DISCUSSION: Defining Our Field - what is 'classical music' to us, why are we involved and what can we learn from our differences? Read John Dante Prevedini's essay, watch the panel discussion and make your own comments.
LISTENING TO TCHAIKOVSKY: Béla Hartmann uses his knowledge of Eastern Europe to argue against the banning of all Russian culture following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
The word Ondine - originally an imaginary elemental being associated with water - can refer in the serious music world to the Finnish record company Ondine Records, to a 1912 piano prelude by Claude Debussy, to a movement from the 1906 piano work Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel, to the 1958 ballet by Hans Werner Henze and Frederick Ashton, or to the ballet Ondine, ou La naïade by Cesare Pugni and Jules Perrot, first produced in 1843.
CD Spotlight. Remarkable Sensitivity - Angela Brownridge plays Debussy Préludes, impressing Anett Fodor. '... her inexhaustible source of timbre, the delicate style and use of both pedals, as well as her excellent piano technique demand listeners' full attention.'
CD Spotlight. Unconscious Dimension - Music by Rautavaara, recommended by Gerald Fenech. '... the singers' phrasing, harmonic direction and melodic sense all indicate how much this music is in their blood.'
CD Spotlight. Reflective Depth - Orchestral music by Jón Nordal surprises Gerald Fenech. '... austere yet mystic beauty.'
CD Spotlight. A Sonic Discovery - Orchestral music by Alexander Zemlinsky, recommended by Geoff Pearce. 'The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra responds superbly to John Storgårds ...'
CD Spotlight. Imaginative and Profound - Olivier Messiaen's 'Turangalîla-Symphonie', heard by Keith Bramich. '... a vibrant, sparkling performance ...'
Ideally Matched - Malcolm Troup hears 'the art of the piano reborn' in Syrian pianist Riyad Nicolas
CD Spotlight. Striking Musicianship - Elena Kuschnerova plays Prokofiev, heard by Howard Smith. '... sparkling, lyrical and appropriately balletic ...'
Liquid Finger-work - Mike Wheeler listens to a piano recital by Cordelia Williams
Ensemble. A Cross Section - Bill Newman comments on some recent concerts at London's Wigmore Hall
Unflagging Energy - Nicola Meecham plays Haydn, Schubert, Ravel, Prokofiev and Gershwin, reviewed by Mike Wheeler
Enthusiastically Recommended - Howard Smith reads an 'owner's manual' of Sibelius orchestral works
Ensemble. Magnificent Performance - More reviews from London's Wigmore Hall, from Bill Newman
Ensemble. Sea and sky - More from the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, reviewed by Malcolm Tattersall