Michael Church

Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine

Michael Church has spent much of his career in newspapers as a literary and arts editor, and was one of the founding editors of the Independent on Sunday. He is a former television critic of The Times, and since 2010 he has been music and opera critic of The Independent. He has made BBC World Service programmes on folk music in many countries; his award-winning field-recordings of the music of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Chechnya were released on the Topic label.

Recent articles by Michael Church

Pergolesi: La Serva Padrona; Livietta e Tracollo

Handel: Alcina

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte

Shadows of my Ancestors

Sgambati: Piano Concerto; Sinfonia festiva

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 6 & 25

Granados: Goyescas, Op. 11

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos 3, 7 & 8

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 1 & 6 (trans. Scharwenka)

Beethoven: String Quartets, Vol. 1

Baroque (Miloš)

JS Bach: Goldberg Variations

Liszt: Transcendental Etudes etc (Piemontesi)

Francesco Piemontesi (piano) (Pentatone)

For Clara (Krimmel/Grimaud)

Konstantin Krimmel (baritone), Hélène Grimaud (piano) (DG)

Indiscretion (The Curious Bards)

The Curious Bards (Harmonia Mundi)

Airat Ichmouratov: Piano Concerto; Viola Concerto No. 1

Elvira Misbakhova (viola), Jean-Philippe Sylvestre (piano); London Symphony Orchestra/Airat Ichmouratov (Chandos)

C Stamitz: Six Trios, Op. 14

L’Apothéose (Linn Records)

Czerny: Piano Concertinos etc

Rosemary Tuck (piano); English Chamber Orchestra/Richard Bonynge (Naxos)

Folk Songs of the British Isles

Janis Kelly (soprano), Yvonne Howard, Maria Jagusz (mezzo), Nicky Spence, Wynne Evans (tenor), Mark Llewelyn Evans (baritone), Michael Pollock, John Wilson (piano) (SOMM)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (arr. Henk de Vlieger)

Staatskapelle Weimar/Hansjörg Albrecht (Oehms)

Tanya Ekanayaka: 18 Piano Sutras etc

Tanya Ekanayaka (piano) (Naxos)

Armenian Cello Concertos

Alexander Chaushian (cello); Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra/Eduard Topchjan (BIS)

Beethoven: Complete Variations etc (Tiberghien)

Cédric Tiberghien (piano) (Harmonia Mundi)

Leipzig 1723

Ælbgut; Capella Jenensis (Accentus)