A feast full of chamber charm and chutzpah

Symphony No.1 (arr. Shai Wosner); Piano Trios, Op. 70, No. 1 ‘Ghost’ & Op. 11 ‘Gassenhauer’ Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Emanuel Ax (piano) Sony 19802908842 78:03 mins Smiles are power

Rachmaninov himself at the piano, recorded in 1929, is bound to remain a benchmark, even after nearly a century. Like many performers at the start of the recording era, Rachmaninov was microphone-shy

‘I was born twice,’ said the great Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin. ‘In Kazan I opened my eyes to life, and in Tbilisi to music.’ What is it about music and the Georgians? Some members of that Caucasian

Classical music has a problem with perfection. You’d have thought the most important job of any professional musician was learning, playing and repeating the notes composers wrote down so often that t

Claire Jackson’s opinions on Brahms (Hero or Hype?; August) resonated with me. I studied his First Symphony for O-Level, and his Fourth for A-Level. Then at college, my piano teacher insisted I learn

Since winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2016, Clare Hammond has established herself as one of Britain’s most adventurous pianists. A graduate of Cambridge University and t