“The One-Armed Swordsman” (Dubei dao “獨臂刀”) is an old Chinese film depicting the life of a swordsman of the Golden Sword School. During a ferocious fight, the swordsman’s right arm tragically gets cut off, ending his career as a swordsman.

There is an illuminating – if difficult to verify – account that, during the French Revolution, the harpsichords of the Paris Conservatoire were dismantled and used for firewood. Such stories are, sadly, recurring themes in times of instability: proud intellectuals

Johann Sebastian Bach passed away 326 years ago, in July, so I thought what could have been better than starting my column here with the ‘Father of Music’, a composer with whom I have had a love-hate relationship. When I

Why are there so many songs about love? Regardless of whether it is country music, pop music or classical music, songs about love and romance have always made up the greatest proportion. In fact, the world’s oldest song ever discovered

Wigmore Hall, Friday 16 June. Classical artists venturing into other musical styles rarely works. Listeners and critics are stuffy about classical ensembles taking on popular music, and some projects should probably never have got further than the first meeting. With

Staatskapelle Dresden once again came to China last week. The tour was led by the young Nikolaj Znaider, who is not exactly renowned for his violin or his conducting. The concerts were fair but far from brilliant, according to the

Aix-en-Provence 12th May 2011. Interdisciplinary studies have had a long tradition in music. Examples range from operas and ballets, to instrumental pieces based on a borrowed theme (e.g. Liszt’s La Campanella), to musical ideas derived from another subject (e.g. Second

Well, writing about the royal wedding – yes, the one with Will and Kate – seems a bit passé now, but I’m here to talk about the music, not the wedding itself. The day of the royal wedding, I was