Given how often composers travel for work, it’s not surprising that many of them have gotten into accidents. Some of these accidents could easily have killed the composers in question. Others led to disastrous health spirals that did end up

In a new recording, clarinettist Jonas Frølund takes on the complexity of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto, written with two soloists in mind: the clarinettist and a snare drummer. Much like Shostakovich’s first piano concerto, written for piano and trumpet, this

Alexandre Tharaud has established a reputation for making the neglected corners of French music feel more thrilling than the canon itself. In a musical world often driven by a familiar cycle of Beethoven sonatas, Rachmaninoff concertos, and Chopin sets, Tharaud

This new release of music by British composer Francis Pott, performed by Duncan Honeybourne, brings together piano works written between 1983 and 1997. The title of the album, ‘A House of Ghosts’, reflects the character of the pieces: short works

The new recording by Mikhail Pletnev brings us his unforgettable touch on two of the most fundamentally important works in the piano repertoire: the preludes by Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) and Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915). Written some 50 years apart, in 1839

The great composers are not particularly famous for their faithfulness. Many had extramarital affairs. The stories of those relationships provide intriguing glimpses into their complicated personal lives. Today, we’re looking at the relationships between five composers and their mistresses: how

With the normalising of a piano at home in the 19th century, music opened up to the masses in a way never anticipated in the 18th century. One of the results of this was music that would have normally been

Credit: NPR Classical