Our Choices
The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites
Oliver Condy Editor
A trip to New York gave me the chance to see pianist Marc-andré Hamelin at Carnegie
Hall. His solo programme included Russian composer Feinberg’s fiendish Sonata No. 3, a colossal Scriabin-esque work that stretches the performer’s technique and memory to the absolute max. After his compelling performance, I asked Hamelin how he managed to remember it all. ‘You have to be quite obsessive,’ he laughed. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
Keen to apply a bit of topicality to my listening, I was pleased to come across Bach’s Town Council Election Cantatas, composed in Mühlhausen and Leipzig to push the boat out at the inauguration of the towns’ new governing bodies. A duty of his day job they may have been but, this being JSB, they are never dull, especially when performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir under Ton Koopman.
Rebecca Franks Managing editor
On a creative writing course a while back, the tutor suggested making playlists to write to. I finally got round to it one wintry morning – and, of course, wish I’d done it sooner. I’m writing something set in 1783, and a quick Google pinpointed pieces from that year. Cue Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D, some Beethoven, Viotti and CPE Bach. Not bad.
Michael Beek Reviews editor
I’ve enjoyed catching up with The Open Ears Project, a podcast by New York’s WQXR radio station that ran throughout September. The brainchild of Clemency Burton-hill, it saw people (some famous) talk about a favourite piece of classical music and what it means to them. After the short, sometimes moving, monologues you get to hear the piece in full. Lovely concept. Freya Parr Editorial assistant
On a rainy weekend, I found myself enduring relentless downpours as I trudged through the streets of London between various choral engagements. Not content with limiting myself to hearing the European premiere of Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil, I also attended a choral workshop with Whitacre, who led us in some of his best-known works. The ‘Notes’ app on my phone is now full of wise words from the man himself, who is a walking, talking quote machine.