The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites...
Charlotte Smith Editor An Easter trip to Crantock in Cornwall presented the perfect opportunity for a clifftop walk, complete with headphones. First up, to accompany crashing waves and gliding seagulls, was Vaughan Williams’s Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, performed by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, followed by his Six Studies in English Folksong. Finally, Copland’s Appalachian Spring from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – more prairies and hoedowns than windswept shores, but equally affecting!
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor The ‘spring is in the air’ playlist of Tom Service’s first Saturday Breakfast programme on Radio 3 in April was accompanied by incessant wind and rain outside, so I can imagine the ironic grins when Tsfasman’s ‘Snowflakes’ was programmed for the following week. Played by pianist Chiyan Wong, this sparkling example of Soviet jazz made a perfect companion to what turned to be – of course – a bright, sunny morning.
Michael Beek Reviews editor While exploring the tiny, cobbled streets of Stockholm’s Gamla Stan (Old Town), I was drawn into its striking German Church by the sound of beautiful music. A local choir was in rehearsal for its forthcoming Easter performance of Bach’s
St John Passion, and their sound was heavenly. More tourists piled in, immediately hushed by this moment of peace; a welcome pause from the hustle, bustle and blustery wind outside.
Steve Wright Content producer Jackson Brodie, the lovable weather-beaten protagonist of Kate Atkinson’s detective novels, never has much time for classical music – until he discovers Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. He inspired me to go back and revisit a work I thought I had essentially finished with – and, of course, there have been fresh rewards. In particular, the transition from the Scherzo to the finale is a moment of spine-tingling tension, followed by joyous release.