Maestro: love, life and music…

Jan Smaczny is enthralled by Isabelle Faust’s unique approach to the demanding material of Bach’s little-known violin works JS Bach Sonatas for Violin and Continuo Isabelle Faust (violin); Kristin von

For many critics and fans alike, Alfred Brendel was the ‘thinking man’s pianist’. A truly iconic figure, the man with inquisitive eyes and a secret smile peered out from the covers of CD-box sets by B

‘What Americans call safe music bores me,’ declared Michel Legrand in a 2005 interview, in which he reflected on the high profile he had achieved as one of the world’s leading film composers. ‘If you’

Just two decades after the premiere of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, the Soviet Union paid a New York opera company to stage performances there. The year was 1956 and the Cold War was well underwa

Colorado, USA. Home to the chalet resort of Vail, where the north American elite strap on their skis for the winter season. In the summer, however, Vail takes on a different guise, offering more low-i

In Humoresque (1946), John Garfield plays a virtuoso violinist. By then, Garfield was an Oscar-nominated actor, but he was no violinist. That said, his ‘performances’ are pretty convincing. Why? Becau