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

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 ‘

After the premiere of his orchestral piece Coptic Light in 1986, Morton Feldman was described by an irate American critic as ‘the most boring composer in the history of music’. Listeners coming to his

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

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

‘Instead of doing drugs or joining a gang, I played piano’ Francois Pierron went from sleeping rough to starring on The Piano after teaching himself how to play and tickling the ivories at St Pancras