After three years ‘vegetating’ in New York, Béla Bartók produced a handful of late great pieces. A dying man’s birthday gift to his wife, his often easygoing and playful last piano concerto is, perhaps, my favourite concerto of all time… Listening time 35 mins.… Listen
You almost certainly won’t have heard this great piece or have heard of its writer. Henriëtte Bosman’s wrote her Concert Piece for violin and orchestra for her fiancé, who died before he could play it. Violinist Marina Solarek, tells the story of an amazing, passionate woman, a life and career interrupted by the Nazis, her intense and passionate concerto, and why it’s still so hard to hear great music by women composers. And the great music shows us that we’re missing out. Listening time 36 mins… Listen
300 years ago JS Bach was writing music at the cutting edge – with the newest instruments and freshest ideas. I’m joined by Jason Lai, who says Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.5 is an ‘unbelievable box of delights’ in our conversation about this conversational music, that’s both moving and full of life. Listen time 34 mins.… Listen
Maurice Ravel wanted his Piano Concerto to be lighthearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects… and then wrote one of the most beautiful slow movements there is! Intro here: Listen here: or on Spotify: Please rate and … Listen
We love this movement from Mozart’s 5th – and last – violin concerto, written to play himself, at the age of 19. It’s elegant and sophisticated and then wild and free. It’s a great piece for a dance around your … Listen
…Not for Vivaldi. His Summer is all oppressive heat, flies and sudden storms; brilliantly realised in music that’s short, intense and too hot to handle: Music here: (ending at 46’20” – it’s a performance of the complete Four Seasons) or … Listen
I love the fun and exuberance of this movement from Beethoven’s ‘first’ Piano Concerto. For Beethoven, playing the piano at the first performance would have been the least of his worries, because he had to arrange the whole concert. Here’s … Listen
A simply stunning, jazzy clarinet concerto. Quintessentially American! Here’s the introduction: And then the music, with the excellent Martin Fröst as soloist, here: and here:
Sibelius’s Violin Concerto is one of my favourite concertos – it’s a magnificent, organic, work where the solo violinist’s long unfolding song sounds like a stream of consciousness.… Listen