The transitional period between Bartolomeo Cristofori’s pianoforte designs of the 1720’s and the essentially modern-day instruments produced by John Broadwood, Ignaz Pleyel and Sébastien Érard around the turn of the 19th century not only coincides with the approximate lifetimes of

This July, Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra – renowned for tackling heavy German fare – switched gears to buoy Opera Australia’s mostly minimalist production of Madama Butterfly. It worked: despite being the ostensible “B” cast the evening I went, the stage’s

Erwin Schulhoff Sonata for Flute and Piano Virginie Reibel-Escoffier, flute Romain Descharmes, piano From Les Voix de l’oubli – Schuloff Erwin, Smit Leo (2012) Released by Saphir Productions Schulhoff : Sonata for Flute and Piano Erwin Schulhoff was a Czech

King Ludwig I of Bavaria had the somewhat conceited habit of having his lovers, real and imagined, portrait by the royal painter Joseph Karl Stieler. When the Bavarian Revolution forced his abdication in 1848, he possessed a proud collection of

I’ve watched many performances of Madame Butterfly since my teens – in Paris, London, Verona –and I must confess that apart from the famous Un bel dì vedremo aria or the Humming Chorus, I get pretty bored if the performance

Regarded by the Times as having ‘passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend’, the Jerusalem Quartet was founded in 1993. Since then, it has been active in the international music scene, performing worldwide and collaborating with renowned performers like Mitsuko Uchida,

Frederick the Great and his greatest Obsession Frederick II, of Prussia, subsequently known as Frederick the Great, was the eldest surviving son of Frederick William I and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, the sister of George II of England. Daddy Frederick,

The German born conductor Bruno Walter worked closely with Gustav Mahler as an assistant and protégé. In addition, he frequently heard Mahler conduct his own works. Since Mahler did not live to lead performances of Das Lied von der Erde