A slave no more

Symphony No. 5; Swanwhite Suite etc Christian Tetzlaff (violin); Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Collon Ondine ODE 1468-2 77:16 mins One of the features of Finland’s impressive music educati

THE last specks of rain of the previous night’s storm pattered against the widow of the drawing-room. Meryl Stewart sat at the keyboard of her baby grand, working her way through the piano arrangement

I have Sir Neville Marriner to thank for pointing me in the direction of the podium. It was in conversation after a long Academy of St Martin in the Fields tour of Germany in 2004 that Sir Neville fir

The work ‘Italy at last! And what I have all my life considered as the greatest possible felicity is now begun, and I am basking in it. Every hour spent here has brought with it so much never to be fo

Much about Henriëtte Bosmans’s life and music is remarkable. But one event stands out as emblematic of her character and strength. Our scene is Amsterdam in 1944, when the Nazis’ grip was on the Dutch

Gargantuan in scope and scale, Busoni’s Piano Concerto is ferociously complex – demanding both virtuosic solos and expansive accompaniment from its pianist – and structured in a way that makes Beethov