In the historiography of Western Classical music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is commonly considered an exceptional and singular musical genius. This glowing assessment is partially based on countless myths and legends that have, for a variety of reasons, resisted critical and

When Joseph Haydn arrived in England in January 1791, he found lodgings with the impresario Salomon in Great Pulteney Street, opposite the pianoforte shop of John Broadwood. At that time, Haydn was the most famous composer in Europe, and London

Richard Strauss’ Die Schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman) might be the only opera in the entire oeuvre with a central character who dislikes music. Sir Morosus, a retired British naval officer is allergic to noise of any kind. He disinherits

Most of us tend to focus on the things that didn’t go so well in a performance – the misplaced notes, the smudged runs, the memory slips. Analysing why these things happened and exploring solutions to problems or finding ways

Hailed as one of the best living pianists in the world, Grigory Sokolov offered a magically sublime and absorbing concert experience to the 1,700 audience in Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo) on 14 June 2018, with a programme of Haydn and

Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) is still known to this day for his ‘complicated and elaborate affairs with women’ – not bad for someone nearly 300 years old. He ran in the highest social circles in Europe, and in addition to the

Choral Symphony – Largo From DYSON, G.: Choral Symphony / St Paul’s Voyage to Melita (2017) Released by Naxos Dyson: Choral Symphony – LargoBorn into a working-class family, George Dyson became one of the most important musicians and composers of

The historiography of music primarily remembers Charles Gounod as the composer of Faust, Mireille and Roméo et Juliette. However, in his 12 total works for the operatic stage Gounod engages with the entire range of operatic types available in the