★★★★★ Powerful singer, creator, activist #Raye's THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE is astonishing - the singer-songwriter's moment has definitely arrived, and this is an inspirational album, says @seb-scotney.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/po...

Japan! Norway! France! They're all in this week's selection:https://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/classical-cds-glee-clubs-snow-crystals-and-small-trolls @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @delphianrecords.com #tabeazimmermann #poulenc #grieg #ayakofujiki #messiaen #messiaen

★★★★ #MiroslavVitouš MOUNTAIN CALL - A multi-dimensional musician and free spirit at work, with collaborators including #MichelPortal and #JackDeJohnette, as justice done to the co-founder of #WeatherReport - review @seb-scotney.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mi...

★★★★ MILES. @swkplay.bsky.social Borough - With a successful focus on music and on 1959, #BenjiAkintuyosi's show articulates belief in the genius of the music - review @seb-scotney.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/mile...

Some good news!! ukjazznews.com/uk-jazz-news...

Bats, quarrels and smallpipes in a New Year batch of #ClassicalCDs from @grahamrickson.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @bernardhughes.bsky.social - A young soprano's debut disc #JulieRoset, Portuguese piano music #FernandoLopesGraça & an extravagant romantic www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

Some fascinating stuff in this week's action-packed Classical CD column: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @bostonsymphony.bsky.social @classicalcritic.bsky.social #shostakovich #meredithmonk #benfolds #vicentelusitano #classicalcds

★★★★ #BBCProms #AnoushkaShankar @anoushkashankar.bsky.social - Shankar's starry presence brings focus to this orchestral version of #Chapters, the culmination of a process which somehow worked, says @seb-scotney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/new-music/bb...

It's Saturday. It's time for Classical CD reviews! All good, as usual: www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social‬ #bartok #ades #mozart #stravinsky

Chuffed, very, to have my first ever Downbeat magazine byline downbeat.com/news/detail/...

Big heap of reviews here. All good, as usual: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social #michelberoff #arthurbliss #haydn #mozart #debussy @detroitsymphony.bsky.social #classical @warnerclassics.bsky.social

Wir haben mit Hannes Möller (Projektleitung Deutscher Jazzpreis) und Johanna Schneider (Jazzmusikerin & Deutsche Jazzunion) auf der jazzahead! 2025 über die Bedeutung, Entwicklung und Zukunft des Deutschen Jazzpreises gesprochen. www.jazz-fun.de/interview-mi...

What a beautiful album by bassist Anneleen Boehme. I had it on repeat today music.apple.com/us/album/eun...

Big box sets! Bassoons! Loads of fabulous stuff in this week's sizzling pile of CD reviews. Read on: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @seb-scotney.bsky.social @londonsymphony.bsky.social #bassoons #bruckner #purcell

The latest #ClassicalCDs from @grahamrickson.bsky.social @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social Jelly Babies, porridge & kazoos, German art songs, French piano concertos and entertaining contemporary music www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

Lots to enjoy here: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social #classicalmusic #brahms #ravel @bostonsymphony.bsky.social #shostakovich

Your fortnightly slab of carefully curated classical content. All good, as usual: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @shekukm.bsky.social @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social

★★★★ A deep, subtle and constantly engaging album: Newfoundland Tristesse by Ronny Graupe's Szelest 'is all about disturbance and disruption' writes Sebastian Scotney theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

Sound on for a short sampler of Hear My Heart Sing, in a new recording out later this week by the brilliant Epiphoni Consort. Hear My Heart Sing is a choral showpiece celebrating the joy of singing together through the biology and imagery of the heart

The only biweekly online classical CD column you need. All good stuff, as usual: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @lporchestra.bsky.social @bernardhughes.bsky.social @thechoircefc.bsky.social #vivianmaier #filmphotography #elgar #classicalmusic

Loved interviewing Anne Sebba about her astonishing new book: inews.co.uk/culture/book...

Happy birthday, PB! #Boulez100

Fish and 'bones in this week's enticing classical selection. Read on: www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @nmcrecordings.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social

#CLASSICALCDs from @grahamrickson.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social - Shipping lines, sabre dances and sea lice in neglected piano concertos, Italian art songs and new music for trombones theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

A FORM OF EXILE #EdwardSaid and Late Style #CityofLondonSinfonia @southbankcentre.bsky.social - Superlative actors and musicians in an over-ambitious event running to three hours - @davidnice.bsky.social on a baggy ferment of ideas and sounds theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

It's Saturday! Time for CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS. Loads of great stuff this week, especially the Rozsa: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @kirstymatheson.bsky.social @firsthandrecords.bsky.social @londonsymphony.bsky.social

#BONHOEFFER - This film about the pastor accused of conspiring in the Hitler assassination plot raises more questions than it answers - @seb-scotney.bsky.social on a flawed biopic of a saintly man of courage theartsdesk.com/film/bonhoef...

#CLASSICALCDs from @grahamrickson.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @bernardhughes.bsky.social - Funeral marches, festivals & film noir, as well as choral music, solo piano recitals & the best violin concerto you've never heard theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

★★★★ #HelenCharlston #SholtoKynoch #TempleChurch - Coups de théâtre in a well-constructed programme, with fine singing, and powerful stage presence - review @seb-scotney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

#Artemis - #ARBORESQUE - A safe album from a band with a necessary message - but is there something, a spark maybe, missing here? asks @seb-scotney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

NEW LINK for this week's Classical CDs review theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

HUGE box sets in this week's mammoth selection. Read on, folks: theartsdesk.com/classical-cd... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social

Back after a week's sabbatical@ @theartsdesk.bsky.social Classical CDs column, as eclectic as ever: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @delphianrecords.com

Congrats corto.alto - fabulous aet and incredible audience response at the Sparks and Visions Fest in Regensburg!

I confess. I find writing about @ludovicoeinaudioff.bsky.social incredibly hard. Here goes … www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

★★★★ Long summer holidays remembered in #LudovicoEinaudi’s THE SUMMER PORTRAITS - #Einaudi has another hit on his hands, says @seb-scotney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

Xhosa Cole’s Young Lions live from rhe Münster jazz fest on WDR www1.wdr.de/mediathek/au...

‘This concert was an effusion of pure joy’ German National Orchestra #WayneMarshall #CadoganHall - Teenagers on tour bring effusive music-making and sheer youthful exuberance, says @seb-scotney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...

★★★★ THE SECOND ACT - French A-listers puncture their profession in a hall of mirrors in #QuentinDupieux’s absurdist meta comedy about stardom - review @seb-scotney.bsky.social #Mubi theartsdesk.com/film/second-...

It's been a bumper week, including three box sets. All your classical CD needs in a handy column: www.theartsdesk.com/classical-cd... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social

NEW LINK theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... - for Classical CDs from @grahamrickson.bsky.social @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social

At last, before the iron tongue of midnight proclaims a dubious 2025, my and my colleagues' classical music round-up for @theartsdesk.bsky.social completes the list. It's a big one. Among the featured, @philharmonialondon.bsky.social, @lporchestra.bsky.social, @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social...

2024's best classical recordings, in a handy list: theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social

Here’s the classical CDs pick of the year from @theartsdesk.bsky.social team. Bravo for a brilliant year of reviewing by @seb-scotney.bsky.social and especially @grahamrickson.bsky.social, whose writing is always a joy to read

Fascinating choices by @grahamrickson.bsky.social, @bernardhughes.bsky.social and @seb-scotney.bsky.social for @theartsdesk.bsky.social. Unfamiliar with most of them, though I did love the Nielsen 'Espansiva' transcription. Best of Classical music 'live' 2024 follows in a few days.

I have listened to this *so much* this last month: Kyrklåt from Songs of Christmas II by the Norwegian Soloists' Choir. It's a stunning piece of work: apart from anything the musical pacing is absolutely faultless

As usual, there were less outstanding opera productions than concerts (going to be a bigger one), but plenty of standout performances and two rich comedies in Wexford and Dublin. A survey from self and colleagues for @theartsdesk.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/opera/best-2...

A one month streaming subscription for Xmas video bingeing? I’ve gone for SFJAZZCenter. Very pleased with their on demand selection :) www.sfjazz.org/joingive/sfj... #jazzsky

Final classical roundup of the year, full of good stuff as usual: www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... thanks to @bernardhughes.bsky.social and @seb-scotney.bsky.social as usual