Farewell to…

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

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

Yunchan Lim Chopin Études, Opp 10 & 25 Yunchan Lim (piano) Decca 487 0122 The BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year typically goes to a grand-scale affair – a giant symphony, perhaps, or an all-sta

Marc-André Hamelin (piano) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/ Mark Elder Hyperion CDA67143 The practical requirements of Busoni’s Piano Concerto – a chorus and enormous orchestra – on top of the f

It was the Viennese critic Hermann Bahr who likened Mahler’s arrival in a hotel lobby to a gust of wind forcing open a window, or water bursting from a pipe. There’s something similarly elemental abou

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