Other lives: Antiquarian music dealer and an expert on the composer Hector Berlioz
August 2023
John Eliot Gardiner pulls out of BBC Proms after punching bass soloist
Conductor assaulted English singer backstage in France after reportedly telling him he had left podium on wrong side
September 2022
‘A film score before there were films’: Ghosts’ Mathew Baynton on his passion for Berlioz
Symphonie Fantastique has drama in spades, and its composer more than passing similarity to the lovelorn poet Baynton plays in Ghosts
August 2022
Prom 30: Tredegar Band/BBCNOW/Bancroft review – vivid and expressive love letter to brass bands
Gavin Higgins’s ambitious new ‘concerto grosso’ was brilliantly played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Tredegar Band
March 2022
Josephine Veasey obituary
Mezzo-soprano with a commanding presence as Bizet’s Carmen, Berlioz’s Dido and Wagner’s Fricka at Covent Garden
November 2020
Know the score
From Vivaldi to Vaughan Williams: more musical voices who have changed our world
Over the past few months, our Know the Score series introduced 20 great composers. But what of the many we couldn’t write about? Martin Kettle suggests some other names whose music is well worth exploring
December 2019
Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust review – sell your soul for a damned fine Faust
Michael Spyres is almost superhumanly good in this live recording of Berlioz’s légende dramatique
August 2019
Berlioz: a thrilling comeback by the master of the grand gesture
One hundred and fifty years after his death, Berlioz’s music is finally getting the audience it deserves. Why has it taken so long to be loved?
July 2019
The Demon review – Cardiff winner Andrei Kymach makes his mark
A remarkable showing from the newly crowned Singer of the World and erotically charged scenes in this Rubinstein rarity
March 2019
Philharmonia/Nelson review – devotion and drama elevate Berlioz's Requiem
In this grand setting, the composer’s Grande Messe des Morts unfolded with intensity and gravitas, with tenor Michael Spyres bringing ease and beauty of tone
January 2019
Berlioz: Harold in Italy, Les Nuits d’Été review – Roth's piquant period performance
2019 arts preview
Queens and aces: the best classical music of 2019
December 2018
L’Enfance du Christ/BBCSO review – Berlioz rendered with baleful beauty
Orchestras - start living more dangerously!
Igor Toronyi-Lalic
November 2017
Berlioz: Les Troyens CD review – electrifying performances set a new benchmark
John Nelson, Joyce DiDonato and a carefully assembled cast never let the pace slacken in a stylish recording full of tremendous dramatic commitment
March 2017
The Damnation of Faust review – Liverpool Phil moves from loftiest speculation to the lowliest taverns
John Nelson’s conducting, the dramatic performances and the Scouse accent made for a thrilling concert performance of Berlioz’s oratorio
September 2016
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; Rameau CD review – exuberant, stylish take with baroque swagger
July 2016
Béatrice et Bénédict review – too much outside-the-box thinking
Berlioz’s take on Much Ado About Nothing sounds beautiful here, but Laurent Pelly’s staging is busy and distracting, and gets taken over by a single metaphor
June 2016
From the Guardian archive
Hector Berlioz: 'his mind is richly stored with new and striking ideas'
From the archive, 17 February 1848: The Observer reviews Hector Berlioz conducting his orchestra at the Drury Lane theatre
March 2016
Bookish blasts
Has a book ever changed your view of an artist?
Biographer John Richardson inspired a love of Picasso while novelist Somerset Maugham demolished Gauguin. Which writers have changed your opinion?
