Introducing BBC Music Magazine’s September 2024 issue! And it’s a packed one, led by the 150th birthday celebrations for one of Britain’s greatest composers: Gustav Holst.
To celebrate this landmark year, we’re going beyond The Planets. A work of such colour and drama, this irresistible orchestral suite has all but eclipsed the great English composer’s remaining output. But, as Daniel Jaffé explains, Holst was far more than a one-hit wonder – and his distinctive compositional style arose from a wide range of influences, from Romantic idols like Strauss and Wagner to English folksong through his friendships with Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp (of whom more in a moment), to a keen interest in Rig Veda hymns.
Talking of Cecil Sharp, Andrew Green recalls how the folk collector’s exhaustive efforts changed the face of English music. Elsewhere, conductor Leonard Slatkin looks back at his childhood days at the very heart of the Hollywood music scene, featuring meetings with Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, John Williams – and being sung to sleep by Frank Sinatra.
The much-loved conductor Antonio Pappano talks to Clive Paget about the joys ahead as he takes the reins of the mighty London Symphony Orchestra, while for this month’s Musical Destinations John Allison visits Georgia’s vibrant Tsinandali Festival.
Composer, cellist and singer Ayanna Witter-Johnson selects the musical works and recordings that have shaped her life and career, while pianist Alexandra Dariescu champions her top works for piano and orchestra by female composers.
Continuing the Holst theme, Leah Broad reveals how the composer’s daughter, the famously self-deprecating Imogen Holst, was a composer well worth shouting about. Our Building a Library disc is Schoenberg’s ultra-Romantic orchestral work Pelleas und Melisande, for which Erik Levi selects the indispensable recordings – and one you can safely pass on.
As we celebrate Holst’s 150th anniversary this month, we also pay tribute to his contribution to education – as music director at Morley College and as a pioneering women’s mentor at St Paul’s Girls’ School. Our editor Charlotte Smith visits Birmingham’s Shireland CBSO Academy, the first non-selective state school in the UK to be set up in collaboration with a symphony orchestra, while Richard Morrison asks how easy it is for talented youngsters to embark on a career in music in 2024.
Happy reading!
Click here to access the inlay for this month’s cover CD.