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Chopin I n today's Sunday Times I've rounded up six of the best classical music books of the year . Somehow 2018 was a bumper year for big, fat, beautiful ones - I've been ploughing through massive tomes on such figures as Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, Boulez, Handel and much more.  I don't mind telling you that my top choices are headed by Alan Walker's magisterial new biography of Chopin. The other five cover a spread of different music, topics and approaches. I am very sorry that I had to leave out at least four others that really deserve inclusion.  For some reason, it is not often that so many significant not-purely-academic and not-schlock books about classical music emerge in one year, and I hope this signals the fact that there's a real demand out there for fantastic writing on the subject.

The new book arrived by van yesterday: a sleek plum-purple volume with white feathers and broken glass around gold lettering on the front cover. Still can't quite believe it's real. (Nor, from the look of them, could the cats - but they were more interested in playing with the cardboard box when I'd emptied it.) ODETTE in numbers: 1 - beloved Tchaikovsky ballet 1 - rather off-the-wall idea 4 - main characters: Mitzi Fairweather, her brother Harry, her landlord Robert, and Odette herself 2 - scary birds 1 - imaginary town named Cygnford, vaguely modelled on Cambridge 26 - years to write 1002 (approx) - revisions over those 26 years 153 - supporting patrons via Unbound 72,000 or so - words Lost count of - publishers who turned it down saying, 'ooh, it's a bit quirky for us' Not going to tell you - age I was when I started it and age I am now 50:50 - proportion of relief to terror now that it's done. 29/11/18 -  publication date. I do hope you enjoy

Some years back Roxanna Panufnik was asked to write a choral work mixing the Latin Mass with a selection of Estonian poems. The result was Tallinn Mass: Dance of Life , in which the Latin Mass movements were interspersed with Estonian poems. Her big dream thereafter was to create a Polish equivalent. Now it's here, and its title is Faithful Journey . The piece is the latest in a massive year for her - no better way to celebrate her half-century - so I asked her a few questions about it, and you can hear an extract and preview in the CBSO video above.  The oratorio  is a co-commission  from  the CBSO and the Polish Radio Orchestra and  had  its world premiere earlier this month in Katowice. It will be heard for the first time in the UK at Symphony Hall Birmingham on 21 November, with soprano Mary Bevan and the CBSO and Chorus conducted by Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla (her first concert back from maternity leave). I'll be off to hear it. Roxanna writes: 2018 could not pass without my mar

Today, as Theresa May unveils her Brexit deal at cabinet and rumours of a likely no-confidence vote are running rife, Dame Sarah Connolly, the great British mezzo-soprano - the Fricka to end all Frickas in the Royal Opera's Ring cycle this autumn - has sent me her powerful thoughts about Brexit, the UK's pitiful government and the implications for the music business and, in particular, music education in this country. She puts forward persuasive and, to me, indubitable reasons for a new People's Vote to save us from Brexit. I personally consider Brexit the single biggest act of mendacious folly perpetrated by a state against its own people  in a European nation  since the building of the Berlin Wall, so I am absolutely delighted to run this important piece. It's strong stuff. Get yourself a stiff brandy and read every wise, furious word. JD Why we stand to lose our leading place on the world stage Guest post by Dame Sarah Connolly Dame Sarah Connolly Photo © Christopher

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I hope this works. If it doesn't, please go here instead:  https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/wigmore-hall-live/live-stream The French pianist Cédric Tiberghien has assembled an excellent, thoughtful and original programme for his 'Armistice' recital tonight, involving works from each year of World War I and music by composers from England, France, Germany, Poland and Russia. I wrote the programme notes, so I can promise you that the musical connections are fascinating in their own right, alongside the historical ones. The 'Wiggy' is now able to live-stream selected recitals and will make it available to view after the event as well, so I'm experimenting here to see whether we can share this broadcast. Aleksandr Skryabin (1872-1915) Vers la flamme, poème Op. 72 Frank Bridge (1879-1941) 3 Improvisations for the Left-Hand Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Etudes Book II Pour les degrés chromatiques Pour les agréments Pour les notes répétées Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) Twelve

His name is Richard Wagner, and if you let him, that's what he'll do. Of course, you mightn't show him in through the door in the first place, but otherwise, what's likely to happen is set out below. The things to remember are that a) the work is not the man, and vice-versa, and b) the more effort you put into something, the more rewarding it will be. One suspects he knew that – and knew exactly what he was doing in demanding such commitment from his fans. I just went to the whole Ring, in a manner of speaking, mostly by mistake, and the Ring leaves you wrung. But I'd go all over again tomorrow if I could. How, then, does this happen? First of all, you realise that Wagner was probably the most influential composer of any born in the 19th century, with the biggest, most lasting impact on musical history ever since – a quality he shares only with Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring'. So you start investigating. What on earth is so special

In yesterday's Sunday Times, I reviewed a book that is not only the best one about Chopin I've ever read, but maybe the finest biography of any composer I've yet been fortunate enough to encounter. My review was quite general, and not particularly short (you can read it here, £) , but there is so much more I want to say about this p articular tome that I'm writing a whole other piece here, now. Chopin (photo source: Wikipedia) A few weeks ago there was a thud on the doormat: a large brown box from Faber & Faber. When I opened it I nearly fell over with joy. Alan Walker, whose three-volume biography of Liszt has won multiple, highly deserved awards, has turned his attention to Chopin: this book has taken him about ten years, runs to 768 pages and includes insights, revelations and a sense of absolute authority on every page, indeed in every beautifully turned sentence. It's not just a fascinating study, but great literature: it can be enjoyed by everybody from th