Johann Strauss II

 by Georg Predota  October 11th, 2025

Bicentennial Celebration: Waltzing Through Time

On 25 October 1825, in the bustling heart of Vienna, a child was born who would etch his name into the annals of musical history as the undisputed “Waltz King.” Johann Strauss II, son of the original Strauss patriarch, Johann Strauss I, emerged not just as a composer but as a cultural phenomenon, transforming the Viennese waltz from a simple ballroom diversion into a global symbol of elegance, romance, and unbridled joy.

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II: “Viennese Blood”  

Strauss Junior captured the spirit of 19th-century Europe, his music a whirlwind of imperial grandeur, social upheaval, and hedonistic escape. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth, the city of Vienna has declared a bicentennial extravaganza that reaffirms his legacy as a bridge between classical sophistication and populist delight.

The Johann Strauss 2025 Viennese celebrations run under the motto “King of Waltz, Queen of Music,” and encompass over 65 performances, three major exhibitions, and events spanning 71 locations across all 23 districts of the city. As musicologist Michele Calella of the University of Vienna notes, Strauss’ work remains “quintessentially Viennese, shaping the city’s identity as a cultural beacon even today.”   

Against the Grain

The young Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss Junior’s story begins in defiance. Born into a musical dynasty dominated by his father, young Johann was forbidden from pursuing composition. The elder Strauss envisioned a bourgeois future for his son: first law school, then a banking career, stability, anything but the itinerant life of a bandleader.

Defying paternal expectations, Strauss Junior secretly studied violin and compositions, debuting at age 19 at Dommayer’s Casino in Vienna. The selection of music he presented included works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Suppé and also by his father.

He also gave the premières of four of his own compositions, and the press was unanimous in its praise for the young Strauss and his music. This act of rebellion ignited a lifelong rivalry with his father, yet his early waltzes, like “Sinngedichte” and “Gunstwerber” captivated audiences with their lyrical charm.

The Sound of a New Era

Waltzing in the 19th century

Strauss’ early career was a whirlwind of polkas, marches, and waltzes that mirrored the era’s ferment. The 1848 revolutions rocked Vienna, yet Strauss, ever the entertainer, composed pieces like the “Revolutions-Walzer,” blending revolutionary fervour with danceable levity.

He quickly eclipsed his father’s fame, and upon Johann I’s death in 1849, Strauss Junior merged the ensembles to form a “super-virtuoso outfit” that toured Europe with unprecedented success.

The orchestra, under his baton, was renowned for its precision and ability to convey the lilting, almost dance-like quality of his music. The orchestra became Vienna’s musical heartbeat, delivering performances that balanced technical finesse with a sense of spontaneity. Strauss’ genius lay in elevating dance music to an art form, infusing it with sophistication while keeping it accessible and joyous.  

The Mozart of the Waltz

Strauss was also a master of orchestration, using the ensemble’s strings, woodwinds, and brass to create a lush, sparkling sound that felt both grand and intimate. His ability to tailor music for specific occasions, whether imperial balls or public concerts, meant the orchestra could shift seamlessly between grandeur and playfulness.

Let’s not forget, however, that Strauss Junior staunchly championed the music of Liszt and Wagner. Johann and Josef Strauss were the first musicians in Vienna to feature extracts from Wagner’s operas in concert. Similarly, arrangements of Verdi’s music frequently figured in the programmes of the Strauss Orchestra.

This unprecedented versatility made the Strauss Orchestra a cultural institution, exporting Viennese charm across Europe and beyond. Strauss embarked on tours to Russia, England, and America, where in 1872 he conducted 23 concerts in Boston, earning the moniker “the Mozart of the waltz.”   

The First Pop Star

Johann Strauss II in concert

Music historian H. E. Piggott describes Johann II as “the first pop star,” a composer whose “sheer consistency of invention” outshone all contemporaries. Strauss’ innate skill at instrumentation as well as his lifelong genius for melodic invention drew the praise of a number of composers.

Verdi said, “I honour him as one of my most gifted colleagues,: and even the usually grumpy Johannes Brahms once quipped, “sadly, the Blue Danube is not by me.” Brahms’ envy highlights Strauss’s effortless genius, as Strauss himself reflected. “Music is the most beautiful of all arts, for it is no more than feeling itself,” a sentiment that captures his intuitive blend of technical prowess and emotional immediacy.

Strauss’ operettas further cemented his fame, as he ventured into the theatrical realm with Die Fledermaus (1874) and Der Zigeunerbaron (1885). These sparkling confections, which premiered at the Theatre an der Wien, fused waltz rhythms with satirical plots, poking fun at Viennese high society while offering escapist fantasies.   

A Life of Contrasts

Yet, Strauss’ personal life was far less buoyant. Three marriages marked by scandal, including his 1886 citizenship change to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for his third wife, left him isolated, dying childless in 1899 from pneumonia. “Happy is he who can forget what cannot be changed anymore,” he once wrote and set to music.

Through it all, the music of Strauss II embodied resilience. The theatre scholar Anke Charton argued in the University of Vienna lecture series “Strauss Topographies” that his oeuvre reflects Vienna’s socio-cultural pulse, “ranging from Biedermeier domesticity to fin-de-siècle decadence.”

Even Ralph Vaughan Williams, no fan of “salonesque miniatures,” conceded that “a waltz of Johann Strauss is good music in its proper place.” And that proper place was the ballroom, the concert hall, and the silver screen, all ensuring Strauss’ immortality.   

A Golden Milestone

Johann Strauss II

In 1894, Johann Strauss celebrated his golden jubilee year as a composer and conductor, and responding to an official toast, said, “The distinctions which you bestow upon me today I owe to my predecessors, my father and Joseph Lanner. They indicated to me the means by which progress is possible, through the broadening of the forms, and that is my single small contribution.”

The composer openly acknowledged that the fundamental structure of the Viennese waltz had been developed, expanded, and formalised by the elder Strauss and Lanner. Strauss II did, however, extend the form and provided greater coherence to each composition.

As scholars write, Strauss II developed the introduction to provide almost symphonic music, and “the waltz themes themselves were expanded melodically and harmonically to produce a seemingly homogenous entity.” In addition, the coda was lengthened to give balance to the whole. His masterly orchestration prompted Brahms to remark that “there is now no one who is as sure as he is in such matters.” 

Vienna’s Heartbeat

Johann Strauss Junior’s legacy is woven into the cultural fabric of Vienna and the world, his music embodying the spirit of an era while transcending time. Elevating the waltz from a simple dance to a symphonic art form, his compositions are not mere tunes but sonic portraits of 19th-century Vienna.

Strauss’ genius lay in his ability to distil complex emotions into accessible, unforgettable melodies, performed with his orchestra’s signature blend of precision and spirited warmth. His music became the heartbeat of Viennese society, played in glittering ballrooms and public gardens, uniting aristocrats and commoners in shared delight.

Strauss’ legacy also endures in the institutions and traditions he inspired, which continue to thrive in 2025. The Vienna Philharmonic, closely tied to the Strauss family, remains a custodian of his music, with its New Year’s Concert a global phenomenon. 

Music Uniting Generations

Monument of Johann Strauss II

Museums like the House of Strauss at Casino Zögernitz and the Johann Strauss Museum in Vienna preserve his manuscripts, instruments, and personal artefacts, offering glimpses into his creative process and the vibrant world he inhabited.

These spaces, alongside initiatives like the Vienna Institute for Strauss Research, underscore his role as a cultural titan whose music reflected and shaped Vienna’s identity as a musical capital. To be sure, his compositions have permeated popular culture, spawning modern reinterpretations in concerts and digital media.

Strauss’s ability to evoke joy and nostalgia ensures his music remains a living legacy. His bicentennial transcends nostalgia, as it interrogates his relevance. In a fragmented world, his waltzes foster communal joy, much as they did amid 19th-century upheavals.

The 30 greatest classical music artists performing today

 

Maxim Vengerov, Lise Davidsen, Yo-Yo Ma: among today’s leading classical artists. Picture: Getty/Alamy

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM

 

As Classic FM turns 30, we look at some of today’s most celebrated classical artists – one for every year since Handel’s Zadok The Priest heralded our day one.

In 2022, classical music – an artform now over a millennium old, depending on your definition of the small ‘c’ – continues to sell out some of the world’s most impressive concert halls, attract billions of video views across the Internet, and capture imaginations young and old.

And a large part of its success, is owed to the artists who bring the music to life.

To mark 30 years of Classic FM, we’ve selected 30 of the greatest classical musicians who are performing and recording today. We pay tribute to their musicianship, their star appeal, critical acclaim, and the broader impact they’ve had on music, the arts, and education worldwide.

In alphabetical order, here is our top 30...

1. Marin Alsop – conductor

   American conductor Marin Alsop has been a crucial figure in progressing classical music over the past century. With a string of ‘firsts’ to her name, her historic move to the helm of the Baltimore Symphony in 2007 made her the first woman appointed director of a major US orchestra. Today, she is chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and a staunch campaigner for music and arts education.

2. Martha Argerich – pianist

   Arguably the best living pianist, Martha Argerich is revered for her interpretations of 19th and 20th-century piano music. With Deutsche Grammophon the Argentine musician has recorded the solo works of Bach and Liszt, and concertos of Chopin and Prokofiev, and continues to perform today with concert dates coming up in Europe and the Middle East. In recent years she has devoted much of her time to supporting young musicians.

3. Alison Balsom – trumpeter

   Forward-looking, genre-crossing, with a refreshingly personable style – English trumpeter Alison Balsom is one of 2022’s classical superstars. Her latest album Quiet City, a celebration of modern American music in contrast to her 2019 celebration of the era of the natural trumpet, is No.1 in the UK’s Classical Artist Album Chart as of September 2022.

4. Daniel Barenboim – pianist

   Hailed by Opera Now as “one of the most versatile cultural figures of our time”, Argentine-born pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is among today’s most in-demand performers on the concert stage. Currently general music director of the Berlin State Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim also founded the ground-breaking West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which aims to promote mutual understanding between Israeli and Palestinian musicians. He remains a committed chamber musician, performing regularly with friends Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma.

5. Joshua Bell – violinist

   Raised in Indiana, American violinist Joshua Bell has been music director of one of Britain’s foremost classical ensembles, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, since 2011. As a soloist he has recorded the great violin repertoire, and can also be heard on the soundtracks of blockbuster films including Hans Zimmer’s Angels and Demons. Ever curious about the future of music, Bell has experimented with virtual experiences, and famously conducted a social experiment on the subway in 2007. 

6. Nicola Benedetti – violinist

   Winner of a Grammy Award in 2020 for her recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, Scottish-Italian violinist Nicola Benedetti is an unstoppable force for good. Her Benedetti Foundation is changing the landscape of music education for children in Scotland and beyond, providing learning opportunities not only to young players but to music educators, too. One of today’s most thrilling and engaging musicians, she was also announced as the first woman director of the Edinburgh International Festival.

7. Khatia Buniatishvili – pianist

   French-Georgian concert pianist Khatia Buniatishvili has established herself as one of today’s foremost solo artists. Her playing comes with show-stopping style and striking sensitivity, with a focus on the big Romantics – Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky. She has dipped her toe in pop music, playing for Coldplay on their album A Head Full of Dreams, and is a social rights ambassador, playing at concerts to speak out against human rights violations, and championing equality for women and girls.

8. Gautier Capuçon – cellist

   Celebrated for his masterful tone on the instrument, Gautier Capuçon is a star French cellist and talent of today. He is the founder and leader of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and ambassador for the Orchestre à l’École Association, which brings classical music to more than 40,000 school children in France.

9. Lise Davidsen – soprano

   Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is going from strength to strength, raising bars and excitement levels across Europe’s major opera houses and concert halls. Having made her debut recording of Wagner and Strauss arias as recently as 2019, Davidsen has since performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the UK’s Royal Opera House, whose music director Antonio Pappano proclaimed, after her performance in Fidelio, that she has “a one-in-a-million voice… when she opened her mouth, we were all stunned. The voice has a light in it.”  

10. Joyce DiDonato – mezzo soprano

    With a beguiling command of the stage and a voice described by The Times as “nothing less than 24-carat gold”, American mezzo Joyce DiDonato is one of today’s most celebrated opera singers. The multi–Grammy Award winner is famed for her interpretations of Handel, Mozart and Rossini, and has had residencies at Carnegie Hall and the Barbican Centre. Famously, after breaking her leg on the opening night of The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden, Joyce completed the series of performances in a wheelchair, much to the delight of the public. 

11. Gustavo Dudamel – conductor

    The Venezuelan maestro’s impact is felt in three continents, his roles taking him from the helm of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, to the LA Philharmonic and the Paris Opera. In 2017 he became the youngest conductor in history to lead the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day Concert, and in 2019 he conducted the soundtrack recording for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. And we’d be remiss to mention perhaps his best-loved moment – conducting penguins on Sesame Street and bringing classical music to American children, many for the first time.

12. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – conductor

    Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has electrified audiences in her role at the helm of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, after taking the baton from Sir Simon Rattle. Gražinytė-Tyla signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2019, and became the first female conductor ever to do so.

13. Angela Gheorghiu – soprano

    Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is famed for her stunning interpretations of Puccini and Verdi, and her extraordinary range. At one rehearsal of her highly acclaimed 1994 La Traviata at the Royal Opera House, Sir Georg Solti said: “I was in tears. I had to go out. The girl is wonderful. She can do everything.” In the 2020s, over 25 years since she created a storm on the Covent Garden stage, she’s still wowing audiences and critics alike. A great diva of our time, who we’re proud to share a birthday with!

14. Benjamin Grosvenor – pianist

    British classical pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is one of the finest in the country today, celebrated for his understated brilliance. In 2011 he signed to Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician ever to sign to the label and the first British pianist to sign to the label in almost 60 years. When his 2020 album of Chopin Piano Concertos won a Diapason d’Or de L’année award, the critic said the recording is “a version to rank among the best, and confirmation of an extraordinary artist”.

15. Hilary Hahn – violinist

    A fan favourite wherever she goes, Hahn is one of the 21st century’s most forward-thinking classical artists, putting her audiences first and famously holding signings after pretty much every concert. A three-time Grammy Award winner and named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by Time magazine, Hahn plays exquisite Bach and Sibelius, but is also an advocate for new music, and regularly commissions works by diverse contemporary composers.

16. Barbara Hannigan – conductor, soprano

    Some conduct and play – Barbara Hannigan conducts and sings, with panache. The Canadian conductor-singer is the LSO’s first ever associate artist, and a firm supporter of new music and contemporary opera. Performing across Europe with the Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and Munich Philharmonic, Hannigan creates excitement and inspires awe in audiences wherever she goes, and has also established brilliant mentoring initiatives and programmes for young artists.

17. Lucie Horsch – recorder

    Putting the recorder on the map, 22-year-old Dutch rising star Lucie Horsch is in high demand as a solo artist, while also playing in baroque ensembles, symphony orchestras and in recitals. In 2022, Horsch is reframing the narrative around the humble recorder. She told Canada’s Classic 107: “The good thing is a lot of people know the instrument... but the bad side is that usually it’s a bad memory, because a lot of people were forced to play it in school. Luckily, I never was. I really chose the instrument because I thought that this is something I can do for myself.”

18. Isata Kanneh-Mason – pianist

    The eldest of seven extraordinary, musically talented siblings, including her brother Sheku with whom she recorded duet album Muse in 2022, Isata Kanneh-Mason is a brilliant pianist whose recording career has seen her champion the works of Clara Schumann, alongside more widely known 19th and 20th-century repertoire. One of today’s most in-demand young classical solo artists in the UK, she is also the recipient of the 2021 Leonard Bernstein Award.

19. Sheku Kanneh-Mason – cellist

    Sheku shot to fame after he performed solo to an audience of two billion at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in St George’s Chapel Windsor. Two years later, it was reported that more young people were taking up the cello than ever, thanks to ‘the Sheku effect’. Inspired to take up cello by Jacqueline du Pré’s monumental recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Sheku’s 2020 album Elgar made him the first cellist in history to land a place in the official UK album chart Top 10, in a groundbreaking moment for classical and pop music.

20. Jonas Kaufmann – tenor

    German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has recorded the big Italian opera roles, playing Cavaradossi in Tosca to great acclaim, but his versatility makes him just as comfortable performing in Wagner’s Die Walküre or singing German lieder. Kaufmann is outspoken on the importance of the arts in our society. In June 2020, he told the FT: “What is Germany, other than language, culture, art, architecture, music and…  well, also football? This is the essence of our society. If you destroy that, what is left?”

21. Lang Lang – pianist

    Chinese-born piano superstar Lang Lang might be classical music’s greatest showman. In 2008, an audience of four billion watched him play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, marking the beginning of the pianist’s power to reach the masses. A music education ambassador, his Lang Lang International Music Foundation brings music to children in schools across China and beyond.

22. Yo-Yo Ma – cellist

    18-time Grammy Award winner, Yo-Yo Ma is arguably the world’s most celebrated classical cellist and has recorded music from the beloved Bach Cello Suites to American bluegrass, to traditional Chinese melodies. Born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, he appeared as a boy in a televised concert with Leonard Bernstein. Today, Ma is a cultural icon and arts ambassador, known for bringing the healing power of music to world events, from the global pandemic, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and President Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

23. Klaus Mäkelä – conductor

    Aged only 26, thrilling young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä is already at the helm of two leading European orchestras, the Oslo Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris, is artistic director of the Turku Music Festival in Finland, and will take up a position at the Concertgebouw orchestra from next season, becoming chief conductor from 2027. The third conductor in history to be signed exclusively to Decca, Mäkelä’s recording debut this year was an ambitious cycle of Sibelius symphonies. A true star of the future of classical music.

24. Wayne Marshall – organist

    Organist Wayne Marshall heard Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue aged eight and was spellbound. “For me, your American music is just as important as any Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms,” Marshall has said. The British pianist, organist and conductor is a celebrated interpreter of Gershwin and Bernstein, among other 20th-century American composers. As a conductor, he led the first concert of the Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, in 2015.

25. Anne-Sophie Mutter – violinist

    A soloist and visionary, Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the world’s leading violinists, famously supported in her early career by the great Herbert von Karajan. Mutter has had several works composed for her in recent years, including by the film music legend John Williams, who penned a special Violin Concerto and rewrote his Across the Stars album for the German virtuoso. In 2022 she joined forces with Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for a special recording of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra.

26. Emmanuel Pahud – flautist

    Swiss-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud is one of today’s busiest classical musicians and a staunch advocate for new music, performing around 160 concerts a year, many of them premieres of flute commissions he has made. Aged 22, Pahud famously became the youngest player in the Berlin Philharmonic, and when he signed with EMI Classics in 1996, he became the only flautist in the world to have a solo recording contract with a major record company.

27. Sir Simon Rattle – conductor

    A legendary conductor of our times, Sir Simon Rattle has been music director of the London Symphony Orchestra since 2015, famously conducting the orchestra three years earlier at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in a sketch with Rowan Atkinson. Sir Simon also led Berlin Philharmonic for 16 years, and had a long-standing relationship with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. 

28. One of the greatest classical pianists of the 20th century, Mitsuko Uchida is renowned for her peerless interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. The Japanese-born British musician was made a Dame in 2009 for her contributions to music. Aged 73, Uchida continues to record and perform, and is set to give several concerts throughout the US, Europe and Asia over the next six months, playing with major orchestras including the LSO and Berlin Philharmonic.

29. Maxim Vengerov – violinist

    Hugely popular with both younger and older audiences, Maxim Vengerov is often referred to as the greatest string player in the world today. The Russian-born Israeli violinist – who is Classic FM’s first solo artist in residence – is also internationally acclaimed as a conductor, and in 1997 became the first classical musician to be made an International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF, taking his violin to Uganda, Thailand and Kosovo, and playing for young children. “Helping children in need and sharing classical music with young people is perhaps the greatest responsibility of my life,” Vengerov said. 

30. Yuja Wang – pianist

    One of today’s most popular pianists, Yuja Wang sells out the world’s concert halls with her virtuosic Mozart, Rachmaninov and Liszt. A formidable force at the piano, Wang has exquisite technique and dynamic control, her performances exhilarating from start to finish. Wang firmly believes in the excitement and spontaneity of live music-making telling the New York Times, “I firmly believe every program should have its own life, and be a representation of how I feel at the moment”.

ANDREA BOCELLI

Born: September 22, 1958 (age 63) Italy

Andrea Bocelli, (born September 22, 1958, Lajatico, near Pisa, Italy), Italian tenor noted for his unique blend of opera and pop music.

From a young age Bocelli was afflicted with congenital glaucoma. He began taking piano lessons at age six and later played flute and saxophone. At age 12 he became totally blind after suffering a brain hemorrhage as the result of a soccer accident. Undeterred by his lack of sight, he studied law at the University of Pisa while singing at piano bars and nightclubs to finance his education. After obtaining his degree, he practiced law as a state-appointed attorney for a year before deciding on a musical career and studying voice with tenor Franco Corelli.

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

Bocelli’s breakthrough came in 1992, when he was asked by Italian pop star Zucchero Fornaciari to record a demo of “Miserere,” a song intended for renowned vocalist Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti was highly impressed with Bocelli’s voice, and the two became friends. The next year Bocelli signed a recording contract, and his debut album, Il mare calmo della sera (1994), brought him further attention in Europe. In 1995 he released Bocelli, which featured the single “Con te partirò.” He later recorded the song as a duet in English (“Time to Say Goodbye”) with Sarah Brightman, and both versions became hits. Bocelli’s popularity in the United States grew in 1997 with the release of Romanza—which collected songs from his previous albums and eventually sold more than 15 million copies worldwide—and with repeated PBS airings of his live show Romanza in Concert: A Night in Tuscany.

Though he claimed opera as his first love, Bocelli mixed arias with popular music on his recordings (a genre referred to by the press as “popera”) in an effort to expand his audience base. Criticized by some reviewers as being too lightweight to be taken seriously by the opera world, Bocelli nevertheless performed in The Merry Widow in 1999, singing three arias, and made his American operatic debut later that year in the title role of Jules Massenet’s Werther at the Michigan Opera Theatre. Still, while his Sacred Arias (1999) sold remarkably well for a strictly classical recording, he found greater commercial success with Sogno (1999), which featured a duet with pop star Céline Dion (“The Prayer”).

Among Bocelli’s early 21st-century releases are Cieli di Toscana (2001; “Skies of Tuscany”); the pop-focused Amore (2006), which included guest appearances by Christina Aguilera and Stevie Wonder; the holiday collection My Christmas (2009); the live album Concerto: One Night in Central Park (2011). In addition to recording, he toured extensively, making his debut at the New York Philharmonic in 2006 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2011.

During the 2010s Bocelli continued to record studio albums, including Passione (2013), which included a duet with Jennifer Lopez; Cinema (2015), a collection of movie themes; and Sì (2018), which featured duets with his son and Josh Groban. The latter debuted at number one on Billboard’s all-genre chart.

The memoir Musica del silenzio (The Music of Silence) was published in 2001.

‘It’s genius’ – classical music stars on why we love The Lark Ascending so much

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

 

As ‘The Lark Ascending’ tops the Classic FM Hall of Fame a record eleventh time, a new film has been released featuring classical musicians sharing their personal experiences of the popular piece.

The enduringly popular Lark Ascending has topped the Classic FM Hall of Fame for another year.

But why do we love it so much? Inspired by the piece’s enduring place at the top of our Hall of Fame, the Royal Philharmonic (RPS) has created a film exploring just this.

The RPS asked famous musicians and dedicated music lovers to talk about what the piece means to them, in a beautiful new film.

We see several personalities from different corners of the music profession – including violinist Tasmin Little OBE and composer Sally Beamish OBE – each sharing, from lockdown, their own impressions of Vaughan Williams’ beloved masterpiece, telling us about what it means to them.

“I’ve played The Lark Ascending more than 60 times and each time has been a unique experience. I feel there’s something else at work in this music,” Little says in the film. “The idea of this little bird in this huge sky, soaring closer and closer to heaven… I think there’s something very spiritual about this concept, and such peace and tranquillity in the music that it helps us to find our own sense of peace inside.”

Violinist Elena Urioste says she experiences “a sense of inhalation and exhalation” throughout different phrases of the piece.

Conductor Ben Gernon shares what it’s like to face the orchestra from the podium, during a performance of the piece. “I always look forward to conducting The Lark Ascending. I find in performance it has this amazing ability to reach absolutely everyone. It’s a beguiling and mesmerising piece, but it’s actually quite simple – and its success lies in how it brings the outside world inside the concert hall.”

Meanwhile, composer Sally Beamish OBE describes Vaughan Williams’ music as “genius”, pointing out how innovative it would have been at that time to write something so descriptive and free for the violin.

“The violin writing is just stunning,” Beamish adds.

Pianist Tom Poster also features, introducing his thoughts on the original violin-piano arrangement of the piece. And cultural historian Gavin Plumley is on hand to round the story off, with where it fits in a wider historical and social context.

It makes for an inspiring watch – and beautiful too, with George Meredith’s poem that originally inspired the work woven throughout the film.

Read more: How to become a member of Royal Philharmonic Society >

To watch, sign up to RPS’s membership here. RPS Membership is designed for music lovers to further their curiosity in classical music and get the chance to attend exclusive in-person and online events, and nominate artists for the prestigious annual RPS Awards.

Watch the film The Lark Ascending in full on the Royal Philharmonic Society’s website by becoming a member today. Visit: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/lark to find out more.

Beethoven: Overture Egmont - Radio Filharmonisch Orkest led by Karina C...

7 of the best pieces of classical music for reading

7 of the best pieces of classical music for reading. Picture: Getty

By Daniel Ross, ClassicFM

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Reading with the right soundtrack is a fine art: which piece of classical music goes with your book?

Curling up with a great book and the perfect classical soundtrack: truly, can you name anything more enjoyable?

But choosing the right piece to accompany your literary experience is fraught with danger. Pick something obtrusive and well-known, and you risk losing focus. Pick something insufficiently active and you may as well not bother.

So here’s our list of perfect music to accompany your latest fireside read, all of it perfectly pitched to enhance your novelistic experience...

Read more: The 15 most famous tunes in classical music >

1. Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto

   If you’re grappling with the literary boom that brought us what became known as the ‘Great American Novel’, you’ll need a suitably Yank-inclined soundtrack to aid your reading.
   Whether it’s Fitzgerald or Baldwin or Bellow, it’s essential to listen to a piece which captures and crystallises an American state of mind.
   There are of countless examples, but Barber’s violin concerto is a true American great: grandstanding and slick, but deeply emotional in its slower passages, it’ll bring out the lyrical zip of the right novel.

2. Joseph Haydn: Symphonies

   Reading the classics? Need to feel the perfect mix of stately propriety and cheekiness to go with your subtly subversive comment on high society?
   Haydn’s status as a mere courtly composer does him a bit of a disservice, and likewise, the true impact of greats like Jane Austen wasn’t truly appreciated until much later. And paired together, it really works.

3. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (second movement)

   Taking in the complex and circulatory narratives of a classic crime thriller needs a contemplative soundtrack as you survey all the angles and try to work out whodunnit.
   Cycling through the suspects in an Agatha Christie vignette means evaluating the options over and over, and Beethoven’s cyclical, haunting and tense motif will help you mull over the motives.

4. Howard Shore: The Lord Of The Rings

   Absolute top tip: when you’re reading fantasy fiction – whether it’s George RR Martin or Ursula Le Guin – movie music can be distracting. But if you stick to the less hummable, more background-y bits of Shore’s mammoth compositions for Peter Jackson’s Tolkien movie adaptations, you’ll be surprised how immersive your reading experience becomes.
   Now, you might be tempted to go a step further in this direction and try Wagner’s Ring Cycle for some extra depth and intrigue for your fantastical jaunt, but we must advise caution: Wagner and books only makes for torn pages and weeping.

5. Gerald Finzi: Eclogue

   Almost imperceptibly melancholic, Finzi’s sweeping work is the perfect soundtrack to a winsome bit of nature writing.
   Deeply imbued with the bucolic soul of the English countryside, his Eclogue is just the thing if you’ve got some Robert MacFarlane or Laurie Lee nestling on your bedside table. You are about to have your mind very gently and wholesomely blown.

6. Arvo Pärt: Berlin Mass

   With his ‘tintinnabulation’ compositional technique to the fore, there is a hypnotic quality to Pärt’s Berlin Mass (Berliner Messe) which is suited to any book with an atmosphere to get lost in.
   A Shirley Jackson novella, perhaps some engrossing and otherworldly science fiction like Frank Herbert’s Dune, maybe even an unsettling work like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: all of these will take on a different character with a soundtrack like this.

7. Franz Liszt: Liebestraum

   Take a novel with deep romantic themes and pair it with Liszt, the master of the romantic piano.
   Sigh along with his indelible melodies as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara fall (or fail to fall) into each other’s arms. Swoon as the aching right hand motifs draw you deeper into Love In The Time Of Cholera.
   Or just pop it on while you’re reading Jilly Cooper, we’re not here to judge.