Muzio clementi (1752-1832) second movement from sonata op 1 no 5

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

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

Symphony No.1 (arr. Shai Wosner); Piano Trios, Op. 70, No. 1 ‘Ghost’ & Op. 11 ‘Gassenhauer’ Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Emanuel Ax (piano) Sony 19802908842 78:03 mins Smiles are power

Since winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2016, Clare Hammond has established herself as one of Britain’s most adventurous pianists. A graduate of Cambridge University and t

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