Our Choices
The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites
Charlotte Smith Editor
This month I’ve been revisiting Vaughan Williams’s Piano Quintet of 1905. Some years ago, I sought out the Quintet to perform with my family piano quartet (plus an additional double bassist). Although we never had the opportunity to play the work in public, listening to the Munich Piano Trio’s fine recording on Genuin has inspired me to dig out the sheet music again.
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
From his Concerto Gregoriano to the Pines of Rome, I love how Respighi draws on ancient chant to create a distinctive sense of space and atmosphere. He’s also at it in his Church Windows, in which we hear four imaginary depictions in stained glass, from the fierce battle fought by ‘Saint Michael Archangel’ to the solemn procession in ‘The Matins of St Clare’. The Philharmonia’s 1984 recording under Geoffrey Simon has long been a favourite of mine.
Alice Pearson Cover CD editor
The enduring popularity of Grieg’s Piano Concerto and incidental music to Peer Gynt can almost make the Norwegian composer seem like a two-hit wonder. A deeper exploration of his music reveals this is definitely not the case. I’ve been listening to Grieg’s Two Nordic Melodies, performed by the Gothenburg Symphony under
Neeme Järvi and they are so moving, particularly for lovers of folk-inspired music.
Michael Beek Reviews editor
Bristol Beacon (currently under reconstruction) is enjoying a blossoming partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra. The pairing is a boon for us who live in the West, too, and it was a treat to go and see them at The Forum in Bath recently. Simon Rattle conducted a really varied programme, which included a barnstorming performance of Schumann’s Second Symphony.
Freya Parr Digital editor, staff writer
I’ve been diving headfirst into the work William Basinski. Based on the manipulation of reelto-reel tape loops, Basinski’s music is ambient and otherworldly, but also incredibly grounding. His Disintegration Loops comprises recordings of gradually deteriorating tape loops, completed on the morning of the 9/11 attacks in New York.