David Fray’s sparkling talent is such that he is one of the few pianists of the new generation to have signed an exclusive recording contract recently with one of the current majors, Virgin Classics. In January 2008 he recorded a programme entirely…

In the fifties, Pierre Henry provoked a scandal by inventing Musique Concrète with Pierre Schaeffer. Music was no longer written with notes on a score for instrumentalists but was based on sounds and noises from our environment., collected, edited…

Movies are the resolution of a conflict between light and shadows. Light reveals truth and shadows obscure it, with a broad base of tonality in between. These six Bach sonatas have been recorded in one of Germany’s most beautiful Baroque halls in…

For its 15th anniversary, the Verbier Festival has once again brought together the most prestigious artists in classical music. This series of TV programmes presents the very best of the 28 concerts.

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed. When Bruckner sent it in 1897 to Hermann Levi, the conductor who had lead his 7th to great success, he did not understand this very different work at all and…

For its 14th edition, the Verbier Festival has once again brought together the most prestigious artists in classical music. This series of 12 TV programmes presents the highlights of Verbier 2007.

In August of 2007, Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the world premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's 2nd violin concerto in Lucerne with conductor Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. This piece by the Russian composer (born in 1931) is an…

The Symphony No. 5 in E minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888. It was first performed, under Tchaikovsky's own baton, in St Petersburg on November 6, 1888. While composing the symphony, Tchaikovsky constantly…

“We are not a couple in the traditional sense. And that is exactly what is so paradoxical – a musical couple can become even more intimate with one another than a couple in love”. This is how Gidon Kremer describes his long partnership with Martha…

The six Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach rank among the undisputed favorites of all baroque fans. They have become a firm fixture in music education and an integral part of our international musical heritage. So what’s their secret? The…