Hi,
I’m Colin Anderson, a writer on music and the editor of Classical Source.
Welcome to my Column, a bit of a blog: news, reviews, things to watch, and other posts to read; a mix of things. I hope you like the contents.
Cheers, Col
Hallelujah! Handel’s chorus from Messiah.
Having been incapacitated for a few weeks, unable to get to my computer, it has been returned to me by a kind techie friend who moved the whole thing (plus CD player) from the room it was in to the one I am occupying, restricted. I remain limited in what I can do but...
July 7: Eloquence releases Antal Dorati conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra – The Mercury Masters – The Stereo Recordings.
Pinned post, review in progress: please keep checking in for updates A companion to this, https://www.colinscolumn.com/eloquence-releases-antal-dorati-the-mercury-masters-the-mono-recordings/, and constituted thus,...
Eloquence releases Antal Dorati – The Mercury Masters – The Mono Recordings.
Pinned post, review in progress: please keep checking in for updates… So, the sound is mono. It matters not, for, as Ein Heldenleben demonstrates (recorded December 1952), the reproduction is full and vivid, tangible and dynamic – typically so – and Antal Dorati...
RELEASED TODAY, June 2: Otto Klemperer – The Warner Classics Remastered Edition, Volume One: Symphonic Works & Concertos.
Pinned post since May 16 (please keep checking in for additions) It's arrived......
Decca releases Ernest Ansermet: The Stereo Years.
Pinned post* (please keep checking-in for additions, which you'll find in the first Comments box) May 19, update for procuring replacement CDs: For UK residents ONLY with faulty Ansermet CDs, numbers 20 & 37, please email mk.customerservices@umusic.com for...
BBC Statement: Alternative funding solution for the BBC Singers.
Pinned post The BBC has received approaches from a number of organisations offering alternative funding models for the BBC Singers. We have agreed with the Musicians’ Union that we will suspend the proposal to close the BBC Singers, while we actively explore these...
New Strategy for Classical Music Prioritises Quality, Agility and Impact. From which the following: “… therefore the BBC has made the difficult decision to close the BBC Singers (20 posts) and invest resources in a wider pool of choral groups from across the UK.”
Pinned post Following last year’s classical review looking at the sector and the BBC’s role within it, the BBC today sets out a new strategy to strengthen its public purpose for classical music, delivering the best music to a wider audience, with a significant new...
BBC Symphony Orchestra @ Barbican Centre – Sakari Oramo conducts Nielsen’s Imaginary Journey to the Faroes, Sibelius’s Sixth & Seventh Symphonies, and Johan Dalene playing Tebogo Monnakgotla’s ‘Globe Skimmer’ Violin Concerto. Live on BBC Radio 3.
Tebogo Monnakgotla (born 1972) Friday, December 8, 2023 Barbican Hall, London Following last Friday's 'Eroica' with this conductor and orchestra, a week passed to bring two further great examples of the Symphony genre, Sibelius's final two (Opuses 104 & 105),...
Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jader Bignamini renew partnership through the 2030–31 season and announce plans to release first recording together, Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony.
At its Annual Meeting, DSO also announces financial successes, including eleventh consecutive balanced budget and $104 million in new endowment commitments over the past decade Detroit, (December 7, 2023) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and President...
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Martyn Brabbins conducts Debussy’s Images pour orchestre (Gigues-Ibéria-Rondes de printemps), with Federico Colli playing both of Shostakovich’s Piano Concertos. Live on BBC Radio 3.
Thursday, December 7, 2023 City Halls, Glasgow It should have been Sir Mark Elder conducting. In his short-notice place Martyn Brabbins left the programme and its order unchanged. (Very recently Elder replaced Robin Ticciati for an LPO Mahler Three.) 'Ibéria' (Image...
Decca launches nationwide search for 1963 boys’ choir.
DID YOU SING FOR BRITTEN? BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S BOYS’ CHOIR REUNION DECCA RECORDS LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR ORIGINAL CHORISTERS ON BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S LEGENDARY 1963 ‘WAR REQUIEM’ RECORDING Simon Preston at the organ, with Highgate School Choir in the balcony, at Kingsway Hall...
ICA Classics releases Constantin Silvestri conducting Kabalevsky and Shostakovich with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
From April 1961, Winter Gardens Pavilion, the Overture from Kabalevsky's music for Colas Breugnon makes for a colourful and lively start, the Bournemouth SO, on home turf, playing with precision and joie de vivre for its soon-to-be chief conductor Constantin Silvestri...
Decca releases “A Choral Christmas” with Voces8.
A release of contrasting and familiar numbers - colourful/exhilarating/stirring or sublime/reflective/transporting - very well performed and recorded. "Cinematic" indeed; sweet and savoury, too. Decca 556 8937....
Three Choirs Festival 1996 – the Bach/Stokowski D-minor Toccata & Fugue – Martyn Brabbins conducts the BBC Philharmonic in Worcester Cathedral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVApjq38Bew "The Brabbins / Stokowski sounds quite incredible. The BBC radio engineer(s) must have been listening to a Stokowski Phase 4 Stereo recording or something because not only is the sound absolutely first-rate, helped by the...
![Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko return from highly acclaimed tour of South Korea and Japan. [Back news; November 29]](https://www.colinscolumn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/kp-400x250.jpg)
Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko return from highly acclaimed tour of South Korea and Japan. [Back news; November 29]
The Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko [pictured] return from a highly acclaimed tour of South Korea and Japan. 13 sold-out concerts; Community project “Be Phil Orchestra Japan” a complete success The Berliner Philharmoniker’s first Asian tour...
![David Pickard to step down as Director of the BBC Proms. [Back news; November 23]](https://www.colinscolumn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bbcproms.png)
David Pickard to step down as Director of the BBC Proms. [Back news; November 23]
After leading the world’s greatest classical music festival for nearly a decade, David Pickard has decided to step down as the Director of the BBC Proms. He will remain in post until October 2024, overseeing the Proms 2024 and planning for future seasons. David was...