BBC Music Magazine

For Riccardo Chailly, music has been ‘a lifelong companion’. Currently music director of La Scala, the conductor, who this month celebrates his 70th birthday, has collaborated with the world’s greatest artists during his eminent career, and can remember his musical initiation at the age of six, when he attended the premiere of a ballet by his composer father. ‘Even now I remember the sound of him composing at the piano in the night, so his style of contemporary language accompanied me right from the start,’ he tells George Hall on page 30. It’s this early exposure to music that pianist Benjamin Grosvenor hopes to share with UK school children through his work as an ambassador for Music Masters. A former prodigy, having taken part aged 12 in 2004’s final of BBC…

George Hall Music and opera critic ‘Having known Riccardo Chailly’s music-making since his early days with Decca – with whom he still records – it was an enormous pleasure to talk with one of the most versatile and admired conductors of our time.’ Page 30 Alexandra Wilson Author and professor ‘I felt real empathy delving into Leoncavallo’s biography: here was a man who set his ambitions high but was perpetually frustrated in his quest to become Italy’s national composer. A fascinating but ultimately sad life.’ Page 60 Terry Williams Writer and artist ‘It was listening to his First Symphony that made me a belated Elgar convert. An emotionally charged work with great tunes, I love this masterpiece above all for its complete sincerity. Thank you, Sir Edward!’ Page 64…

Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST Email: music@classical-music.com Social media: contact us on Facebook and Twitter LETTER of the MONTH Not the full Monteverdi Nicholas Kenyon wonders what the BBC broadcast in 1928 of Monteverdi’s Return of Ulysses in Vincent d’Indy’s edition sounded like (Early learning, Christmas). We have evidence of this in an article by JA Westrup in the Monthly Musical Record for 2 April 1928. It is sad, but perhaps not surprising, to read his comment that a listener with no knowledge of Monteverdi’s work ‘must have thought him a dull composer, which he is not when sung on the stage’. Westrup’s criticisms were directed in part at the edition, for its extensive and sometimes arbitrary cuts and its inappropriate and anachronistic harmonisation. But he also…

James O’Donnell gets New Year Honours parting gift Conductor’s exceptional Westminster Abbey career marked by award of the LVO Even as he packs his suitcase and prepares for a new life in the US, James O’Donnell will be sure to mark his diary for an important return trip to London. The organist and conductor is due to visit Buckingham Palace in the near future to receive the title of Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO), awarded to him in the New Year Honours List 2023 in recognition of more than 20 years at the helm of the choir of Westminster Abbey. The LVO is presented for personal service to the royal family, which in this instance refers in particular to O’Donnell having overseen and conducted the music at major state occasions including…

On a Swiss roll So well have conductor Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich been enjoying each other’s company that they have announced that they plan to stick together until at least 2029. The Estonian was initially appointed as music director of the Swiss ensemble for five years in 2019, but a series of glowing reviews has seen them quick to put pen to paper for a contract extension. Singapore success A year dominated by winners from Ukraine – from the Honens and Carl Nielsen competitions to the Eurovision Song Contest – was rounded off in the same manner when Dmytro Udovychenko, from Kharkiv, took first prize in the Singapore International Violin Competition. Udovychenko, who has enjoyed previous success in competitions in Italy and Lithuania, performed Brahms’s Violin Concerto in the final. Watching the…

Siân Dicker Soprano Born: Trowbridge, UK Career highlight: My first recital for the Oxford Lieder Festival in 2020 provided hope throughout lockdown. A recent highlight was Lost and Found: Royal Opera House’s newly commissioned micro-operas to celebrate International Women’s Day. Musical hero: Operatically, Jamie Barton and Sondra Radvanovsky. As for other song recitalists, I take great inspiration from Roderick Williams, Ailish Tynan and pianists Iain Burnside and Susan Manoff. Their programming is always so invigorating! Dream concert: I’d love to programme a song recital in collaboration with a live artist who could create artworks in response to the performance – a unique, multi-sensory experience for audiences. Darren Bloom Conductor, composer Born: Los Angeles, US Career highlight: As conductor, my three recent NMC albums of music by wonderful composers. As composer, Dr Glaser’s Experiment, the chamber symphony I…