Handel’s tyrants, kings and fathers brought to musical life.

The British pianist is touring Australia, has two CDs on release and has written his first novel. As well as discussing the priesthood, he talks to Limelight about dreams, Debussy, Rachmaninov and rentboys.

An accomplished, thoughtfully rendered Debussy recital from Lucy Crowe.

Pianist Steven Osborne discusses his Debussy disc on Hyperion, Limelight's Recording of the Month in December.

Debussy a decade on: Osborne returns to an old love to produce another knockout recording.

Boesch dons Schubert's coat for another winter of much content.

The cellist, whose recording is Limelight's Orchestral Recording of the Year, explains why he returned to the concertos after 27 years.

Steven Isserlis brings his trademark elegance, purity and focus to punchy, period aware performances.

Hamelin makes a near-silent journey into pristine space.

He led a modernist Renaissance in Scotland, premiering Bartók and Hindemith, but his own music has been overlooked. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Stephen Hough chats to Limelight’s editor about Aussie audiences and why chefs may be as important as conductors. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Every cloud, they say, has a silver lining. In the dark days of World War II, Cambridge was a bleak place; emptied of students and the famous windows of King’s College Chapel put in storage. Attempts were made to keep up appearances. Services in college chapels were more or less maintained, despite a dearth of adult male singers and college organists being called up. A middle-aged Herbert Howells was called upon to deputise at St. John’s College. Having weathered the death of his young son from meningitis and finding his style of music increasingly unfashionable, Howells found solace in university life. Amongst the supportive colleagues he found at Cambridge was the Dean of King’s, Eric Milner-White. He suggested that Howells should write some settings of the canticles for the college chapel. Taking up the challenge reinvigorated Howells’s composing career and gave Anglicans some of their most beloved 20th-century music. Howells eventually completed his music for King’s, setting all three choral services: Matins, Holy Communion and Evensong under the college’s Latin name.  One of the many advantages of this new recording is having all three services on the one disc. The evening canticles have been recorded countless times, but the other…