Articles and Music

(see blog for the most recent articles and features)

Musicians
Autobiographical Music/Opera
Recordings

 

Musicians

Harpsichord player Mahan Esfahani (Jan 2015)
The Hilliard Ensemble bow out (Nov 2014)
Kirill Gerstein: a portrait (Jul 2014)
Who was Maria Curcio? (May 2009)
Sarah Connolly riding high (May 2009)
Alex Stobbs on cystic fibrosis and his lust for life (Apr 2009)
Gottfried Wagner on his hinterland (Oct 2008)
Magdalena Kozena looks back (Sep 2007)
Carolyn Sampson (Oct 2006)
Marin Alsop (Sep 2006)
Hyunah Yu: Beauty from tragedy (Sep 2006)
Osvaldo Golijov: Composing the soundtrack for a Coppola movie (Jul 2006)
Janine Jansen: Queen of the download (Apr 2006)
Angela Gheorghiu on Tosca (Apr 2006)
Farinelli: The first pop star (Apr 2006)
Composers on independent labels (Apr 2006)
Michael Nyman: Piano, solo (Feb 2006)
Raymond Gubbay on why his Savoy Opera flopped (Oct 2005)
Asha Bhosle and the Kronos Quartet (Jul 2005)
Tengir Too: nomad music in Kyrgysztan (Jul 2005)
Martin Smith: banker with a baton (Jul 2005)
Mikhail Pletnev on recording his favourite repertoire (Jul 2005)
Alex Prior and Kit Armstrong: Musical prodigies (Jul 2005)
John Rutter: The choir master (Apr 2005)
The mystery of Glenn Gould (Oct 2004)
Contenders for Master of the Queen’s Music (Sep 2004)
Virginia Rodrigues: The diva of the favelas (Sep 2004)
Lila Downs: queen of the Mexican mix (Jul 2004)
The conjuror of the keyboard - Grigory Sokolov (Jan 2004)
Ahmed Mukhtar: Sound of Baghdad (Dec 2003)
Matthew Wadsworth: blind lutenist (Dec 2003)
John Williams goes Latin (Oct 2003)
Lang Lang: The little emperor (Oct 2003)
André Previn and Anne-Sophie Mutter: Zing went the strings (Feb 2003)
Sibongile Khumalo: A diva in Durban (Mar 2002)
Yo-Yo Ma’s Central Asian project (Feb 2002)
Andras Schiff: The political pianist (Apr 2001)
Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road (Apr 2001)
Richard Suart prepares his little list (Mar 2001)
Martha Argerich: a portrait (Mar 2001)
Andreas Scholl does crossover (Mar 2001)
Yefim Bronfman: Reasons to be cheerful (Mar 2001)
Paul Daniel under fire (Mar 2001)
Steven Isserlis: When passionate dreams come true (Feb 2001)
Sonia Slany and her monochord (Sep 2000)
Leonidas Kavakos on bows (Sep 2000)
Dartington: a thumbnail portrait (Apr 2000)
Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov takes up conducting (Jun 1999)
A big hand for the piano pugilist, Alfred Brendel (Mar 1998)
Jeno Jando, the world's busiest pianist (Sep 1997)
Violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman (May 1997)
 

Autobiographical

Once upon a time, Stephen Hawking was just another schoolboy... (2014)
Whatever happened to nursing? The final days of my wife, Betty (2011)
 

Music

Hall of fame: the Wigmore celebrates its 110th anniversary (Oct 2011)
Madness and virtuosity (Oct 2011)
The enduring charm of Gilbert & Sullivan (Oct 2011)
A troubled genius: Frederic Chopin (Oct 2009)
Western classical music emerging in China (Oct 2005)
Beethoven’s spell (Apr 2005)
The ethnographic CD market (Oct 2003)
Afghan music in dark times (Mar 2002)
The damage being wrought by the phrase ‘world music’ (Sep 2001)
The Van Cliburn International Competition (Jun 1997)

Recordings

Sleeve notes for Songs of Defiance - Music from Chechnya and the North Caucasus (2007 - re-released 2021)
Songs from the Steppes - Kazakh music today (2005)
Songs of Survival - Traditional Music of Georgia (2007)