What music does an avowed pacifist write during the tumultuous year of 1939? Benjamin Britten was exceedingly discouraged by the rise of fascism and the defeat of Spain’s Republicans. As the Spanish Civil War raged, Britten had witnessed the senseless

“Is it possible to play Music for Airports on the piano?” American pianist, Bruce Brubaker, asked himself this question when thinking about his new album, Eno Piano, a remarkable reinterpretation of Brian Eno’s ambient masterpiece Music for Airports (the album

The 1950s saw enormous changes in popular music. In the US, rock and roll displaced an enormous number of popular genres, from yodelling to ballads. Outside the US, rock and roll also shifted local music off the stage. In Argentina,

An invaluable and practical resource for musicians First published in 2013, The Musician’s Journey by Dr Jill Timmons is a handbook for musicians who want to make the most of their specialist training to carve a successful professional career. A

Young South Korean pianist Julian Jaeyoung Kim makes a bold statement with his debut CD, Brahms Resonances, featuring Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5, and the Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35. A C. Bechstein pianist and

French pianist Bertrand Chamayou’s latest album features works by two musical mavericks, Erik Satie and John Cage. “Erik Satie and John Cage are UFOs in the world of music, because they envisioned music through a completely different prism,” says Chamayou.

“A String Quartet is, at its simplest, four instruments, two violins, one viola, and a cello, along with the four people playing them. But for famous ensembles we admire on the concert stage, it is so much more than that.”

“Songs for our Times” is the result of a unique collaboration between two leading British contemporary classical music composers, Stuart MacRae and Bernard Hughes, and Nigerian-American poet/lyricist and medical doctor Chinwe D. John. I first encountered Chinwe’s writing in March