Crusading conductor

My career began in Torquay, in the corner of a hotel dining room. I was a little girl, barely tall enough to reach the keys, but there was a battered old piano sitting there, and I was obsessed. Every

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

Glasgow, 1942. The Carl Rosa Opera Company was in town to perform Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Tickets had been snapped up by local people – including many who didn’t really know what an opera was. The

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

(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 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 £