Orchestral Music

Without her fans, holographic pop star Hatsune Miku would literally be nothing. It's now the same story for organisations, says Zoe Fraade-Blanar. Audio

Big blockbusters dominate the 2018 season from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Core repertoire, crossover and cinematic sounds are in store for fans - there’s something to whet everyone’s… Audio

Played by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Rumon Gamba. Auckland Town Hall, 3 May 2017. Audio

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra plays a concert of French music featuring star harpsichord player, Mahan Esfahani performing the Concerto Champêtre by Francis Poulenc. Recorded as part of APO 2017… Audio

In a concert from its Premier Series, the Auckland Philharmonia plays a programme of works by Ottorino Respighi, Felix Mendelssohn, and contemporary American composer Christopher Rouse - Bede Hanley… Audio

Tchaikovsky was now famous and had just completed a successful European tour by the time he wrote the fifth symphony. It seems that providence had smiled on him after years of struggle and self-doubt… Audio

The fourth symphony is concerned with fate, a fate that Tchaikovsky felt dealt him a weak nature. Video, Audio

The third symphony is unashamedly cheerful and has at its centre one of the most romantic pieces of music that Tchaikovsky ever wrote. The nickname 'Polish' relates to the finale which draws on… Audio

Tchaikovsky's first attempt at a symphony nearly drove him to a nervous breakdown, but none of that tension found itself into the symphony, instead the idea of winter seems to have been close to his… Audio

Tchaikovsky called Glinka's Fantasy on two Russian Folksongs ‘the acorn from which the oak of Russian music grew'.

Orchestra Wellington/Marc Taddei Audio

It was not only in Nazi Germany that certain music was considered degenerate. Soviet leaders branded much contemporary music as 'Formalist'. Polish-born Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) emigrated to… Audio