On 9th March 1999 Pam and I went to The RFH for a concert that formed part of the “Mahler & Vienna: Beginnings & Endings” season. The Philharmonia Orchestra and their then Principal Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi took to the stage for a concert that … Continue reading Berg and Schubert – Two Boys From Vienna.

The other day in a Facebook post I mentioned that I was going to look into the life and works of a Russian composer called Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov who featured as one of the pieces in an on-line piano recital we watched during lockdown. I … Continue reading Vasily Kalinnikov – A Russian who should be better known.

I was thinking about what to do today when out of the blue a piece of music I haven’t heard in ages popped up on the random play function on my system. It also reminded me of an ex colleague (my friend with the really … Continue reading Henri Vieuxtemps – Beautiful music that is not played often enough.

Whenever we think about Vivaldi we always seem to end up back with The Four Seasons. We’re on hold on the phone....The Four Seasons. Lift music....The Four Seasons, In the doctor’s surgery....The Four Seasons. Those concertos are everywhere.  But Vivaldi wrote a lot more than … Continue reading Antonio Vivaldi – La Stravaganza, Op. 4 Nos. 1 to 12.

Some while ago I was looking through a few music reference books and came across an article about the American composer Florence Price. What caught my eye was the fact that she was the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and … Continue reading Florence Beatrice Price – An amazing discovery.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most widely recognised and admired composers in the history of Western music, who served as an important bridge between the Classical and Baroque era styles he admired and the Romantic style his music would … Continue reading Beethoven – Probably the greatest composer who ever lived.