If a three-and-a-half star rating feels miserly for a record that promises much, you should know that the last time I reviewed music by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, I feared for the continued well-being of my computer as I punched my displeasure into my keyboard. Saariaho’s early music – especially gems like Verblendungen and Lichtbogen – were packed with raw-boned harmonic and timbral intrigue; but then, during the 1990s, her music drifts towards generic notions of lyricism and line, leaving those of us who admired the early work to wonder what happened to her incisive, bold spirit. The great British comedian Les Dawson once claimed that “beauty fades, while ugliness endures” and although Saariaho’s music from the 1980s was never exactly ugly – the beauty was elemental, bracing and absolutely revitalising – the ambient, soft-focus leanings of more recent pieces can sit too comfortably inside emotional inverted commas. But then I play this disc and Quatre Instants, her 2002 song cycle for soprano and orchestra, and Terra Memoria, a realisation of her 2007 Second String Quartet for full strings, win me over in a way I wasn’t expecting. The… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

Celebrated Australian conductor Patrick Thomas shares how the original YPA’s launched his 35-year international career. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

This all-Haydn finale to its 2015 season shows why this group is one of Australia's finest period ensembles.

This touching tribute to composer Allan Zavod shares an important message in an easily accessible language.

The revered German-born conductor has passed away aged 88.

The decision to discontinue the prestigious national award was made by the six CEOs of Australia’s major State orchestras.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, and “Bah, humbug!” to Il Divo.

Limelight’s Recording of the Year heads a bumper edition to take you into 2016. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Jessica Gethin and Jennifer Condon reflect on their time at the Dallas Opera's ground-breaking initiative.

The Sydney Symphony’s new Assistant brings a bit of Aussie entrepreneurship to London. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

José Serebrier’s new Dvořák cycle ranks with Kubelík’s, Kertesz’s, and Rowicki’s sadly overshadowed but excellent set. For me, the last three symphonies are usually the least interesting and revealing – as here, where they’re perfectly OK but unremarkable (the third movement of the Eighth lacks the sinuous elegance of other readings). Where this cycle scores is in the performances of the neglected Second, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the generous addition of other major works such as the Legends, the delightful Scherzo Capriccioso, the masterful concert overture In Nature’s Realm and a selection of Slavonic Dances in radiant performances, the Bournemouth players in top form.  No young composer was more prolix than Dvořák (one of his early string quartets lasts 70 minutes!), as demonstrated in the First Symphony, subtitled The Bells Of Zlonice where the youthful rhetoric runs unchecked. The three-movement Third and the Fourth (whose last movement always reminds me of a bizarrely titled song I heard as a child on the ABC Argonauts programme: “Dashing away with a smoothing iron, she stole my heart away”) are interesting, but the Second Symphony, long a favourite of mine, is more disciplined and Serebrier has its measure, making it a real…

We reveal ten truths that those who tread the career path of a composer will know all too well.