Welcome to the August issue of BBC Music Magazine! Our cover star this issue is the brilliant Harry Christophers, founder and conductor of the legendary British choir The Sixteen.
As the choir celebrates 45 years of beautiful harmonies, Harry tells Andrew Stewart what life is like at the heart of Britain’s most popular choir. We hear from several Sixteen members, too, on how life in the choir is more like an extended family than anything else.
Elsewhere this issue, Ariane Todes examines how musicians tackle the issue of ageing – and finds that, while its physical effects may dramatically impact a career built on physical facility and robustness, age also brings with it experience, knowledge and wisdom.
Something we hope has aged well, next: prog rock. Fifty years after its heyday, Meurig Bowen takes a long hard look at classical music’s unruly cousin, with all its excesses – long hair, long guitar solos, and more. Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer are among the prog rock behemoths to come under Meurig’s close scrutiny.
Andrew Green unfolds his deckchair as he investigates the erstwhile phenomenon of the British seaside orchestra, while Tom Stewart travels a little further afield: to Västra Karup, Sweden, home of the legendary soprano Birgot Nilsson – and, it turns out, some deliciously buttery potatoes.
Our big interview this month is with the thoughtful, articulate and strikingly dapper Italian pianist Federico Colli. He talks culture, ideology and, of course, sartorial style with Michael Church. And for Composer of the Month, Steve Wright investigates how Bohuslav Martinů absorbed influences everywhere from Jazz Age Paris to the folk rhythms of his native land – but retained a style distinctively, and deliciously, his own.
Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes are our Building a Library choice this month: Rebecca Franks recommends the finest recordings of these 20 pieces that offer so much more than their rather dry title suggests. And we end in style , with the musical choices of a legendary figure from the world of television: Star Trek‘s William ‘Captain Kirk’ Shatner. Enjoy!
Click here to access the inlay for this month’s cover CD.