What are the lyrics to 'South Australia', the traditional sea shanty?

Under the all-seeing eye of the Spanish Inquisition, Michael Tanner names the best recordings of Verdi’s intensely powerful tale of politics and love in 16th-century Spain ...

Once greeted with hostility, the saxophone has become an integral part of the music scene. Mervyn Cooke explores the early days following its invention in 1840.

COMPOSERS: Scharwenka/Sauer LABELS: Hyperion WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 4 in F minor; Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor PERFORMER: Stephen Hough (piano)CBSO/Lawrence Foster CATALOGUE NO: CDA 66790 DDD ...

Celebrating the best new classical music recordings, this year’s edition of the BBC Music Magazine Awards sees dazzling debuts competing against bold new reframings of classics ...

So dominant in other areas, Beethoven composed just one opera. And, although its first audience left scratching their heads, 'Fidelio' is something of a gem ...

Affordable noise-cancelling headphones: the best on the market in 2025 ...

The 'devil in music': the musical trick once thought so dangerous that it was banned outright ...

Which classical musicians should be the stars of Hollywood blockbusters?

Michael Tanner is a critic for BBC Music Magazine and the opera critic of The Spectator. He is now a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, having lectured in the Philosophy faculty at the ...

Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos Nos 2 and 3 performed by Khatia Buniatishvili ...

The second volume of Meta4’s championing of Kaija Saariaho’s chamber works for strings presents, fascinatingly, a fine gossamer web of transformation and re-invention. Only Terra Memoria, Saariaho’s ...