Poles apart 20th-century greats, fused by Steinbacher.

We asked our readers to vote on their favourite pieces of classical music for Christmas. Here are the results!

Just in time for your Christmas stockings, our critics pick their standout CDs.

From childhood until his final years, Britten’s love of celebrating at Christmas time resulted in a wealth of festive works.

The December 2017 issue of Limelight Magazine features our annual Limelight Recording of the Year, why Bach's yule-fest trumps Messiah, and the scraps of music hiding a royal secret.

Remembrances of times past: Nicholas Daniel offers a heartfelt homage to his beloved teacher.

Benjamin Britten’s interest in the music of his great Baroque predecessor Henry Purcell extended far beyond basing his Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra on the Rondeau from Purcell’s Abdelazer suite. Purcell’s songs were championed in Britten’s own idiosyncratic arrangements for piano and voice.Purcell’s music for string consort also exerted a fascination for Britten whose String Quartet No 2 contains a Chacony: a direct homage to Purcell’s  ‘chaconne’ for four-part string ensemble. Britten made a performing edition of Purcell’s Chacony in the late 1950s (revised in 1963), and this is the version used by the Emerson String Quartet – here celebrating their 40th anniversary with the first release on Decca’s new Decca Gold label – in a fascinating programme which also includes a selection of Purcell’s Fantazias for viol consort along with Britten’s Second and Third String Quartets. Despite some three centuries and enormous stylistic differences separating the two composers, their music complements each other’s rather well – which is unsurprising, given Britten’s updating of archaic forms and Purcell’s love of dissonance and complexity.Unsurprising too, in this instance, given the Emersons’ insightful and highly expressive readings, which find the modern in Purcell and the ancient in Britten… Continue reading Get…

Even in Benjamin Britten’s day, his operatic treatment of Livy’s reported act of Etruscan on Roman violence raised eyebrows. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Brett Weymark and SCC would have made Richard Gill proud, not to mention Britten.

For the conductor, singing the title role in Benjamin Britten’s cantata at the age of 19 was a life-changing experience. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Ju Hyeon Han is the first blind singer to play a lead role in an American conservatory or university opera production.

Joseph Nolan plans to welcome the Queen of Sheba amongst a programme ranging from Bach to Britten. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in