Frédéric chopin (1810-1849)

Georges Bizet is probably not the first name to come to mind when we think of French composers of piano music. Indeed, few of us would think of Bizet as a piano composer at all, such is the towering s

Andrey Gugnin (piano) Hyperion CDA684712 83 mins This album of Russian ballet transcriptions sparkles like a glass bauble hanging amidst the fairy lights. Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky wrote so colourful

Víkingur Ólafsson (piano) DG 94867411 76 mins The Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has recently been playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations around the world, and that led him to consider recording next

Marc-André Hamelin (piano) Hyperion CDA67077 The People United has been recorded regularly over its 50 years, from Ursula Oppens in 1978 to a recent, recommendable version by the young Bulgarian piani

Kammerorchester Basel/Giovanni Antonini Alpha ALPHA1092 76:29 mins The most familiar of the symphonies here, if only because it has a nickname, is No. 55, whose ‘Schoolmaster’ title arises out of the

Works by Bach, Vivaldi and Marcello Amandine Beyer (violin); Gli Incogniti Harmonia Mundi HMM90276970 134 mins The communicative warmth and infectious vitality of Amandine Beyer’s performances will ha