Classical music and opera news, reviews, comment and features | Music

Editor's picks

10 of the best: Classical music comedies and parodies

We present an occasional and light-hearted series: a selection of 10 entirely subjectively chosen clips, this week representing our pick of classical music's best parodies, comedies, and sketches

We took four New Yorkers to The Death of Klinghoffer: what was their verdict?

On Monday night, hundreds of people protested outside the Met opera that Klinghoffer was antisemitic. So what was our panel's take?
Protestors disrupt The Death of Klinghoffer

News: Campaigners call for New York's Metropolitan Opera to cancel performance, saying work is antisemitic and glorifies terrorism
Life on the Moon, ETO

Review: Haydn's little-known comedy is uproariously funny and exceptionally well sung, even if the staging can feel overly busy, writes Tim Ashley
- Review: Ottone, English Touring Opera
Giving a musical voice to war's unsung victims

Andrew Motion: Composer Sally Beamish has turned one of Andrew Motion's war poems into a new oratorio. The former poet laureate explains their tribute to the 'damaged living'

Latest news, features and blogs

Radio 3 12hr 24min ago

BBC Radio 3 chief: I won’t be ‘dumbing down’ station

Alan Davey says station will not become more like Classic FM to address shrinking audience and will still offer ‘complex culture’
Opera 1 day ago

We took four New Yorkers to The Death of Klinghoffer: what was their verdict?

On Monday night, hundreds of people protested outside the Met opera that Klinghoffer was antisemitic. So what was our panel’s take?
John Adams 2 days ago

Met Opera rejects antisemitism claims rising from Klinghoffer protests

Demonstrators to gather outside opera house to protest against John Adams opera about the murder of a Jewish holidaymaker by PLO
Opera 3 days ago

Rudy Giuliani expected to join protest against Met's Klinghoffer opera

Protesters accuse The Death of Klinghoffer, dramatises Jewish man’s killing by Palestinian guerrillas, of antisemitism
Opera 3 days ago

I due Foscari; The Trial – review

Plácido Domingo remains a mesmerising stage presence, while Philip Glass takes on Kafka, writes Fiona Maddocks
Music 5 days ago

Arthur Russell: celebrating pop's eclectic outsider

Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart explain why the legacy of an unassuming American cellist and composer continues to thrive
Choral music 6 days ago

Giving a musical voice to war’s unsung victims

Andrew Motion: Composer Sally Beamish has turned one of Andrew Motion’s war poems into a new oratorio. The former poet laureate explains their tribute to the ‘damaged living’
Radio 3 6 days ago

BBC Radio 3 doesn’t score highly with Ed Vaizey

Media Monkey: Culture minister says he prefers the ‘absolutely brilliant’ Classic FM to its BBC rival because it is ‘accessible and informal’

Tom Service's blog

quartet-lab: a string quartet who open your ears to new ways of listening

22 Oct 2014, 16:03 EDT: At last night’s Wigmore Hall concert, quartet-lab created a framework within which anything was possible, permissible, and comprehensible.
Haydn the opera composer - why are his stage works neglected?
17 Oct 2014, 4:23 EDT
Radio 3 offers a unique service; surely as many as possible should have access to it?
14 Oct 2014, 11:53 EDT

Latest live reviews

The Turn of the Screw review – compelling, challenging and creepy

22 Oct 2014, 9:18 EDT: Jonathan Kent’s production of Britten’s ghost story is revived to haunting effect, with standout central performances from the children, writes Tim Ashley
LSO/Pappano review – digging deep into Strauss’s powerful emotions
21 Oct 2014, 11:56 EDT
Gould Piano Trio Schumann weekend review – unsettling, sensitive, exhilarating
20 Oct 2014, 11:04 EDT
The Bartered Bride review – luxurious cast enlivens communist setting
19 Oct 2014, 9:06 EDT
BBCCO/De Ridder review – John Luther Adams’ Dark Waves stuns
19 Oct 2014, 8:52 EDT

Latest album reviews

Peter Hill: Messiaen’s La Fauvette Passerinette, etc CD review – hugely rewarding

In pianist Peter Hill hands, a long-lost work from 1961 is a rewarding glimpse rarely seen side of Messiaen, writes Andrew Clements
Beethoven: Complete works for violoncello and piano CD review – Queyras and Melnikov are an ideal match

The five sonatas spanning Beethoven’s life are the pick of this sparkling set, writes Fiona Maddocks
Ward: Fantasies & Verse Anthems CD review – luminous clarity

The consort in residence and choir of Magdalen Colllege tackle the works of a composer whose royal patron shared their alma mater, writes Stephen Pritchard
Handel, Bononcini, Ariosti: A Royal Trio CD review – Zazzo in glorious voice

Lawrence Zazzo excels a fine recital that places Handel alongside his operatic peers, writes Nicholas Kenyon
Partch: Plectra and Percussion Dances, etc CD review – a typically odd jumble

The three pieces are a typically odd Harry Partch jumble of Greek myth, surreal humour and snatches of texts by Rimbaud, writes Andrew Clements
Chopin: Preludes, etc CD review – truly memorable moments from Ingrid Fliter

Not quite on the same level as Fliter’s Chopin piano concertos but its best moments are still truly memorable, writes Andrew Clements
More classical album reviews