Beethoven: Missa solemnis
When you first encounter it, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis can sound like the Ninth Symphony with more singing but no tunes.…
Kissin in action
Is Evgeny Kissin, born in Moscow in 1971, the most famous concert pianist in the world? Probably not, if you…
Period drama
Harpsichordists are supposed to make love, not war: Sir Thomas Beecham famously compared the sound they make to ‘two skeletons…
Mission impossible?
Just before Peter Donohoe played the last of Alexander Scriabin’s ten piano sonatas at the Guildhall’s Milton Court on Sunday,…
All’s well that ends well
There’s a moment in the finale of Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata when the frenzied piano writing turns unexpectedly jolly. The late…
The plot against the Pope
On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting…
The plot against the Pope
On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
The trouble with Francis
On 2 January, the Vatican published a letter from Pope Francis to the world’s bishops in which he reminded them…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Grave goods
There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…
Grave goods
There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…
Grave goods
There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…
Ways out of recovery
Perhaps because so many of them are former drunks and junkies, ‘addiction experts’ are touchy people. Often they don’t like…
Mass murder
On Tuesday morning, an 85-year-old man was forced to his knees while his throat was slit by Islamic fanatics. The…
Losing their religion
Scriabin once suggested that the audiences for his music should be segregated according to their degree of personal enlightenment, with…
Losing their religion
Scriabin once suggested that the audiences for his music should be segregated according to their degree of personal enlightenment, with…
Doing bird
A decade ago, the French pianist and poly-math Pierre-Laurent Aimard announced that he was ‘very bored to live in a…
