What is it about the Goldberg Variations which gives them such an enduring appeal? Two new recordings have been released in as many months, by two leading pianists of the 21st-century, yet each quite different in their approach. Maybe it

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906), born in Novgorod 160 years ago, never considered himself a musical rebel. He was not particularly interested in musical folklore or Russian musical identity, but rather combined his native musical influences with a much more cosmopolitan

The baritone singer and composer Johann Michael Vogl (1768–1840) was a key figure in Schubert’s success as a Lied composer. Vogl was engaged at the Vienna Court Opera, and he met Schubert for the first time in 1817. Renowned for

Audiences and Solitude Israeli pianist Yehuda Inbar, currently based in Berlin, is an internationally renowned young performer, and the artistic director of the Akko International Chamber Music and Jazz Festival in Israel. His debut album, released in 2019, featured the

Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes hit Europe like a storm: no one had ever seen ballet taken to this level. Founded in 1909 by Diaghilev and lasting 20 years, the Ballet was based in Paris and traveled around Europe and to

British pianist Stephen Hough thinks it is, and he makes a persuasive case for it in an article for The Guardian, reminding us that coronavirus has forced us to rethink how we organise and attend concerts. Those who decry the

I was reading that the key of B minor meant different things to different people at different times. According to some theorists, during Bach’s time it “expressed a quiet acceptance of fate, a submission to divine dispensation, and very gentle