Cécile Ousset’s sparkling pianism joins reissues by Brahms and two Polish masters.

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s new Chief Conductor tells Angus McPherson about growing up in Bergen, swapping the concertmaster’s chair for the podium, and his connection with the music of Brahms.

Discover our readers' and critics' favourite artists of 2019, learn about Beethoven's final tempestuous year, and celebrate Musica Viva as it turns 75.

A season of Germanic highlights has plenty of gems away tucked in there for the curious.

A freewheeling line-up of guest conductors and concerto soloists will keep the orchestra on its toes in its year between Chiefs.

The 33-year-old Swiss-Australian conductor adds another feather to her cap with this latest engagement.

Norwegian maestro Eivind Aadland will commence a three-year engagement with the TSO from 2020.

Konstantin Shamray brought plenty of pyrotechnics to this performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Norwegian conductor Eivind Aadland plays to the ASO’s strengths.

★★★★☆ Grieg marked the score of his G Minor Symphony (composed when he was 20 in 1863), “Must never be performed”. This was honoured for 113 years (though individual movements were performed in the 1860s) but after much discussion, it was played in Bergen in 1981 and recorded by Decca under Karsten Andersen. It’s hard to understand Grieg’s attitude, as, for an apprentice work, it’s rather good. Certainly, it has the generic Romantic rhetoric, the stuttering Schumannesque syncopations in the first movement for instance, but it’s also thematically interesting and full of ideas, proving that, even this young, Grieg could think effectively in symphonic paragraphs. The Adagio is especially winsome. Grieg regarded the work as “insufficiently Norwegian”, whatever that means, but the scherzo-like third movement sounded very ‘Norwegian’ to me. I’ve raved about Eivind Aadland’s recordings with the excellent West Deutsche Rundfunk Orchestra in his Grieg cycle and this vivid performance and lovely recording maintain the standard. The soloist in the Piano Concerto is Rumanian-born Herbert Schuch, whose debut disc caused quite a stir a few years ago. Here, his reading is alive to every nuance of what… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…