QSO Music Director Alondra de la Parra talks to Limelight about a 2019 full of contrasts.

From Mahler to Lang Lang with plenty in between, the MSO's outgoing Chief discusses his final year.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the British pianist describes the challenges of Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms.

Highlights include five-star ballet and opera, Adelaide Guitar Festival and international pianists Paul Lewis and Simon Trpčeski.

English pianist Jonathan Plowright continues to stake his claim for recording the modern benchmark set of Brahms piano works with this fourth volume in BIS’s superlative series. This despite stiff competition from Irishman Barry Douglas, who has already completed his six-volume set for Chandos and the redoubtable Paul Lewis who coupled the Four Ballades with his recent five-star reading of the First Piano Concerto. The difference in approach between Plowright and Douglas is no better demonstrated than in the third Intermezzo from the Piano Pieces Op. 119. It’s marked grazioso e giocoso and Plowright dispatches it with infectious high spirits in 1’15’’ while Douglas chooses more grace than jocularity with a generous 1’51’’. Plowright bookends this latest programme with the first and second sets of the 30 Paganini Variations. Played straight through they are tedious for listener and performer alike, but Plowright’s solution is a fine one. He plays the other works – the Ballades, Rhapsodies and Piano Pieces Op. 119 – in their original groupings whereas the adventurous Douglas seasons a set of Cappricios with a single Ballade or Intermezzo. So, very different approaches from two very different performers. Ultimately the choice will be yours. If you can… Continue…

The English pianist explains why five particular masterworks have him endlessly coming back for more. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The English pianist Paul Lewis continues to stamp his considerable imprimatur on some of the world’s best-loved repertoire.

Paul Lewis explains why he’s shifted gears from the piano works of a Classic to a Romantic. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Silence is key to Lewis's masterly Beethoven and Brahms.

The pianist talks about his early passions, the rigours of Alfred Brendel and surviving a Liverpudlian seagull swoop.

Sir Andrew Davis embraces the Bard while a host of starry soloists add to Melbourne’s imaginative line-up. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Vengerov, Lewis, Isserlis, Maisky and a host of great ensembles head Musica Viva's 70th Season.