BBC Music Magazine
Recent articles by BBC Music Magazine
25 best British composers of all time
We asked 167 top international musicians to vote for the best British composers of all time. Here are the results… Do you agree - and who was voted number one?
The best German composers of all time
Germany has produced some of the greatest compositional voices in history – many of whom are considered among the best across the entire globe. Here, in alphabetical order, we present some of the very best
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024: winners announced
From Chamber to Concerto via Personality of the Year, here are all the winners of the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards
Disney's Fantasia: all the pieces of classical music featured in the animated film
It's not just The Sorcerer's Apprentice that makes an appearance in Fantasia. We name all the works – by the likes of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky – that appear in the original 1940 film
Six of the best jazz cameos in pop
Some of the greatest pop songs have benefited from the input of a jazz great. We discover some of the finest contributors...
Six of the best jazz hit singles
Neil McKim's guide to some of the biggest jazz chart hits
Best books about jazz
We share some of the best books about jazz, all reviewed by the experts at BBC Music Magazine
Best jazz songs: 9 classics you will listen to again and again
Which are the best jazz songs of all time? It's a difficult choice, says Paul McGuinness, but here's my top 10
The 20 Greatest Sopranos of all time
Who are the most thrilling, captivating and brilliant sopranos to have sung the world's stages? We asked the experts to draw up their ultimate list. Do their choices still ring true?
The 20 best operas of all time
Are these the best operas of all time? Or have we missed your favourite?
The 20 Greatest Conductors of All Time
Who are the maestros who inspire the maestros themselves? We invited 100 of today's leading conductors to cast their vote for the greatest conductors ever
Best cellists: the 20 greatest cellists of all time
From Pablo Casals to Jacqueline du Pré, we celebrate some of the greatest cellists of the past 300 years
The 50 greatest recordings of all time
Our round-up of the best must-have performances of classical music. Update your collection with the great symphonies, choral works, operas, chamber and instrumental works
The 20 Greatest Symphonies of all time
Which is the best-ever symphony? 151 of the world's leading conductors voted for what they thought to be the greatest symphonies ever written
Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches: what they are, when he composed them and their place in history
A guide to Elgar's rousing set of marches, which have been at the centre of many grand and state events including several coronations
How Queen Elizabeth II inspired Britten to start composing again after he almost died
When Benjamin Britten was at his lowest ebb, the encouragement to start composing again came from no lesser person than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as John Bridcut reveals
A guide to Copland's Appalachian Spring and its best recordings
The 1940s ballet Appalachian Spring has become one of Copland’s most popular works. And its true American spirit has inspired many great recordings, finds Anthony Burton
The best recordings of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder
Whether reflecting on the scents of spring or the darkness of night, Mahler’s five settings of Rückert poems inspire Hilary Finch as she chooses the best recordings
The best works by Samuel Barber
We choose some of the finest works by the last great American Romantic, Samuel Barber
A guide to Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 9
We explore what influenced Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 9, one of the British composer's finest orchestral works
The best Independence Day songs and music
We celebrate Independence Day this 4th July with some of the best USA patriotic music ever written
Cornet vs trumpet: what's the difference?
Despite looking similar the cornet and trumpet are actually two very different instruments as we explain
Famous trumpet players: 5 of the most influential trumpeters from the modern era
From Wynton Marsalis to Håkan Hardenberger, we look at 5 leading trumpeters from modern times
Who was Kathleen Ferrier, Britain's greatest contralto?
From entering a competition as a bet, Kathleen Ferrier became one of Britain’s foremost singers in the mid-20th century. Fiona Clampin takes a look at her life and asks why, since Ferrier's death, have contraltos fallen out of fashion?