English choral music is one of the crowning glories of the English vocal tradition. From his earliest days, Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was associated with church music, albeit Roman Catholic, rather than Anglican church music. His father, William, was organist at

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) had a full opera career in the Czech lands, but his music languished in Western Europe until certain conductors took him and promoted his music. One of those conductors was Charles Mackerras (1925–2010), whose championing of Janáček’s

The English composer E.J. Moeran (1894–1950) was born into an affluent family, and the money that his mother settled on him after WWI freed him to devote his time to composition, which he had started to study at the Royal

French composer Denis Levaillant (b. 1952), known for his cross-stylistic compositions in film and jazz, musical shows and improvisations, and his ability to mix genres, has compiled a set of melodies from his catalogue of works dating from 1978 to

Raised by his mother in London, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912) started his studies at the Royal College of Music at age 15 as a violin student in 1890. However, the composition bug bit him, and by 1892, he’d abandoned the violin

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) and Franz Schubert (1797-1828) were at the heart of Viennese music making, Hummel as a student of Mozart’s and Schubert for his lied. Both, however, used the unusual combination of piano, violin, viola, cello and double

The piano trio is one of those basic good ideas: a violin and cello filled out with a piano creates a musical sound that covers a range of music that’s proved to be immensely satisfying. It’s one of the most

The new recording on SOMM of two selections from David Matthews’ opera Anna is a welcome addition to modern symphonic repertoire. The opera, which was given in a concert performance at The Grange Hampshire, in July 2023, would have only