I don’t buy very many magazines myself; there are few subjects that I would want a magazine about. But music…that’s one area I do ponder over in the newsagents, and one magazine I DO always get is the BBC Music Magazine. This specialises in classical music, and reviews CDs as well as running various articles and interviews. I love it, because it comes with a free CD of a usually complete work, very often a recording unavailable anywhere else. And the recordings are always superb. My shelves are heaving with the CDs collected from this source over the years.
One regular feature is called Music to my Ears, a selection of short interviews with people in the classical music world, usually (but not always) performers. So imagine my excitement when deputy editor Jeremy Pound asked me to be interviewed for the May issue of the magazine! He knows my work well having attended events at the Cheltenham Music Festival.
In the interview I had to talk about four recordings or performances that I had experienced and enjoyed. It was quite a challenge; there are so many things I would have liked to include. One thing I did mention was a recent masterclass I attended about the Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti. Speaking about him and demonstrating his music was the magnificent Romanian diva Nelly Miricioiu. She was on terrific form and gave scorching examples of dramatic coloratura roles like Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia. I chatted to her afterwards, and here’s a snap of us together… such a thrilling afternoon!
The magazine article also gives a good mention to my forthcoming concert in Cheltenham this summer – The Carnival of the Animals.
To discover my other choices, which are all CDs, you will need to buy the magazine. It comes with a blistering account of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony. So it’s a win-win situation I’d say!
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