Shostakovich’s Sixth and Ninth symphonies clearly belong together – flip sides of the same coin, the composer wrong-footing the Soviet establishment with an irony bordering on insanity. The opening Largo of the Sixth is one of his…

There’s something intensely evocative about the solo trumpet – a plaintive, plangent, melancholic sound which speaks just as eloquently of the great outdoors as it does of the inner city. Of course, the jazz connotations are inescapable…

The early evolution of Stravinsky from fledgling to Firebird feels like the most natural thing in the world as one listens to this the first in a three-volume series from Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic tracing…

No one ever needs to convince me of Kurt Weill’s importance in the great scheme of music. Not just in the world of musical theatre where I have long been an advocate of his American work –…

What a delicious surprise this has turned out to be. I’ll wager only a tiny minority of true Ravel aficionados will know only one or two if any of these early opuses – all of them written…

Sonically speaking, this streamed offering from San Diego is right up there with the best we have – yes, even the much-lauded Chandos/Storgards account which was my Critics Choice a couple of years back. The young Venezuelan…

There’s a great deal to admire here. Some individual new thinking, too. In some ways the Tenth is the most classically cast of all Shostakovich’s symphonies – and to honour that it must feel organic. Sokhiev’s opening…

‘The Guv’nor’ of movie music is quick to acknowledge those who have inspired him – composers and performers alike – and these two new releases are as much a tribute to the creative impulses of his two…

‘A Gathering of Friends’ celebrates three decades of friendship between Williams and Yo-Yo Ma and features a radical revision of the Cello Concerto first conceived after their initial meeting through the Boston Pops Orchestra. For this new…

Shostakovich’s well-developed sense of irony is so intrinsically wrapped up with his love of popular music – especially that which the Soviet establishment regarded as ‘trivial’ or better yet ‘subversive’ – that it’s sometimes hard to discern…