Oldest living pianist and holocaust survivor enjoys a quiet birthday at home Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The charismatic Franciscan has a second album in the classical hit parade but he’s alert to the lure of fame. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

David Hansen takes the philandering title role in a 400-year-old opera receiving its Aussie premiere next month.

The ACO’s Richard Tognetti’s in the Limelight hot-seat for a special December issue. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

As well as being one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Benjamin Britten was also a distinguished conductor, accompanist and chamber musician. Collected here for the first time, in this captivating 26 CD box, are the fruits of his most important labours in these fields. Britten’s singular talent was for getting inside the mind of his fellow composers, whether it be Mozart, Schubert or Elgar, and generating something entirely original. It’s not always what they might have wanted (he takes untold liberties with The Dream of Gerontius), but he seldom fails to excite, often with a heart-stopping moment of enormous originality.   Highlights include a revolutionary reading of Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust – a masterpiece scarcely touched until this 1972 recording, his landmark Schubert and Schumann recitals accompanying Peter Pears and that radical Elgar, pushing the envelope farther than even Barbirolli was prepared to go.   If his Bach is less well recorded and a million miles from the period instrument school of thought, his Brandenburgs are still one of the best pre-1970 versions. Other classics include Mozart piano concertos with Clifford Curzon as soloist, his visionary Mozart and Schubert for two pianos where he’s joined by Sviatoslav Richter and Schubert’s Arpeggione with Rostropovich. All in all, a must have.

SBS board hopes its musical legacy will survive via the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Alumni past and present shocked at closure of one of the countries premiere youth music organisations. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The John Travolta of the clarinet trips the light fantastic through music old and new.

Musical customer's concerns addressed as airline makes changes to allow more carry on instruments.

Early music royalty in a program of English music to raise the spirits. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Australia's most respected director on what music means to him and how he learned to love Wagner’s epic.

Historical recording found of Erich Leinsdorf’s announcement of the death of a President. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in