The unprecedented suffering inflicted by the relentless and ruthless personality cult of Chairman Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution had a devastating effect on society and on music. Within China’s cultural and intellectual fabric Beethoven had become synonymous with everything

When the Teatro Real reopened on 11 October 1997, it quickly became an internationally acclaimed opera house and an important cultural institution in Spain. A leading venue in the field of music and performing arts, its artistic projects, ranging from

Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825 IV. Sarabande From J.S. Bach: Complete Partitas BWV 825-830 (2017) Released by Harmonia Mundi Bach: Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825 – IV. SarabandeBach’s Opus 1Johann Sebastian Bach waited until

Around Martha Argerich’s 5th birthday, her mother placed her under the pianistic tutelage of Vicente Scaramuzza. Even though Mr. Scaramuzza was considered a sadistic fanatic, he gave her a superb technical grounding and laid the foundations for her unique cantabile

Musical Toys is a set of 14 short pieces by the Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, which she herself described as ‘pictorial miniatures’ that she would have liked to play as a child. Though this set is subtitled ‘A Collection of

We often think of the symphonic form as being the province of the 19th century. Yet, the contributions by modern symphonists have permitted the orchestral form to develop and resonate with the new era. Adolphus Hailstork is professor of music

People have been writing about the piano for almost as long as the instrument has existed, from early treatises on technique to manuals of exercises, student guides, pianist autobiographies, pianists writing about other pianists or the great works of piano

Driven from Europe not by politics but by his health, the Polish pianist Ignace Tiegerman (1893-1968) moved to Cairo in 1931 to help his asthma. He became the centre of piano education in Cairo for the next thirty years.