Bruckner Biography

  A week into December and there is an abundance of music that we hear but once a year. Mercifully in some cases, but in others, an all too infrequent excuse to indulge in some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Over the next few weeks we’ll bring you some of the rarely heard classics of…

Archival footage of Jacqueline du Pré performing the Cello Concerto opus 85 by Edward Elgar, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

  Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, performed by the Thomanerchor of Leipzig. Composer Franz Xaver Gruber set the lyrics of Joseph Mohr to music in 1818, in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg in Austria. UNESCO declared this carol an intangible cultural heritage  in March 2011.

  Maurice Ravel, born March 7 1875 (d December 28, 1937). Jean-Yves Thibaudet gives a brilliant rendition of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester conducted by Philippe Jordan. 1 Allegramente2 Adagio assai3 Presto  

  Brilliant, entertaining and lucid – baritone Thomas Hampson talks to BBC’s Hardtalk about understanding classical music.