Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) is often painted as the polite and well-mannered Romantic. We certainly know him as the composer of fairy wings, sparkling scherzos, and elegant melodies. But as soon as you spend a little time at the piano with

Listening to 20th-century music can be hard work. For audiences raised on tonal harmony, flowing melodies, and familiar formal signposts, the sounds of modernism often arrive without warning. Dense dissonance, fragmented gestures, and violent contrast seemingly confront the listener, leading

Franz Liszt spent several years creating piano versions of Franz Schubert’s songs. Crafted between 1833 and 1846, he made around fifty-six transcriptions that carefully kept many details of the original music. By removing the words, these pieces become purely instrumental.

The name Frederick Delius (1862-1934) conjures misty landscapes, long-breathed melodies, and music that gently drifts rather than argues. He is usually associated with orchestral tone poems, such as On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring or Brigg Fair. Frederick Delius is not

Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947) is widely known for his French mélodies, beautiful art songs that capture emotion with elegance and subtlety. Yet Hahn’s piano music, though less famous, is equally revealing of his artistry. Across solo pieces, cycles, waltzes, and sonatinas, Hahn

On 27 January, we celebrate the birthday of Édouard Lalo, a French composer who may not enjoy the instant name recognition of Saint-Saëns or Fauré, but whose music leaves a lasting impression once you encounter it. Lalo had a gift

When Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987) stepped into a recording studio in August 1965 to record Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, the world first fully sensed the emotional

Muzio Clementi (1752–1832) may not always get the recognition of Mozart or Beethoven, but to pianists, his stature is beyond dispute. Often called the “Father of the Pianoforte,” Clementi transformed the early keyboard sonata from a simple dance or exercise