Reviews

Trumpeter Alison Balsom has revealed that her recent appearance at the 2025 Last Night of the Proms was her final public performance. During an interview for BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life shortly b

CONCERT HEAVEN Careful the tale you tell Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Simon Lepper (piano) et al Wigmore Hall (December 2020) My ‘Concert Heaven’ choice is a recital called ‘Careful the tale you tel

Patterns, says Clare Hammond. Learning a new piece, especially if you’re committing it to memory, and the clock is against you, is all about finding patterns. ‘If you can find patterns in a piece of m

Musical instruments have power, simply as things. They speak. They generate emotion. They tell stories about life, death, happiness and sadness – and about the past, which they can resurrect with curi

Everything We Do Is Music – How 20th-Century Classical Music Shaped Pop Elizabeth Alker Faber 304pp (hb) £20 The concept behind Elizabeth’s Alker’s book is spelled out in the subtitle: ‘How 20th-Centu

Music cannot work a magic spell. It can, however, do wonderful things. In recent issues of BBC Music Magazine, we have explored the benefits to mental health of listening and playing music, not least