Visit Classical-Music.com for the very latest from the music world
Contents
FEBRUARY 2025
February Radio 3
highlights
See p100
FEATURES 24 Cover: The Four Seasons
Now 300 years old, Vivaldi’s much-loved concertos took a while to become popular, as Nicholas Kenyon explains 36 Puppet of the Reich? Derided for his Nazi associations, conductor Wilhelm
Furtwängler was not all he seemed, says Andrew Green 40 11 Bed-Hopping Composers Jeremy Pound sneaks a peek at the lustful tunesmiths who simply couldn’t resist sharing their love around 44 A way with words Jessica Duchen celebrates the art of the librettists, whose brilliant texts inspire composers to operatic greatness 48 Kindred spirits Opera composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K
Smith explain their collaboration to Charlotte Smith 54 Leading from the front Clare Stevens explores tuition courses for conductors
EVERY MONTH 8 Letters 12 The Full Score
The latest news and interviews from the music world 23 Richard Morrison 32 The BBC Music Magazine Interview
Conductor Masaaki Suzuki talks to Amanda Holloway 60 Musical Destinations
Michael Beek enjoys opera in the US city of Atlanta 62 Composer of the Month
How Gluck rewrote the opera rulebook, by Paul Riley 66 Building a Library
Beethoven’s joyful Symphony No. 4, by Te r r y W i l l i a m s 100 Radio & TV 104 Crossword and Quiz 106 Music that Changed Me
Violinist André Rieu
24 Viva ld i ’s Four Seasons
B E N H A M O U
I E N
, J U L
B O R G G R E V E
, M A R C O
LY T T L E T O N
I D
: G E T T Y, DAV
I S PAG E
T H
: G E T T Y
C OV E R
Subscriptions £64.87 (UK); £65 (Europe); £74 (Rest of World) ABC Reg No. 3122 EDITORIAL Plus our favourite depiction of the weather in music (see p24) Editor Charlotte Smith Vaughan Williams’s Sinfonia Antartica Deputy editor Jeremy Pound Bax’s November Woods Reviews editor Michael Beek J S t rau s s I I ’s Thunder & Light ning Polka Multi-platform content producer Steve Wr ig ht Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest Cover CD editor Alice Pearson Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony
Art editor Dav Ludford Chopin’s ‘Raindrop’ Prelude Thanks to J e n n y P r i c e Hannah Nepilova MARKETING Direct marketing manager Kel l ie La ne Subscriptions marketing coordinator Dennis Awdziejczyk ADVERTISING Advertisement manager Rebecca Janyshiwskyj +44 (0)117 300 8547 Commercial brand leads Rebecca Yirrell +44 (0)117 300 8811 Rebecca O’Connell +44 (0)117 300 8814 Client solutions manager Tom Houlden +44 (0)117 300 8203
4 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
