The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Charlotte Smith Editor

Braving a trip to the Barbican on a cold February evening was well worth the effort, not only to hear Bacewicz’s Fourth Symphony, passionately performed by the BBC Symphony under Sakari Oramo, but also for the chance to see two of the best young string players of the moment – violinist Johan Dalene and violist Timothy Ridout – performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. All expectations were realised in a reading of great sensitivity, humour and charisma. Bravo!

Jeremy Pound Deputy editor

The film itself leaves me unmoved – she’s drippy, he’s a cad – but Brief Encounter does at least have a memorable soundtrack. Hearing Moszkowski’s Bolero played in the tearoom inspired me to explore of all five of his Spanish Dances in the 1957 recording by the LSO under Artaúlfo Argenta – sunny and characterful, these are performances that, unlike our romantic couple, I really warm to.

Michael Beek Reviews editor

I enjoyed catching up on Steven Spielberg’s Desert Island Discs. One of his choices was Bach’s Fugue in G minor and it reminded me how beautifully he used the Adagio from composer’s Concerto in D minor, BWV 974, in his film The Fabelmans (above). He made a rare departure from an original score, underlining the discovery of the mother’s marital infidelity with the inexplicable sadness of this piece on solo piano – played by her in the next room.

Steve Wright Content producer

I’ve been enjoying Florence Price’s Symphony

No. 1. Yes, you can hear echoes of Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony, but the piece is most interesting when it follows its own musical avenues: a lovely Largo, evoking African-american church music and featuring some beautiful woodwind writing; the magical moment when the main theme returns, this time joined by the sound of bells; and the boisterous good fun of the third movement, a stomping, thigh-slapping ‘Juba Dance’.

Alice Pearson Cover CD editor

Jessye Norman’s 1977 recording of Duparc’s song L’invitation au voyage is stunning, and the perfect incentive to explore more of his music. The Parisian master of song sets words by Baudelaire that were inspired by the exotic beauty the poet discovered while on a voyage to India. Duparc mirrors the words to create exquisite music of ‘harmony and beauty, luxury, calm and delight’.