The historic Decca label has been restructured, heralding a return to its UK roots and a confirmed commitment to classical music. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

London-based music company EMI has been taken over by American financial services company Citigroup. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

American composer and pioneer of electronic music passes away at the age of 94. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

British film composer John Barry has died at the age of 77. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

According to research published in Medical Humanities, it is likely that Frédéric Chopin suffered from epilepsy. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious conservatories, has been added to the NSW heritage register. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Bradley Kunda and Matt Withers from Brew Guitar Duo on their stunning new album of Australian guitar music Landscape. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

It was interesting, that despite his considerable discography, none of his recordings was considered good enough for the recent ABC Classic FM Symphony Countdown, confirming my theory that Rattle’s never recorded anything that hasn’t been done better by at least several other conductors. This Brahms cycle, virtually a rite of passage for Chief Conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic, doesn’t have any startling revelations, but is unlikely to disappoint either and improves as it progresses. To describe the playing as wonderful is hardly revelatory either. Rattle certainly unleashes the incomparable firepower in the finale of the First and, somewhat inappropriately, in the first movement of the Second Symphony – no pastoral idyll here. The Third Symphony receives a glowing performance with steady tempos and the intermezzo-like third movement has a particularly autumnal radiance. The visionary Fourth is sublime from start to finish, with the tango-like rhythm of the opening especially seductive in Rattle’s hands and the passacaglia finale (Brahms’s greatest symphonic movement?) sublimely phrased. My two quibbles are that Rattle does not observe the first movement repeats in the First and Second Symphonies, yet does in the third. The other is the atrociously niggardly playing… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access…

Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak is the latest artist to be signed by Decca Classics, Universal’s US-based classical label. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Pianist Nelson Freire has been made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

For regularly updated news, reviews, features and blogs, as well as up-to-date events and ABC Classic FM listings, the new Limelight website is the place to be.

Sony Classical has announced an exclusive long term agreement with Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in