Classical music history is filled with famous rivalries, but some of the most interesting stories are about composers and their musical best friends. From Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim to Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, these relationships offered the

Beethoven’s violin teachers never turned him into a virtuoso; that was never their job. His calling card was always his dynamic pianism, not his violin playing. But his relationship with the instrument didn’t keep him from writing some of the

The composer Sofia Gubaidulina, born on 24 October 1931 in Chistopol, a small town on the Volga in the Tartar ASSR, decidedly explored the tensions between Western and Eastern music. Her innovative use of microtonality and chromaticism, along with contrasting

A thirteen-year-old boy walks into a music shop in Barcelona with his father and comes across a score. It is Friedrich Grützmacher’s edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello, a work he had never heard of. Half a

Kirill Gerstein, born on 23 October 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, is one of the most distinguished classical artists of his generation. He is a phenomenon, displaying ferocious technique and discerning intelligence, all paired with a serious grounding in jazz. Thomas

In the 19th century, women cellists faced a barrier that women violinists and pianists didn’t: before the rise of the endpin, playing the cello required sitting with the instrument held between the knees, which audiences considered unseemly. However, beginning in

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was the original piano superstar. He had the looks and the locks, all paired with theatrical flair and fingers that moved at blazing speed. He was the prototypical musical showman, but behind his flamboyant public demeanour was

Georg Solti, born in Budapest on 21 October 1912, became music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1969. He dedicated most of the next 22 years to this relationship, taking the orchestra on tour to huge critical acclaim and