Identity crisis

When the first pianos made it to India around the 18th century, during the heyday of the East India Company, their usage was confined to British colonisers and a small minority of aristocratic Indians

There’s a trepidatious growl from the contra-bassoon. Soon, it is joined by French horns, strings and timpani; the sound rumbles, snowballs – and then: abrupt silence. The piano sings into the stillne

The unconventional instrumentation favoured by Tortoise is an indicator of how many different lineups have always jostled for space under the jazz umbrella. The national treasure that is The Pete Alle

I spent much of 2025 playing Schubert’s Piano Sonata in C minor, written shortly before he died in 1828 at the age of 31. I first learned this sonata in my late teens and have continued to return to i

Some years ago, Colin Matthews – a lifelong Londoner – bought himself a composing retreat on the Somerset/ Dorset borders and half-seriously confessed to fears that the view of cows from his windows ‘

Engineers dressed in rose-pink and spring-green overalls move in formation across the spacious workshop. Delicate spruce soundboards lie in wait, ready to breathe life into the Kawai pianos. ‘Tell me