Classical music and comedy might seem a weird juxtaposition, but there have always been classical music jokesters even in Haydn’s day. His Symphony No. 45 the Farewell instructs the musicians to blow out their candles, which lit their music, and

Eine kleine Symphonie (Quartet No. 1), Op. 49a: III. Allegro molto From Chamber Symphonies – Dmitri Shostakovitch (2015) Released by Harmonia Mundi Shostakovitch: Eine kleine Symphonie (Quartet No. 1), Op. 49a: III. Allegro moltoA decade after its debut performance of

Johann Jakob Brahms was a double bass player in the six-man band that performed daily at the Alster Pavilion, Hamburg’s most fashionable meeting-place. Wealthy families and citizens of Hamburg liked to stroll and drive along the river, stopping for a

During the first decades of the 19th Century, the city of Vienna was a thrilling and highly competitive musical melting pot. Conductors, performers and composers from all parts of Europe had flocked to the city to take advantage of the

British soprano Juliet Fraser is one of today’s most interesting and diverse singers. Though comfortable in many styles, it is her work in contemporary music that has garnered the most attention, both as a founder member of one of the

Over the last 150 years, the Nordic countries have produced two important composers. Both were born in 1865, however, Denmark’s foremost composer Carl Nielsen was never able to match the popularity of his contemporary Jean Sibelius. Sibelius hailed from an

The Ride of the Valkyries from a helicopter, the William Tell Overture for a merry-go-round, Barber’s Adagio for Strings in a barbershop while the violinist gets a shave, the New World Symphony on the Star Ferry, performances on a double-decker

On 4th September 2015, British pianist Warren Mailley-Smith embarks on year-long survey of the complete piano music of Frédéric Chopin through a series of 11 concerts at St John’s Smith Square, London.