Guardian Music — Serkin/Philadelphia O/Ormandy/Malborough Festival O/Serkin/Schneider(Sony Classical, 11 CDs)At both the beginning and the end of his long career, Rudolf Serkin made recordings for a variety of companies, but from the 1950s to the 70s he was exclusive... more info

Guardian Music — Philharmonia/New Philharmonia O/Klemperer(EMI, six CDs)EMI has embarked on a systematic repackaging of the recordings that Otto Klemperer made for the company with the Philharmonia (later New Philharmonia) between 1954 and 1971. The first batch of re... more info

Guardian Music — At the Proms, more people got a chance to hear the work of Pierre Boulez than had previously heard it in half a century, thanks to Daniel BarenboimAt the Proms in July, Daniel Barenboim played music by Pierre Boulez alongside a complete cycle of Beet... more info

Guardian Music — Some of the best onscreen uses of everyone's favourite bombastic orchestral classicAdam Scovell is a writer and film-maker who runs celluloidwickerman.comIn his ninth symphony, Beethoven put all of humanity into a piece of art. The fire, the madness,... more info

Guardian Music — Gould Piano Trio(Somm)Recorded live at St George's, Brandon Hill, Bristol a year ago, these three piano trios range from the elegant to the stormy, from good humoured to troubling. The C minor Op 1 No 3 (1795), despite being one of the first of Beeth... more info

Guardian Music — Louis de Bernières on how finding a wooden flute in a car boot sale led to his new play about the composer's life and worksIt is not often that one is asked to write a play for chamber group and solo actor, and I took it on in a mood of amused curio... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonBeginning and ending with Beethoven – the Fidelio Overture and the Fifth Symphony, in lithe, alert and above all intensely purposeful performances – Vladimir Jurowski conjured something remarkable out of his latest appe... more info

Time — Fans of the British drama Downton Abbey, forced by Masterpiece-style seasons that last only a mere seven or so episodes to wait eons for their fix of early-twentieth-century life in an English country manor, got some good news yesterday. NBC announ... more info

Guardian Music — Year-long celebration of 20th century music will feature a record 18 UK orchestras, including the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Hallé, the Royal Liverpool and the London PhilharmonicThe Southbank Centre announced the most ambitious modern music festiva... more info

Topix — Beethoven and ballet don't often turn up in the same sentence, but "The Creatures of Prometheus," from 1801, was actually the composer's second dance effort, following his "Ballet of the Knights" in 1791. more info