BBC Music August 2025

For many, Perlman’s most iconic recording was as soloist on John Williams’s score for Schindler’s List – a film for which music played a hugely important role. Throughout the years, leading directors have also chosen to feature existing pieces of classical music in their films, and in so doing have produced some of the most marvellously memorable scenes. On page 48, we pick 12 of our favourite examples. Do you agree with our choices?

Elsewhere in this issue, Claire Jackson examines how composers have embedded coded messages in their music – many of which remain a mystery to this day. We also focus on a composer who's something of a national treasure in Britain - and, it turns out, far beyond. Though many may think of John Rutter as being the most British of choral composers and conductors, his huge popularity in fact spreads right across the globe, as Andrew Green explores.