Guardian Music — Ravel's insulting exclusion from the final round of the Prix de Rome in 1905 was all the more baffling as it came just months after the acclaimed premiere of his masterly string quartet in F, to some extent a homage to his friend Debussy whose own qu... more info

The Telegraph — Dante Quartet, Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano) more info

Guardian Music — RCO LiveTaken from Amsterdam concerts conducted by George Benjamin and Ingo Metzmacher to mark the centenary of Messiaen's birth in 2008, performances of two of the French composer's works are interleaved with recordings of the premieres of three com... more info

Guardian Music — Purcell and Vivaldi are all very well, but it's a modern, avant-garde Norwegian who sends shivers down my spineSnow, ice, and frost music. We can do better than Debussy's The Snow is Dancing, than Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden or Vivaldi's Winter... more info

Guardian Music — Barbican, LondonAmong this year's various Ballets Russes centenary commemorations came a nicely conceived programme of music by some of the composers who ensured their immortality. There's nothing like hearing this music without the distraction of me... more info

Guardian Music — Hoddinott Hall, CardiffThe French composer Bruno Mantovani – definitely not to be confused with the Italian popular conductor Mantovani, he of the saccharine strings – is one of the young lions of French music and the subject of the las... more info

Guardian Music — Jazz pianist Stefano Bollani tells Will Hodgkinson why he'd hate to be a Rolling StoneWhile not wishing to suggest that he is sexually attracted to them, the Italian pianist Stefano Bollani is comparing a good session with his Danish rhythm section t... more info

Guardian Music — Last week you sent us your favourite lunar tunes. Now we want songs with pep in their step ...What to do about classical music? That's the question that's been rattling around my noggin'. I don't mean "do about" in the sense of "take care". I have no... more info

Guardian Music — When Sufjan Stevens was asked to write a symphony for New York, he turned to a hated freeway for inspiration. The musician tells Andrew Purcell whyThe Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is a miserable stretch of road. The BQE, as New ­ Yorkers call it, ha... more info

Guardian Music — Kings Place, LondonMost music heard today could be called electro-acoustic, but concerts devoted specifically to exploring the implications of electronic sound are exceedingly rare. Excellent, then, that the London Sinfonietta organised a three-day f... more info