My hero. Yours, too?

Where would we be without our heroes? Well, classical music would certainly be the poorer without the heroic thread that weaves through the catalogue. Works are branded heroic either by their general aura, the mention of the word in the title, or the name of a specific hero on which a piece is built. We Read More …

Recreation

After a hard day’s work, there’s nothing like going into flop mode, a glass of something in one hand, the other gently rifling through ranks of CDs or scrolling through a digital cache of music, finding the escape hatch from office stress into down time. Pity, then, the poor composer who has been struggling all Read More …

Next Volume of Janacek’s Operatic Orchestral Suite

On April 28, Naxos releases the second of a three-disc series of recordings of orchestral suites created from operas by Czech composer Leoš Janáček. The second volume of suites, arranged and conducted by Czech-born Peter Breiner, features performances by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The two suites in the release include orchestral themes and vocal Read More …