No, it's not André Rieu. Wolfgang Amadeus earns another spot in the Hall of Fame with his Symphony No. 41, 'Jupiter', one place higher than the opera I discovered last week. This time I actually got to watch the musicians play, which massively changes the listening experience. I saw things that would have escaped my ears alone. Firstly, the orchestral line-up. There is only one flautist. There are no clarinets or trombones. They hadn't become prevalent enough yet, so Mozart c

This eyebrow-raising and possibly clickbait title is an English translation Cosí Fan Tutte, the Mozart opera which ranks at 96th place in Classic FM's 2020 Hall of Fame. Having sat through a recording of the entire opera last night (over three hours, with English subtitles) I can tell you that a woman will readily cheat on her lover on the same day he sails to war, by fooling around with her own sister's boyfriend, albeit clueless to his identity due to his fake moustache and

Continuing the countdown of the top 100 popular classics according to Classic FM... #99 - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet - Craig Armstrong Following on from Gladiator, we have another film soundtrack at 99. Although, this entry seems to be all about one scene in particular - the one with the balcony. Unlike Gladiator, I wasn't visualising the film when I listened to this piece, which alters the experience. I did enjoy it though, it's stirring, uplifting without being sc

This is the first in a series I'll be posting as I listen and blog my way through Classic FM's Hall of Fame top 100. My ambition to explore music that's over 30 years old will have to wait though, as number 100 is the soundtrack to Gladiator by Hans Zimmer, released in 2000. (The Hall of Fame is for popular classics, so I'm expecting to encounter lots of familiar pieces, including more film soundtracks. They refresh the Hall of Fame every year so I'm using the 2020 list, whic