Gramophone Magazine

when music for the silver screen strikes gold

Where film music sits in relation to classical music is not always clear-cut. Is it just ultra-programmatic orchestral music? Does its association with what’s happening on screen constrain or enrich it? Does it – can it – stand alone in its own right? The answer, of course, is that it depends on the score; like all music, some of it will be brilliant, some not so much. What is clear is that those who dismiss movie music as something separate, lesser even, are not only ignoring its often extraordinary creative power, but also denying themselves some really rewarding musical experiences. And now we have Anne-Sophie Mutter, one of our age’s greatest violin virtuosos, telling us so. Our columnist, Edward Seckerson, recalls this month how, as a child discovering music, he met with…

this month’s contributors

NEIL FISHER found meeting Anne-Sophie Mutter to be a revealing experience. ‘“Are you a soloist or a musician who sees the entire cosmos?” I’d assumed she stood more in the first camp. But it was she who posed the question and, as her new album proves, she has her eyes on the whole musical universe.’ ‘Kirill Petrenko is an elusive and interview-shy maestro,’ admits HUGO SHIRLEY, who writes our profile piece this issue, ‘but speaking to musicians who have worked with him helped me to build an intriguing picture of what sort of a conductor he is and what his new reign at the Berlin Philharmonic might bring.’ ‘It was fascinating to talk to Benjamin Wallfisch about his film-composing process,’ says JAMES MCCARTHY, author of this month’s feature on film music. ‘Thanks…

gramophone magazine

EDITORIAL EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 7501 6365 REVIEWS EDITOR Tim Parry / 020 7501 6367 ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy SUB-EDITOR David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 SUB-EDITOR Marija Duric Speare ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee THANKS TO Charlotte Gardner, Hannah Nepilova and Jennifer Tucker EDITOR-IN-CHIEF James Jolly ADVERTISING COMMERCIAL MANAGER Esther Zuke / 020 7501 6368 SALES EXECUTIVE Samuel Desborough / 020 7501 6373 PUBLISHING Phone 020 7738 5454 HEAD OF MARKETING AND DIGITAL STRATEGY Luca Da Rè / 020 7501 6362 MARKETING MANAGER John Barnett / 020 7501 6233 MARKETING EXECUTIVE Hayley Sigrist / 020 7738 6459 GROUP INSTITUTIONAL SALES MANAGER Jas Atwal PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richard Hamshere / 01722 716997 PRODUCTION MANAGER Jon Redmayne CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Sally Boettcher / 01722 716997 SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Chris Hoskins / 01722 716997 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Martin Cullingford PUBLISHING…

gramophone editor's choice

MAHLER Symphony No 4 Sofia Fomina sop London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski LPO Vladimir Jurowski brings real attention to detail, Mahler’s ideas brought out with compelling clarity. Excellent playing throughout from the LPO. PROKOFIEV. TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concertos Haochen Zhang pf Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dima Slobodeniouk BIS Haochen Zhang – a Van Cliburn winner – performs these works with imaginative command of their required virtuosity. CROES La sonate égarée BarrocoTout Linn A debut disc – the result of success at the York Early Music Competition – from a young Baroque ensemble possessed of all the flair, creative rapport and passion required to make the music of this era such a thrilling listen. HOLLIGER. KURTÁG Zwiegespräche Heinz Holliger ob et al ECM New Series A celebration of a fascinating figure for his 80th birthday: composer, conductor and…

for the record

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has announced that Edward Gardner will be its next Principal Conductor. Gardner is the first British conductor to hold the post since Sir John Pritchard stepped down in 1966; he will take up the role at the start of the 2021-22 season, initially on a five-year contract. He will succeed Vladimir Jurowski, who has held the post since 2007, and who will become Conductor Emeritus. No stranger to London audiences, Gardner led English National Opera from 2007 to 2015, whereupon he became Principal Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic. He’ll be even less of a stranger to listeners to recordings: largely stemming from his relationship with the Chandos label, Gardner can be heard in many superb albums of repertoire including Walton, Grieg, Britten, Schoenberg and Szymanowski, while his recording…

warner classics launches streaming website

Warner Classics has launched a website to showcase its new releases and vast back catalogue. Visitors to warnerclassics.com are offered 30-second excerpts of tracks; by then logging into their Apple, Spotify or Deezer accounts they can stream whole tracks from within the site, and there are ‘buy’ links to relevant digital retailers for CDs or downloads, generated by your geographical location. The music is accompanied by artists’ biographies, playlists, articles and concert dates. The search facility instantly gathers together an artist’s entire catalogue on the label group, which, as well as new releases on Warner Classics and Erato, includes the many decades of legendary recordings on the one-time EMI label. ‘We’re entering a new era for Warner Classics as our repertoire really starts to reap the benefits of digital distribution,’ said Markus Petersen,…