The Perfect Gift for Christmas

“There’s something here for every fan”

Sir Simon Rattle

The 300 greatest classical pieces of all time in one book Packed with stories behind each of the works and composers

Only £15 from

(RRP £25)

To find out more please visit www.classicfm.com/book

The Classic FM Hall Of Fame (ISBN 9781907642173) is available from Waterstones.com at £15 (RRP £25.00) for a limited time only. All prices on Waterstones.com are online only and may differ from Waterstone’s stores. Free delivery on second class post in the UK only. A R T S

&

I C

M U S

L E B R E C H T

,

B O N N E R

T O M

,

I T H

S M

I C H A R D

R

:

I O N

I L L U S T R A T

C O V E R

/ A R E N A P A L

L A R G E

I N A

N

:

P H O T O G R A P H Y

GRAMOPHONE is published by Haymarket Consumer, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. www.gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@haymarket.com Volume 89 Number 1079

EDITORIAL Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 email gramophone@haymarket.com EDITOR Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 8267 5829 REVIEWS EDITOR Andrew Mellor / 020 8267 5125 PRODUCTION EDITOR Antony Craig / 020 8267 5874 STAFF WRITER Charlotte Smith / 020 8267 5155 SUB EDITOR David Threasher / 020 8267 5135 ART EDITOR Jon Butterworth / 020 8267 5091 AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard / 020 8267 5029 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 8267 5861 EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING CO ORDINATOR Sue McWilliams / 020 8267 5136 GRAMOPHONE SECRETARY Libby McPhee LIBRARIAN Francesco Burns EDITOR IN CHIEF James Jolly CONTRIBUTING EDITOR James Inverne ADVERTISING Phone 020 8267 5060 Fax 020 8267 5866 email ashley.murison@haymarket.com COMMERCIAL HEAD Ashley Murison / 020 8267 5853 SALES MANAGER Kane Dalton / 020 8267 5959 SENIOR DISPLAY SALES EXECUTIVE Esther Zuke / 020 8267 5199 DISPLAY SALES EXECUTIVE Stephen Nixon / 020 8267 5101 NEW BUSINESS EXECUTIVE Paul Prinnel / 020 8267 5976 CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Gurdeep Singh / 020 8267 5016 ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER Suzanne Philbin / 020 8267 5909 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES 08456 777823 (UK) +44 (0)1795 592980 (overseas) gramophone@servicehelpline.co.uk US & Canada 1 866 918 1446 haymarket@imsnews.com PUBLISHING Phone 020 8267 5136 Fax 020 8267 5844 PUBLISHER Kate Law kate.law@haymarket.com BRAND MANAGER Luca Da Re / 020 8267 5182 PUBLISHING INTERN Rachel Cramond / 020 8267 5140 LICENSING DIRECTOR Tim Bulley / 020 8267 5078 tim.bulley@haymarket.com GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart White / 020 8267 5420 DIRECT MARKETING MANAGER Lucy Harmer / lucy.harmer@haymarket.com SYNDICATION SALES Roshini Sethi / 020 8267 5396 HAYMARKET CONSUMER MEDIA DESIGN DIRECTOR Paul Harpin EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Payton SALES DIRECTOR Rachael Prasher STRATEGY & PLANNING DIRECTOR Bob McDowell MANAGING DIRECTOR David Prasher CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kevin Costello

The January issue of Gramophone is on sale from December 16; the February issue will be on sale from January 13 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of going to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Printed in England by Wyndeham Heron. ISSN 0017-310X. © 2011 haymarket consumer. All rights reserved North American edition: Gramophone (USPS 881080) is published 13 times a year by Haymarket Magazines Ltd, c/o Mercury International Ltd of 365 Blair Road, Avenel, New Jersey 07001. For North American subscription rates please contact: Tel: 1-866-918-1446; email: haymarket@imsnews.com. Periodicals paid at Rahway, NJ. Postmaster please send address correction changes to Gramophone, c/o Mercury International at the above address.

Haymarket is certi ied by BSI to environmental standard ISO14001

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’

Celebrating today’s most inspiring concert halls As an architecture critic, PHILIP KENNICOTT spends a lot of time looking at building types that don’t improve over time. The concert hall, which he surveys for this month’s Gramophone, is a happy exception to this tale of decline. ‘We may be in a golden age of new concert halls,’ he says, ‘and how often do you hear a critic say something like that?’

Gramophone may be a magazine of recorded music but I hope you’ll excuse and enjoy our celebration of concert halls in this issue. Aside from the fact that many, or most, collectors of classical music recordings will also be regular concert-goers, the auditorium is where orchestras develop a rapport with their music director, with each other and with audiences. It’s also where an increasing proportion of today’s new releases,

DAVID PATRICK STEARNS is a critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, author of the artsjournal.com blog ‘Condemned to Music’ and a contributor to The Guardian and Opera News. He came away from his Gramophone Collection survey of Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle speaking only in French Symbolist aphorisms, even when discussing the weather.

captured during live performances, originate. And as buildings, they can impress and inspire aesthetically and make a bold public statement about the role of music in society today – whether taking pride of place in a prestigious city-centre location or as the public beacon of an urban renewal project. Not all halls built in the past century were considered great successes but many of those from the past decade have been rightly acclaimed, capturing the imagination. In the best examples, architects, acousticians and musicians have thought hard about what a concert hall should look like, sound like, and how it should relate to the community around it. We celebrate 10 of the most inspiring and dramatic examples.

Most of us can recall, at some point in our lives, unexpectedly encountering a particular composer’s music and finding it resonating with us profoundly. For Rob Cowan, as a 14-year-old, it was Bartók:

‘Architects, acousticians and musicians have thought hard about what a concert hall should look like, sound like, and how it should relate to the community around it’

admired has over for music Berkeley’s Lennox

PETER DICKINSON has admired Lennox Berkeley’s music for over 50 years and has presented it in concerts, broadcasts and books – a new one coming out next year. Revisiting Berkeley’s work in the 1940s for this month’s Specialist’s Guide confirmed it was a golden decade, not just for the composer but for British music in general.

he was gripped, challenged, enthralled by the Hungarian master’s dark and innovative music and it has continued to prove a lifelong journey, the milestones of which he shares with us in this month’s cover story. Meanwhile, in The Gramophone Collection, David Patrick Stearns explores the recordings of Bartók’s sole opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, completed a century ago, and recommends his favourites.

to you welcome to joy a is it Finally,

a after editor, as role new my in time first the for

Finally, it is a joy to welcome you to Gramophone for the first time in my new role as editor, after a decade in various posts with the magazine. To hold such a position – proud as I am of both the title’s hold To magazine. the with posts various in decade title’s the both of am I as proud – position a such great heritage and of its committed, expert expert committed, its of and heritage great writers today – is a great privilege. My thanks to my predecessor James Inverne; and as the months progress, I hope many of you will contact me with feedback and ideas.

FOR THE FULL LIST OF GRAMOPHONE REVIEWERS TURN TO PAGE 39

martin.cullingford@haymarket.com gramophone.co.uk

GRAMOPHONE JANUARY 2012 3