Which classical artist did Beyoncé beat to become the greatest Grammy artist of all time?

On 5th February the music industry’s 65th Grammy Awards were announced in a glitzy ceremony in Los Angeles. Amongst the categories, the most distinguished include best record, which went to Lizzo’s, ‘About Damn Time’; best Album, won by Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’; and best song, which went to to Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Just Like That.’

But it was Beyoncé that made all the post-awards headlines. Her four wins, for Best Dance Recording (‘Break My Soul’), Best Dance/Electronica Album (‘Renaissance’), Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (‘Plastic off the Sofa’) and Best R&B Song (‘Cuff It’), makes her career Grammy Awards haul, with 32 wins and 88 nominations, the largest of all time.
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A Very Quick Guide To . . . Elizabethan Music

What’s it all about?

The Elizabethan era – or the “golden age” of English history as it’s still often described. An era during which this rainy and slightly insular island off the coast of northern Europe first began to establish itself on the world stage. An era which witnessed the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe, the great exploratory voyages and naval triumphs of Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. And of course the iconic queen herself, perhaps the most celebrated of all English monarchs.
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10 Classic Three Tenors Pieces

January 2023 saw two of the original three tenors, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, perform together in Tokyo’s Garden Theatre. The concert was to mark 20 years since the last three tenors concert, held in Columbus, U.S. It was dedicated to the memory of Luciano Pavarotti, who died in 2007.

Given the controversy surrounding Domingo’s career and the age of both singers, the concert was slammed by some for its tackiness.

Perhaps then better to remember the heyday of three tenors mania, when Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti wowed concertgoers with their interpretations of great works from the opera and song literature.
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Gyorgy Ligeti, Stanley Kubrick and 2001. A Story with a Sting in the Tail.

Ok, so you’ve heard of the film ‘2001’? The one set in space with the black monolith and the mad A.I. computer HAL? And its legendary director Stanley Kubrick? You know, the one who was a notorious perfectionist and whose cinematography also includes films such as the ‘Dr. Strangelove’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The Shining.’

So who is György Ligeti and what does he have to do with Kubrick and that movie?
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Ten Pieces Every Oboist Should Know

The most intensely lyrical of all woodwind instruments, the oboe has a long and distinguished history. Undisputed king of the woodwind during the baroque era, the instrument features heavily throughout Bach’s works as well as appearing in myriad sonatas and concertos by other composers of the period. The arrival of the clarinet in the late eighteenth century rather nudged the instrument out of the limelight. Mozart turned to the clarinet for his last and greatest wind pieces, rather setting the tone for subsequent composers (Brahms, for example, who wrote some of his finest chamber music for clarinet but nothing whatsoever for oboe), although the 20th-century saw many notable additions to the repertoire, including concertos by Richard Strauss and Vaughan Williams, along with Poulenc’s melancholy late sonata.
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Will you see Tár? The conducting movie dividing audiences

Todd Field’s film about an abusive and predatory female conductor, Lydia Tár (played by Cate Blanchett), has earned a string of awards and nominations, including from the British FIlm Academy, New York Film Critics Circle, Golden Globes and London Critics Circle Film Awards. Yet the film continues to provoke a range of reactions from audiences.

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A year since the invasion of Ukraine, music continues to inspire victory

It is nearly a year since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The progress of events during that tragic conflict has been remarkable, with the Ukrainian side, inspired by Vladimir Zelensky, achieving some notable victories over the last 12 months.

Despite the disruption the war is causing, support for Ukraine remains strong. A recent Eurobarometer poll found that, even amidst the cost of living crisis, 74 percent of European citizens continue to favour supporting Ukraine.

One of the remarkable ways in which Ukraine has built and maintained its support has been the way the country has projected its culture to the rest of the world. And in this music has played an important role.
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A Very Quick Guide To . . .Thomas Weelkes

What’s it all about?

2023 is going to be a big year for English early music thanks to the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, one of the country’s greatest ever composers, with a raft of celebratory concerts, recordings and scholarly publications planned to mark the event. But spare a thought for fellow Elizabethan composer Thomas Weelkes, who had the misfortune to die in the same year as Byrd and whose own 400th anniversary is going slightly under the radar as a result.

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Ten Pieces Every Bassoonist Should Know

The bassoon may be the Cinderella of the woodwind family when it comes to solo works but there’s still a good deal of repertoire out there to explore, including plenty of baroque pieces (Vivaldi, anyone?) and a trio of fine classical concertos by Mozart, Hummel and Weber – while 20th-century works range from Latin-flavoured works by Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla through to Sofia Gubaidulina’s memorably bleak Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings.
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The Most Beautiful Flower-Inspired Classical Music

Did you know that January 10th is National Houseplant Appreciation Day? It was established in the 1980s by the Society of American Florists to promote the benefits of bringing plants inside our homes. Plants and especially flowers have, of course, long been a source of inspiration for composers. Here are 10 pieces inspired by flowers, complete with links to sheet music. So this 10th January, instead of talking to your houseplant, you could instead serenade it with an appreciative tune or two.
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