By Steve Wright

Published: Tuesday, 11 July 2023 at 12:00 am

We’re rather proud of our cover feature this month. We polled 167 leading composers, performers and conductors to name their top British composers of all time. We totted up the results and, on page 26, we proudly present the top 25 British composers of all time, as voted for by our wealth of experts.

But who came top of the crop? Who scraped in at 25, and who missed the cut? Find out within…

On a related theme, Stephen Johnson explores how conductors  from overseas have championed British music, from Elgar to Vaughan Williams.

Elsewhere, a new compendium of first-hand musical accounts from centuries past catches the eye of Simon Heighes, while Rebecca Franks explores an engaging new project to make the songs of Fanny Hensel available online to all.

Christopher Gillett tells the story of Nicola Ugo Stame, a heroic Italian tenor who lost his life facing up to the Nazi regime, and composer Ailís Ní Ríain explains to Claire Jackson how hearing loss brings unique challenges to her work as a composer. And for this month’s BBC Music Magazine Interview, mezzo Sarah Connolly talks to Amanda Holloway.

Our Composer of the Month is George Onslow,  aka ‘the French Beethoven’, while for  Building a Library Terry Blain explores Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo. Last but not least, conductor Donald Runnicles tells us  about the classical music pieces that have shaped his life and work.

Click here for the inlay of this month’s cover CD.

 

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