chuckling.
Michael Beek Freya Parr Reviews editor
Since reading a book about Granville Bantock, I’ve been delving into recordings of his works. He’s a composer I admit to being previously unfamiliar with, but I’m now a bit of a fan. Like the man, the music is at times excessive and larger than life, though his lighter, softer side can be found in pieces like Memories of Sapphire.
Editorial assistant
I’ve had an eclectic month of music, with a trip to the new Mamma Mia! film, hours’ worth of BBC Proms catch-ups on BBC iplayer and two weekends of festival-going. My standout discovery was the Finnish vocal group Tuuletar, who performed at WOMAD and whose dynamic manipulation of traditional Finnish folk music blew me away.