These are the 21 best violin concertos of all time
Here is our selection of the greatest pieces ever written for violin and orchestra. Do you agree?
Ospedale della Pietà: the orphanage where Vivaldi turned abandoned girls into world-beating musicians
Harriet Constable, author of The Instrumentalist, explores Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, the girls’ orphanage where Vivaldi taught and composed
Review: Walton: Cello Concerto etc (Jonathan Aasgard, cello)
John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London is virtuosic and eloquent in vital orchestral works, writes Jo Talbot
Celebrate the future of music with the Festival Academy Budapest
FAB celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2025 with honoured guests and young talent
Introducing the 5-minute piece of music guaranteed to bring you mindfulness
Here are a selection of pieces, from Hildegard von Bingen to Debussy, that will aid your serenity and mindfulness and put you in the perfect zone for meditation
Semyon Bychkov named music director of Opéra national de Paris
The conductor will take up the post for an initial four-year term from 2028
This kitten hears a violin for the first time – and her response is priceless
Watch Esther Abrami playing the violin to her kitten - and the frankly adorable response from the musical feline
Boos, hisses and rotten vegetables: opera’s worst behaved audiences
From boos to vegetables, opera stars have had to put up with all sorts being aimed in their direction over the centuries, as Alexandra Wilson explores
'How a traumatic memory lapse changed the way I play the piano' – Leif Ove Andsnes
Far too many wonderful carols have faded into obscurity
Meet the most fascinating figures from classical music
What can musicians do to help tackle climate change?
Delia Stevens from percussion and harmonica/melodeon duo Stevens & Pound writes about her relationship with music and the climate
When is the right time for musicians to retire?
Put bluntly, age and experience used to be venerated much more than they are now, writes Richard Morrison
Shock impact and religious zeal: how historically informed performance revolutionised classical music
The great composers
Explore the lives and works of classical music's finest composers
Composer Alex Ho and the Chinese diaspora in Britain
Composer Alex Ho is part of a growing community of musicians combining their British and Chinese heritage in fascinating ways, writes Richard Morgan
Meet Hildur Guðnadóttir – the star composer of Joker and Chernobyl
Cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir has forged a career spanning classical, film and electronics – but she’s always been drawn to unsettling themes, as she tells Claire Jackson
Sex mad: music's 11 most bed-hopping composers, ranked
Jeremy Pound lifts the covers off those notorious notesmiths who found the thrill of playing away simply too hard to resist
Autism? Tourette's? Top psychiatrists assess Mozart's bizarre, brilliant mind
Using today’s psychoanalytic methods, what can we learn, asks Rebecca Franks, about the mind of Mozart, perhaps the greatest musical genius of all?
Greatest Recordings
Our recommendations of essential additions to your listening library
Essential Christmas albums: 10 timeless recordings to get you in the Christmas spirit
What is the perfect music to get oneself into the festive spirit? We ask ten of our writers to name the albums they couldn’t imagine Yuletide without
Prog rock 1975: ranking the 17 greatest prog albums turning 50 this year
1975 was a landmark year for progressive rock, delivering groundbreaking albums that pushed musical boundaries and redefined the genre’s scope. Here are the 15 best
Ranked: the 21 greatest country rock albums of all time
When rock met country, magic happened — steel guitars, road songs, and restless hearts. These 21 albums defined that bittersweet crossroads
These 15 stone-cold classic albums were a nightmare to make
From Fleetwood Mac to Tears for Fears: 15 classic rock albums that cost blood, sweat and tears to put together
Albums of the week
A selection of the best reviewed albums from the latest issue of BBC Music Magazine
Review: Les Divas d’Offenbach (Véronique Gens et al)
Amusing songs by Offenbach sparkle in these irresistible performances, writes Christopher Dingle
Review: Shades of Mourning (Tamar Sagiv)
Roger Thomas is impressed by the elegant skill and emotional conviction of this accomplished debut
Review: Kalevi Aho – Moonlight Concerto, etc
Claire Jackson is mightily impressed by Sharon Bezaly’s mastery of the rare alto flute
Rock music
Explore rock music
1973 in prog rock: the 15 albums that made '73 prog paradise
From Mellotrons to mind-expanding epics, these 15 albums show why 1973 was prog rock’s boldest, brightest, most adventurous year
ROCK OPERA! Rock's 16 greatest storytelling epics, ranked worst to best
From dystopian grids to teenage tragedies, we rank sixteen bombastic masterpieces that pushed the boundaries of rock’s dramatic storytelling potential.
These 11 abandoned 'ghost' albums could have changed rock history
From abandoned rock operas to lost masterpieces, these 9 cancelled albums might have rewritten musical history — if only they’d made it out of the studio alive
Audio equipment reviews and advice
A selection of the best reviewed albums from the latest issue of BBC Music Magazine
