East meets west

On the morning of 15 November 2007, Morten Lauridsen stepped onto a podium in the East Room of the White House to receive the National Medal of Arts from president George W Bush. He was 64 at the time

Sun Triptych Maxim Rysanov, Dasol Kim, Roman Mints et al; BBC Concert Orchestra/ Dobrinka Tabakova ECM 4878558 64:61 mins This is the second ECM disc to feature the extremely accessible music of Bulga

Works by Bach arr. for clarinet Martin Fröst (clarinet); Jonas Nordberg (lute) et al Sony Classical 19802814742 41:45 mins The album B.A.C.H. from Swedish clarinettist and conductor Martin Fröst conti

‘I accepted the commission partly for the money, and partly because I have long wanted to try my hand at this sort of music,’ wrote Tchaikovsky to Rimsky-Korsakov. For the sum of 800 roubles (around £

(conductor) USSR RTV Symphony Orchestra Melodiya RCID24689058 Numerous recordings by the good and the great ensure that the bar is set extremely high here, and among the many persuasive readings are t

I was at one of those gatherings where friends of friends sprawled into groups entirely unconnected from the first, like a suburban town long freed from its planner. “It must be great to be in enterta