Pictures at an Exhibition - On its 150th anniversary, Jessica Duchen takes us on a guided tour of Mussorgsky’s unique piano mastepiece.

Perfect pitch? - Some of opera’s more adventurous, and unlikely, ways of promoting itself are relived by Alexandra Wilson.

Vilde Frang The Norwegian shares with Ariane Todes the joys and challenges of recording Elgar’s mighty Violin Concerto.

Giacomo of all trades Puccini didn’t just compose opera, says Adrian Mourby, as he explores some of the Italian’s assorted other works...

MUSICALS!
How opera gave birth to the world’s greatest stage shows

Also in this issue…
Beethoven’s remarkable late creative surge

How Myra Hess brought joy to wartime Britain

Smetana’s hymn of love to his Czech homeland

Holst: Beyond The Planets
Daniel Jaffé explores the extraordinary variety of the composer’s works outside his great masterpiece; plus, a 150th-anniversary display of previously unseen photos.

Song and dance man
The exhaustive of efforts of folk collector Cecil Sharp changed the face of English music, reveals Andrew Green.

A classroom collaboration
Charlotte Smith visits the Shireland CBSO Academy, a Midlands state school where music enjoys top billing...

The Sixteen
The world-renowned choir is in great spirits at 45 years old, conductor Harry Christophers tells Andrew Stewart.

Symphonies by the sea
Andrew Green unfolds his deckchair as he investigates the erstwhile phenomenon of British seaside orchestras.

Harmonic progression
Big, brash and often over-the-top: Prog Rock, classical music’s pop cousin, is introduced by Meurig Bowen

Welcome to The Proms!
Your complete guide to this summer’s concerts, including the BBC Music team’s personal highlights.

Perfect Finnish
Sakari Oramo, conductor of this year’s Last Night of the Proms, shares his love of the job with John Allison.

Pride and joy
Oliver Zeffman, founder of the Classical Pride festival, tells Claire Jackson about this summer’s colourful event...

And the winners are…
We present the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, complete with interviews with all the performers on what went into making their prize-winning recordings.

A false start
Michael White heads back to 1920s London, where Walton announced his arrival with Façade, a work that had concert-goers scratching their bewildered heads.

Cover: Errollyn Wallen

From solitude to wild inspiration, the composer tells Kate Wakeling the secrets of her award-winning success

The Big 400!

We celebrate the 400th issue of BBC Music Magazine with a flick through some of those we made earlier…

Avian anthems

Tom Stewart listens out carefully for the various ways that composers have represented birdsong in music

Music to die for
From raging Verdi to blissful Brahms, the range of Requiem settings is rich indeed, says Jeremy Pound

Amadeus
In a nine-page special, Charlotte Smith celebrates the 40th birthday of the greatest classical music film ever made, and shares the memories of those involved.

A Marriner’s tale
On the 100th anniversary of his birth, conductor Neville Marriner is remembered by Michael White

A cast of thousands
Andrew Green sings a triumphant ‘Hallelujah!’ as the Really Big Chorus continues to raise the roof at 50..

On a wing and a prayer
Andrew Green on Ernest Lough, whose 1920s recording of Mendelssohn made him an instant treble superstar.

Alternative Ulster
Tom Stewart takes a look at how Northern Ireland’s contemporary music scene is thriving against the odds..

Awards 2024 nominations
We invite you to vote on the finest recordings of last year, as shortlisted by BBC Music’s expert reviewers.

Keep it in the family
Claire Jackson looks at musical siblings, from the Mozarts and Mendelssohns to today’s top performers.

Closing the gap
Jessica Duchen assesses the state of play with regards to the number of female conductors on the world’s stages..

Angela Gheorghiu
The soprano tells Christopher Cook how she is marking 100 years since Puccini’s death in suitably songful style.

The Third Man
Andrew Green investigates how a wealthy mover and shaker may have given flight to The Lark Ascending.

Great Scots
Michael White visits the Scottish Chamber Orchestra which, at 50 years old, is enjoying life as much as ever..

King’s College Choir
Amanda Holloway heads to Cambridge, home of the famous Nine Lessons and Carols radio broadcast.

A King of King’s
Andrew Green remembers Boris Ord, the choirmaster who did so much to make King’s what it is today.

Settling the Score
Femke Colborne reports on how a classic Charlie Chaplin film has been adorned with brand new music..

Maria Callas
Ashutosh Khandekar marks the centenary of ‘La Divina’ with a look at what set the soprano apart from all others.

Rising in the East
The Symphony Orchestra of India is rapidly winning fans at home and abroad, as Owen Mortimer reports.

Arias of achievement
Tom Stewart learns how the Glyndebourne Academy is providing rare opportunities to enter the world of opera

The Tallis Scholars
As his trailblazing vocal group turns 50 years old, conductor Peter Phillips celebrates with Jeremy Pound.

Forgotten Voices
Championing the cause of lost 20th-century composers.

Gravity and Grace
Jessica Duchen explores a strange, surprising… and highly effective new visual take on Fauré’s Requiem..

Wonder Woman
Author Clemency Burton-Hill has spurred an orchestra to form its own book club, as Rebecca Franks discovers.

For the masses
Clive Paget explores The English Concert’s vast project to make all of Handel’s works available online for free.

A secret language
The improvisatory, instinctive world of Irish composer Jennifer Walshe proves an inspiration for Tom Stewart..

Anna Lapwood
The organist and conductor tells Richard Morrison all about her remarkable journey to TikTok stardom.

Ancient and Modern
As it turns 50 years old, the pioneering Academy of Ancient Music’s history is related by Nicholas Kenyon

Opera Heroines
Rebecca Franks explores the neglected operas written by women composers, dating back to the 17th century..

Voices from the past
A new compendium of first-hand musical accounts from centuries past catches the eye of Simon Heighes.

A song in her heart
Rebecca Franks explores an engaging new project to make the songs of Fanny Hensel available online to all.

Breaking the sound barrier
Ailís Ní Ríain explains to Claire Jackson how hearing loss brings unique challenges to her work as a composer..

Welcome to The Proms!
Your guide to the 2023 BBC Proms season, complete with the BBC Music Magazine team’s personal picks.

A titan without ego
Conductor Otto Klemperer’s drama-filled career would make a fine subject for a movie, explains Andrew Green.

Hidden treasures
Conductor Charles Peebles discusses the pleasures and pitfalls of researching and staging long-forgotten operas..

Vive la révolution!
Roger Nichols explores in depth the wonderful variety of Saint-Saëns’s five groundbreaking piano concertos.

A slave no more
Gayle Wood on the remarkable story of Joseph Emidy, from captivity in South America to violin superstar.

Smooth operator
Conductor Oliver Zeffman tells Michael White about staging concerts in unlikely and imaginative spaces..

Isata Kanneh-Mason
The pianist tells Jessica Duchen how her new recording was inspired by the music of her unique childhood.

French master
Roger Nichols shares his memories of happy Parisian times in the company of composer Henri Dutilleux.

East meets west
The Clarion Choir is marking Rachmaninov 150 by recording all his choral works, discovers Charlotte Smith.

An orchestral odyssey
A dazzling new animated film introducing the orchestra has caught the eyes and ears of Tom Stewart..

Wagner’s Ring cycle
Terry Blain tells the story of opera’s mightiest work, from composer’s dream to four groundbreaking dramas; plus, four top Wagnerians share their love of his music.

The city of light
In 1923, a wealth of premieres in Paris took classical music in exciting new directions, reveals Roger Nichols..

The BBC Music Magazine Interview
Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor enters the complex world of Brahms and the Schumanns with Jessica Duchen.

Composer of the Month
The up-and-often-down career of Leoncavallo, composer of Pagliacci, is charted by Alexandra Wilson

Scholes of thought
Andrew Green explores the tireless industry of Percy Scholes, author, critic and music educator extraordinaire.

A change of tune
Rachel Rowntree asks what is being done to welcome musicians with disabilities onto the orchestral stage..

’Tis the season to be jolly
What is the perfect recording to get oneself in the mood for Christmas? Ten of our writers tell us their favourites.

Early learning
Nicholas Kenyon looks at the history of early music TV and radio programmes over the BBC’s 100 years on air.

A touch of Fröst
The Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst tells Tom Stewart about his drive to bring imagination to the concert hall..

And did those feet…?
Jason Whittaker explores how Parry’s Jerusalem has attracted an array of arrangements, from Elgar to ELP.

Playing for her life
Rebecca Franks on Hélène de Montgeroult, a composer whose skill at the piano saved her from the guillotine.

The sound of silence
World War I saw many German composers banned by a disgruntled British establishment, as Erik Levi reveals..

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
MARIN ALSOP
‘My heart at the moment is really with Vienna

William Walton
His Cello Concerto – the key recordings

Lang Lang
The music that shaped his life

Britten-Pears
Inspiring young talent for 50 years

Changing lives
Leon Bosch reports on the work of the Buskaid charity in inspiring the South African musicians of tomorrow.

Evgeny Kissin
The pianist shares frank thoughts with Michael Church on the Ukraine crisis and Russia, country of his birth.

Fifteen composers at 30
Jeremy Pound explores what top composers were up to as they left their twenty-something years behind them.

Roger Norrington
As he lays down his baton at 88, the great conductor looks back at his pioneering career with Julian Haylock.

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - December 2024 Edition

December 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - December 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - November 2024 Edition

November 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - November 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - October 2024 Edition

October 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - October 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - September 2024 Edition

September 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - September 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - August 2024 Edition

August 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - August 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - July 2024 Edition

July 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - July 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - June 2024 Edition

June 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - June 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - May 2024 Edition

May 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - May 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - April 2024 Edition

April 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - April 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - March 2024 Edition

March 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - March 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - February 2024 Edition

February 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - February 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - January 2024 Edition

January 2024

BBC Music Magazine  - January 2024

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - Christmas 2023 Edition

Christmas 2023

BBC Music Magazine  - Christmas 2023

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - December 2023 Edition

December 2023

BBC Music Magazine  - December 2023

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - November 2023 Edition

November 2023

BBC Music Magazine  - November 2023

BBC Music Magazine  Cover - October 2023 Edition

October 2023

BBC Music Magazine  - October 2023

BBC Music Magazine is a monthly classical music magazine published by Immediate Media Company. It was first published in 1992 and is the best-selling classical music magazine in the world. 

The magazine covers all aspects of classical music, from news and reviews to features and interviews. It also features exclusive content from the BBC Proms and other BBC classical music events.

BBC Music Magazine is a popular read for many classical music lovers, and is known for its in-depth coverage and expert analysis. It has helped many classical music lovers discover new music and learn more about the genre.

Here are some of the things you can expect from BBC Music Magazine:

* News and reviews of classical music
* Features on classical music composers, performers, and conductors
* Interviews with classical music figures
* Exclusive content from the BBC Proms and other BBC classical music events

If you're looking for a magazine that will help you stay up-to-date on the latest classical music news and trends, then BBC Music Magazine is a good choice. Subscribe today and start exploring the world of classical music!

1. You agree that the use of Magzter.com, the application and its services, are at solely at your own risk. Neither Magzter.com nor its associates nor employees nor third party content providers guarantee that the service will be completely uninterrupted or error-free or foolproof against miscreant activities. Nor do they warranty that you will get the exact results as expected or promised by the website or product.

11. THE SERVICE AND ALL PUBLICATIONS ARE PROVIDED ON AN 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE' BASIS. MAGZTER, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, LICENSORS AND AGENTS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER MAGZTER NOR ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, LICENSORS OR AGENTS, MAKES ANY WARRANTY THAT (I) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (II) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (III) THE INFORMATION THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE OR THAT MAY BE CONTAINED IN THE PUBLICATIONS WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, OR (IV) THE QUALITY OF ANY PUBLICATIONS OR THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING RELIABLE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY AND YOUR DEVICE. MAGZTER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INABILITY TO DOWNLOAD CONTENT. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR MOBILE DEVICE OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM MAGZTER OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY.

2. You will maintain and promptly update that information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account, including the selection and use of all content and services.

2.You will maintain and promptly update that information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account, including the selection and use of all content and services.

3. In no event will Magzter.com or any person or entity or third party involved in the creation, production and distribution of the content on the website and the application be liable in contract or legally for any damages, including and not limited to, direct, indirect, incidental, special, and consequential incurred to you while or on using Magzter.com. By registering on the website or downloading the application, you agree that the provisions mentioned in this section shall apply to all use of and content on the website and the application.

3. Without prior written or authorised permission from Magzter, you should not modify, copy, distribute or sell any content obtained from Magzter as everything published here is the proprietary property of Magzter or its licensors. As such unauthorised use may also violate applicable laws including copyright and trademark laws, Magzter strictly prohibits these and will terminate your access and account if any such illegal activity is proved or detected. You should also stand liable for the damages caused by these unauthorised activities. Except as permitted by the Publication's lawful owner, you acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading Publications accessed through the Service. Except as explicitly required under copyright law or permitted by the features of the Service you may not modify, reverse engineer, publish, transmit, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works of, or in any way commercially exploit or provide to a third party the content of the App, the Publications, or any portion of them without the express permission of Magzter and the owner of such content. We do not grant you any licenses, express or implied, to the intellectual property of Magzter or Magzter's licensors.

5. You specifically acknowledge that Magzter.com is not liable for any kind of defamatory or offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third parties or their content and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you.

8. Magzter reserves all rights to monitor the content published and inputted by you for the purpose of determining whether you are compliant with these terms and conditions and other operating rules determined by Magzter. Magzter has the right to take decisions about the content and delete them at its own will.

9. Magzter is a distributor and NOT a publisher of the Publications and so Magzter has no editorial control over the content, including opinions, advice, statements, services, offers etc., that is represented in the magazines. So Magzter will not take responsibility for the accuracy or the reliability for any information or facts provided therein or that is made available through the service, by anyone other than authorised Magzter employees who are acting on their official capacities. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered by the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of Magzter. Magzter will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained through the Service or from the Publications. The Service may contain links to other Internet sites and third-party resources and Magzter does not assume any responsibility or liability for communications or materials available at such linked sites. These links are provided for your convenience only. You are solely responsible for understanding any terms and conditions that may apply when you visit or place an order through a third-party site.

Choose your favorite titles from 40+ exciting categories

Details of the objectionable content, including its link on our platform

Download your favorite titles and read them offline, anytime and anywhere

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines and newspapers from thousands of best-selling titles.

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines from thousands of best-selling titles.

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines from {{magCount}} best-selling international titles.

Girish Ramdas is the Co-founder and CEO of Magzter, a New York based startup that has been making waves in the global digital publishing business. Magzter has crossed 80 million users since its inception in 2011 from more than 150+ countries with 1000s of magazines, newspapers and books from more than 4,500 publishers worldwide. He has more than 25 years of experience in cross-platform publishing, including print, mobile, and Web development. During this period, he has co-founded and run three successful start-up businesses. He has enabled magazine companies to go digital and helps them monetize their content across the digital world. Girish's deep industry experience in online, mobile and publishing ecosystems has made him an expert in acquisition, marketing and monetizing digital content across platforms globally.

In the event that you encounter any objectionable content on our platform, we have put in place a grievance redressal policy to address your concerns.

Magzter Inc. (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared. Please read the following privacy policy (the “Policy”) to learn more about our privacy practices. By visiting any of the websites operated by the Company, and any sub-domains thereof, or using any of our mobile applications and other methods of content distribution (collectively, the “Service”), you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Policy, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use, and share your information in the following ways.

Magzter Inc. is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 80 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

Magzter is committed to providing a safe and secure platform for our users. Please note that Magzter is merely a platform for publishers to distribute their content. We do not control or endorse the content published on our platform. We cannot be held responsible for the actions of our publishers or their content.

Magzter is not responsible for compensating any party that has suffered damages or incurred costs due to any content, or part of the content, that violates their rights. Magzter is not liable to face any legal action in civil court for any violation of rights caused by any content, or part of the content, that infringes the rights of a third party.

Magzter offers the world’s largest {{allyoucanread}} subscription service called {{gold}} which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

Magzter offers the world’s largest “All-You-Can-Read” subscription service called Magzter GOLD which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

Name

Note: This will only share the cover and the publication information, but not the content.

Please fill out this form if you need any help regarding publishing your content on Magzter

Prior to Magzter, he was the President of Dot Com Infoway (DCI) and Galatta Media. His duties included strategic marketing, partnership development, and monetizing content globally. DCI grew from a small team of 3 in 2000 to 300 by 2011 and was dealing with web, software and app development for clients globally.

Since we launched, Magzter has been committed to partnering with global organizations to provide the greatest possible newsstand technology & service to our customers. Whether you are looking to offer magazine subscriptions to your customer database or just want to learn more, Magzter is committed to helping your business grow. To find out more, please fill out the questionnaire below:

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten business days of receiving the copy of your Counter Notice.

This Policy covers Company’s treatment of personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) and other information about you and your computer or device that Company gathers when you are accessing the Service. We may collect Personal Information from you, as explained in more detail below, and we use this Personal Information internally in connection with our Services, including to personalize, provide, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising, and to allow you to set up a user account and profile, to contact you, to fulfill your requests for certain products and services, and to analyze how you use the Services. In certain cases, we may also share some Personal Information with third parties, but only as described in point 4.

This title is included with your Magzter GOLD subscription

To analyze the quality of content and provide appropriate feedback to publishers

We have designated a Grievance Officer to address any complaints related to objectionable content.

We request that any complaint related to objectionable content be sent to the Grievance Officer through email to the above-mentioned email address. We also request that you provide the following details when making a complaint:

and the App that provides you the capability to order, subscribe to and receive the delivery of various magazines, books, news and magazine and publication related content (collectively known as 'Publications') and to have these digital versions of the Publications delivered to you

c. We also collect information associated with your use of the application in order to make personalized recommendations. If you provide your third-party account credentials to us, you understand some content and/or information in those accounts (“Third Party Account Information”) may be transmitted into your account with us if you authorize such transmissions, and that Third Party Account Information transmitted to the Service is covered by this Policy.

f. The Personal Information we collect allows us to respond to your requests, improve our products and services, customize the advertising and content you see, and communicate with you about new products.

is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

n. We will also use usage information in order to ensure users adhere to our Terms of Use. For example, a user’s usage information will help us confirm that a user only downloads a magazine or other content a permitted number of times or to a permitted number of devices.

which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

{{magzter}} is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

BBC Music Magazine - December 2024

BBC Music Magazine - December 2024

In this issue

BBC Music Magazine Description: