A fruitcake rather than an egghead

When you’re speaking to someone devastatingly fluent in four tongues (Italian, German, French and English) the subject of language naturally leads to some curiosity. Especially from a somewhat green-e

It remains a mystery: not why Alfred Brendel took a tortoise on a lead to a concert at the Musikverein in Vienna in the 1950s – although that is a fact of his life that ought to be better known – but

Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM902752 49:20 mins Those of us lucky, as I was at both their Ragged Music Festival and

Itzhak Perlman has just turned 80, but it’s a milestone this warm and wonderful violin virtuoso is in no rush to acknowledge. ‘Don’t hurry me,’ he jokes when I wish him an early Happy Birthday during

Sonatas Nos 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6; Sonata violino solo representativa in A major Rachel Podger (violin); Brecon Baroque Channel Classics CCS48525 70:08 mins No Arts Council funding was available to rescue

New Generation Publishing 379pp (hb) £18.99 The ambition of Will Fraser’s debut novel is never in doubt. Weaving together sometimes self-conscious observations about the nature of music with slow-burn