The power of music

‘I felt that I should like to kiss the hands that had awakened a new world of music for me.’ The year was 1888, the occasion was the Paris debut of a 27-year-old pianist named Ignacy Jan Paderewski. A

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

Yet, given the dark and often introverted nature of the concerto, it’s hardly surprising that Shostakovich kept the work under wraps for so long, feeling that programming it was inadvisable until the

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

‘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

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