Welcome to BBC Music Magazine‘s November 2024 issue! This month, we’re in the company of one of our generation’s most captivating performers: the visionary Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang.
A sensitive musician, Frang has, she admits, a tendency to overanalyse – a challenging psychological burden when combined with an extrovert life on the stage. But it’s a character trait that has also allowed her to become an outstanding concerto interpreter, in repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky – and her recent release of Elgar’s monumental Violin Concerto is no exception.
It’s a work of epic proportions that Frang likens in concept to a physically exhausting skiing expedition in her native Norway. Yet don’t be fooled by her quiet, even tentative, exterior. She is a determined and steely performer, as she tells Ariane Todes for this month’s cover story.
Elsewhere in this issue, Claire Jackson meets Ethan Loch, a pianist of exceptional talent for whom blindness is no obstacle. Like Frang, Loch thrives on challenging situations and embraces the risk of live performance. It’s a concept also familiar to the pioneering performers transforming attitudes towards classical percussion – as they step out from the orchestral ranks to become solo performers in their own right. Anne Templer outlines their exciting 30-year journey.
Moving on… to Puccini. A giant of the opera world, yes? Well, yes – but he didn’t just compose opera, says Adrian Mourby, as he explores some of the Italian’s assorted other works. Which, let’s be honest, are of a somewhat variable quality. Staying with Puccini, his final, unfinished masterpiece Turandot is our Building a Library choice this month. Alexandra Wilson sifts through the work’s many recordings to find four great Turandots – and one to avoid.
Meanwhile, as the US presidential election looms, Jeremy Pound votes for history’s most musically talented world leaders. From Nero via Thomas Jefferson and Benito Mussolini to Edward Heath and Emmanuel Macron, plenty of big-league politicians, it turns out, have dabbled in music performance.
John-Pierre Joyce visits the French nuns who have embarked on the most unlikely of recording projects: preserving the sounds of Gregorian chant for future generations, while composer Freya Waley-Cohen discusses her multifaceted musical world (including, intriguingly, a spot of witchcraft). Steve Wright enjoys opera in Ostrava, the Czech city emerging from its industrial past as a beacon of culture; and, for our Composer of the Month, Terry Blain explores how Thomas Tallis managed to stay in favour with four very different, and very bloodthirsty, Tudor monarchs.
FInally, as she retires from public performance this autumn, pianist Kathryn Stott tells us about the five pieces of music that have had the greatest impact on her, from Bizet to Shostakovich. Happy reading!
Here’s a look at our cover CD this month – a tribute to the late, great Andrew Davis, featuring the conductor leading performances of works by Holst, Tippett and Debussy. Click here or on the image to see the track details for this month’s cover CD.
