Playing for their lives

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

There is a scene in the musical Made in Dagenham where a line of chorus girls in silver mini-dresses dances for the glamorous launch of the Ford Cortina Mark Two (helpfully singing, ‘It’s like a Mark

There comes a point in life for most of us when we say, enough. We say goodbye to responsibilities that had begun to feel more like obligations, and we either seek new challenges, or find joy in what

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

Järnefelt: Berceuse; Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor; Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 2 Lea Birringer (violin); Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie/Benjamin Shwartz Rubicon RCD1193 56:40 min