The art of practice

Always wanted to unleash your inner musician? Writer Joel Snape thought he’d left it too late until he started playing around on the piano and found it was just the note he needed

Works by Bach arr. for clarinet Martin Fröst (clarinet); Jonas Nordberg (lute) et al Sony Classical 19802814742 41:45 mins The album B.A.C.H. from Swedish clarinettist and conductor Martin Fröst conti

My career began in Torquay, in the corner of a hotel dining room. I was a little girl, barely tall enough to reach the keys, but there was a battered old piano sitting there, and I was obsessed. Every

Edward Brooke-Hitching Simon & Schuster 978-1-398-53240-3 256pp (hb) £30 This is a fascinating compendium of classical curiosities, thoroughly researched and charmingly written by Edward Brooke-Hitchi

Sun Triptych Maxim Rysanov, Dasol Kim, Roman Mints et al; BBC Concert Orchestra/ Dobrinka Tabakova ECM 4878558 64:61 mins This is the second ECM disc to feature the extremely accessible music of Bulga

Goethe’s achievement as artist, scientist and statesman