In 1808 the composer and violinist Louis Spohr was invited to a rehearsal in Beethoven's house of the D Major Piano Trio, Opus 70, No.1 known as The Ghost, and wrote of the occasion: "It was not an enjoyable experience. First of all the piano was…

A film about Georges Bizet and his ill-starred masterpiece. This film has two themes: first the substance and narrative of Bizet's perennially popular opera and second the story of its disastrous première, which had such a dramatic effect on Bizet…

This is a filmed record of Pinchas Zukerman’s first concert in Munich as both soloist and conductor. This is the concert, which provided two sequences for the film Pinchas Zukerman: Here to Make Music. Pinchas Zukerman was drawn into conducting by…

Two Bach Partitas filmed live at a BBC Radio Lunch Time Concert in St John’s, Smith Square, London.

The three Sonatinas Opus 137 were written in 1816, one of Schubert’s happiest and most prolific years. He modelled them on the Sonatas of Mozart, but they are full of unmistakable Schubertian lyricism which was much admired by Brahms. The arpeggione…

On 9th of July 2001, Evgeny Kissin played a truly memorable piano recital in the old Roman theatre at Orange in the south of France, as part of the Chorégies d'Orange Summer Festival and although it rained, twice, in the two hours before it began, he…

On 17 July 1986, Nathan Milstein played his last public recital in the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm. The recital included the Bach Chaconne, one of the towering masterpieces of Western music and one of the most difficult to do justice to. Milstein was…

Roman Zaslavsky is a master of piano technique that espouses nuance without resorting to arbitrary mannerisms. He first gained recognition by taking 1st prize - the Primer Gran Premio - at the José Iturbi International Music Competition in Valencia…

In this interpretation, Sleeping Beauty lives isolated in a world shaped by hedonism, created as a social panorama in a kind of chamber play. Only after a major drop from this fake world, she lands on the ground of facts. She falls into a deep sleep…

An undisputed master of the lied, Schubert was also highly prolific in the chamber repertoire. Although an accomplished violinist, Schubert composed only a few pieces for violin and piano. The sonatines are early works. Nine years later, he composed…