Record Review Podcast

Messaien's piece was premiered at a prisoner of war camp, outdoors in the rain, in 1941.

Building a Library on Schoenberg's epic cantata Gurrelieder. Nicholas Baragwanath guides us through this gargantuan late flowering of 19th-century Romanticism in which Schoenberg wove together a sumptuous score that can be surprising to people accustomed to the more astringent sound world of his later works.

Kate Kennedy explores the music of an underrated English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement.

Edward Seckerson joins Andrew McGregor to assess recordings of Ives Symphony No. 2.

Tapiola is Sibelius's final masterpiece for orchestra. Andrew Mellor recommends a version

Stephen Johnson compares recordings of the first of Beethoven's late string quartets.

Rob Cowan sifts through "Tchaik 4," a piece written at a time of emotional turmoil.

Harriet Smith compares recordings of Schubert's piece, which baffled its 1828 audience.

Dedicated to his hero Wagner, Bruckner revised his Third Symphony several times.

David Owen Norris sifts through the available recordings of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 21