For many classical music lovers, Johann Sebastian Bach’s "Mass in B minor" is a pinnacle of Western music, and today it is one of our most beloved sacred classics. The live performance of this monumental piece of music, with John Neslon, the Maîtrise…

The Belcea Quartet is one of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles, having won many international accolades. Now, with the string quartets, the musicians have rediscovered a gem of twentieth century chamber music. “Here is a composer moving…

Celebrating Strauss brings into focus the greatest interpreters of Richard Strauss’s compositions. These jewels of music broadcasting have been salvaged from various archives and been made accessible for home viewing audiences uniting appealing and…

A concert in honor of the 85th birthday of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The Cappella Musicale Pontificia "Sistina" is one of the oldest and most prestigious musical institutions the “Choir of the Pope”. Under the direction of Massimo Palombella…

The fiftieth anniversary of Toscanini’s death in 2007 was celebrated with gala concerts around the world, one of the most glamorous events being this benefit concert at the basilica of St Mark’s in Venice. The 11-year-old child prodigy Lorin Maazel…

The Classic Archive collection presents two unreleased performances filmed by BBC television in 1977: celebrated pianist Martha Argerich plays Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. Both pieces are technically…

The moving text of the “Stabat Mater” has been an inspiration to many composers from the Renaissance onwards. Luigi Boccherini, a virtuoso cellist and master of chamber music, composed this religious work with profound respect for the text and it’s…

The French pianist, Adam Laloum, winner of the 2009 Clara Haskilag competition, is quickly becoming an international star, described by Le Monde as ‘a young pianist, yet already a great artist and poet’. Age is certainly no barrier for Laloum, who…

Surely Bach’s French Suites, which he composed during his years at Cöthen (1717–1723), are among the finest inducements to practise that any teacher has ever made to a pupil. In this case Bach wrote them for his young wife, Anna Magdalena. The over…

One of today’s most sought-after performers, the Argentine pianist Nelson Goerner brings his love of Beethoven and Chopin to the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and presents very personal interpretations of two important sonatas and two études. His…