“Music is the Language of God” Celebrating his 75th birthday in 1906, the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim declared that Germany had four great violin concertos. Among the four—of course including the superb singular efforts in this genre by Beethoven, Mendelssohn

German cellist Alban Gerhardt has played as a soloist with nearly every major orchestra out there. Rising to fame after his win at several competitions and his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov in 1991, he shows no

“Bückeburg Bach” An early 20th century dictionary entry on Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795) considered him “an industrious composer whose work reflects no discredit on the family name.” Carrying and doing justice to the Bach family name was no easy

The German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was probably the first truly bad boy of music. He showed utter distain for discipline and authority and brusquely dismissed the conventions of aristocratic society. The formal court etiquette was particularly irksome to him,

“I once believed that I possessed creative talent” Clara Schumann née Wieck, (1819-1896) was born in Leipzig, daughter of Marianne and Friedrich Wieck. Friedrich established a successful music business, and Marianne was a gifted musician appearing as a piano and

The North German Schubert Carl Loewe (1796–1869) might no longer be a household name. However, in his time, he was a close friend of Schumann, Weber and Mendelssohn. In fact, he conducted the first performance of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream

‘We’re all on the same side’ German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt plays Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta on 1 December. It’s not his first visit to Hong Kong – he was in Hong Kong previously for

‘Stay in Touch with the World’ ‘Part of being a musician is not just practice. There are so many people who spend so many hours in the practice room, their minds don’t grow, and that’s really sad. You really need