Music

Music’s artistic merit does not depend on academic criteria-as I know from experience

The glare of the public eye can be disastrous for talented children. But sometimes the gamble pays off

Richard Strauss tested bourgeois tolerance with Salome and Elektra but found it bad for business

The story of music and the Jews is one of harvesting and embellishing a variety of local traditions

For two decades Harry Stanley Fairclough turned the Wiltshire town into a leading centre of opera

It is a misfortune shared by several composers — notably British ones, who still struggle to be valued by those loath to travel beyond Mozart and Beethoven — to be known for only one work, despite having written many that merit recognition. It was Gustav Holst’s misfortune to have written The Planets, which made him famous, and have given him an international reputation since he died in 1934. And yet Holst wrote music of almost uniformly high quality, much of which is little known, even though well recorded. 

Menahem Pressler’s enduring genius lies in his generosity of spirit and simplicity of approach

Much hoo-ha was made of the BBC’s “censorship” of Nigel Kennedy’s remarks about Palestine at the Proms. In truth, Kennedy knew all along he’d be taken off air

John Eliot Gardiner’s new portrait is the culmination of a lifetime’s devotion to the great composer