Europe
Asia
Oceania
Americas
Africa
Until the arriva
However highbrow we think we are, we’ve all been guilty of it – that is, sitting in a concert or opera and waiting impatiently for ‘the famous bit’. In some instances, that well-known moment may be ju
On one level he seems so direct, so simple, so uncomplicatedly appealing. Schubert could turn on heart-lifting melody with the same ease that most of us would turn on a tap. Often he seems happy just
Rachmaninov himself at the piano, recorded in 1929, is bound to remain a benchmark, even after nearly a century. Like many performers at the start of the recording era, Rachmaninov was microphone-shy
Classical music has a problem with perfection. You’d have thought the most important job of any professional musician was learning, playing and repeating the notes composers wrote down so often that t
‘I was born twice,’ said the great Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin. ‘In Kazan I opened my eyes to life, and in Tbilisi to music.’ What is it about music and the Georgians? Some members of that Caucasian
The summer of 1791 was an exceptionally busy period, even by Mozart’s habitually hardworking standards. He was, to begin with, composing a new opera, Die Zauberflöte (‘The Magic Flute’). Then, in June
