Yesterday Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’ feature on CD Review focused on Schumann’s first piano trio, in D minor opus 63. Erica Jeal’s overall recommendation was for a 1958 recording of Emil Gilels, Msistlav Rostropovich and Leonid Kogan, and her choice for the best modern recording was the Florestan Trio. Schumann’s first trio was a […]

Lots of people seem to have been interested in the Guardian review, (see previous post), so here’s another one of the same concert which appeared yesterday in the the Perthshire Advertiser:  ‘Since the opening of Perth Concert Hall, last Friday evening’s concert was the one which has given the purest musical delight.’ Erich and I […]

Blowing my own trumpet, or rather hammering my own Klavier – but it’s not so often that one gets a five-star review in the Guardian! Here’s the review of my concert in Perth last Friday with violinist Erich Höbarth: ‘Some of the most intuitive, candid and affectionate ensemble playing I’ve heard.’ (Guardian, 15 Nov 11)

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during the jury’s deliberations on the Cardiff Singer of the World final on Sunday night. I’d watched most of the other rounds and had realised it was going to be a difficult choice. It was an exceptionally good line-up, and each one of the […]

I read last week of the death of ex-Sony chief Norio Ohga, the ‘father of the CD’. When Sony launched the CD format in 1982, Mr Ohga insisted that a disc must be long enough to contain his favourite piece, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This determined the 75-minute length of the new CD format. I vividly […]