WELCOME to the PROMS! SIR ANDREW DAVIS and Sir Henry Wood Invite You to the World’S Greatest Music Festival PLUS! FULL PROMS LISTINGS See P28
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CDS, DVDSREVIEWS & BOOKS115 THE WORLD’S BEST-SELLING CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE FULL BBC RADIO 3 & CLASSICAL MUSIC TV LISTINGS! See p100 see p65 THE SUMMER STARTS HERE… WELCOME TO THE PROMS! SIR ANDREW DAVIS and Sir Henry Wood invite you to the world’s greatest music festival PLUS! FULL PROMS LISTINGS See p28 INSIDE YOUR SPECIAL ISSUE including Behind the scenes What does it take to bring the Albert Hall to your living room? Harrison Birtwistle We talk to the composer who caused panic at the Proms Beethoven Why the greatest symphonist vk.com/englishlibrary GREATfound writing WORKS opera EXPLORED! so difficult PLUS HUNDREDS OF OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE AT GREAT PRICES FROM PARTICIPATING RETAILERS PRICES FROM PARTICIPATING GREAT AT PLUS HUNDREDS OF OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE BEST-SELLING BEST-SELLING BLU-RAY & DVD FROM WARNER CLASSICS & ERATO DVD: 2564632323 Blu-Ray: 2564654365 / DVD: 2564656309 Blu-Ray: 2564660478 / DVD: 2564660468 Marketed and distributed by Warner Classics UK. A division of Warner Music UKLtd. ClassicsUK. Adivision ofWarner Marketed anddistributed by Warner www.warnerclassics.com DVD: 5991569 Blu-Ray: 2564646145 / DVD: 0630154812 Blu-Ray: 2564656333 / DVD: 2564688804 DVD: 5190029 DVD: 2564632035 Blu-Ray: 4040649 / DVD: 4040639 vk.com/englishlibrary JULY 2014 THE MONTH IN MUSIC THE MONTH IN MUSIC The recordings, concerts, broadcasts and websites exciting us this July ON AIR Let the Proms begin! The BBC Proms are back! The 120th season begins with a distinctly British flavour as Sir Andrew Davis raises the baton for Elgar’s mighty oratorio, The Kingdom, on the First Night. Tune in to hear the combined forces of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, plus star soloists, in the live Radio 3 broadcast, or watch it in glorious colour later on BBC Two. See p100 ONLINE Big screen arias As Glyndebourne celebrates its 80th birthday, we’ve produced a special digital edition to accompany its 2014 cinema season. Packed with links to recordings, videos and information about the screenings of Der Rosenkavalier, Don Giovanni and La traviata, your digital guide can be downloaded free in the BBC Music Magazine app. Visit itunes.apple.com ON DISC Royal appearance Just as soprano Joyce DiDonato (pictured) heads to the Royal Opera House this month to star in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, the timely release of a new DVD gives the chance to enjoy the US mezzo’s performance in the same role at the Metropolitan Opera. Recorded last year, this production of the Tudor tale was directed by David McVicar. See p74 ON STAGE Animal instincts Hoots, squawks and growls will be much in evidence on 12 July as the Cheltenham Festival stages the premiere of Richard Blackford’s The Great Animal Orchestra. Based on the work of the environmentalist Bernie Krause, the 25-minute work features recordings of creatures great and small among the more conventional strings, wind and brass. See p97 vk.com/englishlibrary page 54: Roger Wright looks back at his seven years in charge of the Proms page 22: page 34: Sir Andrew Davis returns composer Sir Harrison to the Proms to conduct Birtwistle talks to Elgar’s The Kingdom James Naughtie CONTENTS EVERY MONTH 58 Composer of the Month FEATURES Why did Beethoven find it so difficult to write an 3 A Month in Music opera? Stephen Johnson takes a look at Fidelio 22 Sir Andrew Davis What we’re all looking forward to in July Richard Morrison meets the First Night conductor 62 Building a Library 6 Letters Terry Williams searches out the best recordings 28 Full BBC Proms listings The forgotten composers of World War One of Mozart’s greatest opera, The Magic Flute 34 James Naughtie meets… 12 The Full Score 92 Audio Composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle Martin James Bartlett wears the BBC Young Our guide to the best new hi-fi Musician crown; critics under fire for ‘sexist’ 40 Made in Turkey Rosenkavalier reviews; take a walk with Holst 94 Live Events Ahead of its Proms debut, Helen Wallace visits the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic in its home city 21 Richard Morrison 100 Radio & TV The government is wrecking music education 50 Proms preparation 106 Crossword and Quiz Elizabeth Davis goes behind the scenes at the RAH 56 Musical Destinations Rebecca Franks heads to the Lammermuir 108 Music that Changed Me 54 Roger Wright Festival in East Lothian, Scotland Fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout The departing Proms director reminisces… 4 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE vk.com/englishlibrary See p8Subscribe! for our fantastic offer THIS MONTH’S JULY REVIEWS CONTRIBUTORS The important new recordings, DVDs and books reviewed Richard Morrison Chief music critic, The Times ‘Witty, gossipy and with 50 years of musical anecdotes to Welcome draw on, conductor Sir Andrew Davis I’m afraid we couldn’t resist. What is a joy for any interviewer. The with the current craze for ‘selfies’, only sadness is omitting the stories we thought we’d get Sir Henry preceded by the command “definitely Wood, one of the founders of the not for publication!”.’ Page 22 BBC Proms, in on the action. If you’ve got a smartphone or Helen Wallace BBC Music’s consultant editor tablet with a camera, then simply ‘Istanbul cast its 66 Recording download Blippar, hold your exotic spell on of the Month device over the cover and take me, even on a wet your pic with classical music’s weekend in February. Schumann & JanáΩek most famous bronze bust! Email The players of the music@ Borusan Orchestra Piano works your efforts to us at are a sassy lot, classical-music.com, and we’ll with an infectious enthusiasm and print the best next issue. The more humbling professionalism. Catch them 68 Orchestral at the Proms this August.’ Page 40 70 Concerto imaginative the better, of course – let’s see you wielding a baton, in full maestro get-up, Stephen Johnson 74 Opera waving flags, etc, etc. I expect you to do a lot better than Broadcaster and writer 78 Choral & Song my rather lacklustre attempt (above)! ‘So often working 81 Chamber We’re delighted to be printing the full listings to this with this composer I year’s Proms once again this year – a cut-out and keep find myself thinking, 84 Instrumental “Thank God it’s 86 World Beethoven!”. For all his struggles, the 87 Brief Notes Let’s see you wielding a baton, in full painful yearning and 88 Jazz maestro get-up, waving flags, etc, etc volcanic rage, there’s also something much deeper than ego, and such 90 Books startling compassion.’ Page 58 guide, if you like, to stuff in your pocket en route to the Royal Albert Hall. And those of you who own an iPad can hear exclusive mini-podcasts written by members of the VISIT CLASSICAL-MUSIC.COM FOR THE BBC Music Magazine included with the issue. LATEST FROM THE MUSIC WORLD From a personal point of view, I’d like to pay tribute to the outgoing Proms director and Radio 3 controller, Roger Wright, who leaves after seven years at the helm of this fantastic festival, and would like to wish him well as he wends his way east to head up the Aldeburgh Festival. You can read his valedictory piece on p54 and no doubt we’ll be talking to the new man in charge at the first opportunity… Thank you, too, for your wonderful and often extremely moving responses to our call for music-making during the First World War – from a terrific story of a violin taken into the trenches, to information about a composer n Download a free track every week from one of the best reviewed recordings from a recent issue of morale-boosting songs, and a poignant formal n Read the latest classical music news photograph of a regimental wind band. You’ll see these on n our Letters page (p6), but we’ve had the most fascinating JAMES CHEADLE, RICHARD CANNON, BBC CANNON, RICHARD CHEADLE, JAMES Listen to clips from BBC Music Magazine’s choice recordings n Listen to the fortnightly BBC Music Magazine podcast time going through all of your correspondences relating to n Discover more about the lives of the great composers our June issue. Many thanks to all who sent in letters and THIS PAGE: n Plus: the official chart, interviews, competitions, radio and TV photographs, and please keep them coming. highlights, a preview of our monthly cover CD and much more! JAMES CHEADLE CHEADLE JAMES The licence to publish this magazine was acquired from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company on 1 November 2011. We remain committed to making a magazine of the highest editorial quality, one COVER: that complies with BBC editorial and commercial guidelines and connects with BBC programmes. Oliver Condy Editor BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 5 vk.com/englishlibrary LETTERS Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN or email: [email protected] LETTER OF THE MONTH wartime winds: the band of the 2/4th Ox & Bucks Light Infantry GURNEY IN ESSEX wife, visited Gurney at Dartford The articles and photographs shortly before Gurney’s death. in your June issue relating to Robert Fletcher, Essex World War One are fascinating. I thought I would share this GALLANT COMPOSER photograph with you from When Britain declared war on 1915 (above) which has strange Germany, there was a conviction come and play me: connections with Ivor Gurney. among many who volunteered should our church organs really This is the Band of the 2/4th Ox for war service that it was their be sitting there unused? & Bucks Light Infantry in front moral duty to defend ‘gallant of Maypole House, St Johns little Belgium’, which had been Green, Writtle, near Chelmsford, invaded by Germany.