Author: Adrian Quanjer

Many politicians, parliamentarians, diplomats, generals, and even ordinary souls like me should have one. And what’s more, for clever people it may even be a better position than the one advanced in the first place! Such was my feeling when listening to this new release of Eudora. Reviewing often means listening to a great variety […]

Did Chopin ever die? Chopin belongs to a group of composers who never tire, no matter how often you listen to the same piece. Just like Johann Sebastian Bach, his music can be listened to anytime anywhere. I do not know of anyone who dislikes his music. On the contrary. For countless lovers of the […]

New does not always mean New In a highly competitive field, labels must look for new avenues to satisfy classical music lovers’ appetite having already umpteen versions of Ludwig van Beethoven’s violin concerto on their shelves. Many ripe and green examples have passed my player. Some interesting, some less so. In fact, on the road […]

Music or Witchcraft? How many of you are familiar with the theremin? It may sound a bit out of place here, but I came to know this instrument through the adventures of Inspector Barnaby. I was intrigued by a sound in the theme song of Midsomer Murders which I couldn’t quite place. Google helped me […]

More than a great pianist | A natural talent enthralling his audience Is it fair to say that the best recordings are made by people who love music and want to do it the way they would like to have it for themselves? TRPTK’s quality statement: “No costs or efforts are spared to seize that […]

Unless you are lucky enough to have a box set of complete (?) piano sonatas, which only exists in the CD format, or, if that is your preference, Tom Beghin’s hi-tech sound reconstruction ‘The Virtual Haydn’ it is an impossible job to collect all of Haydn’s piano sonatas without doublures. So far, I’ve managed to […]

Schubert’s final piano sonata, a long and demanding testament Searching on the internet for the best interpreters of Schubert’s late sonatas, one invariably ends up with the usual suspects of which most are no longer among us. Moreover, pianists from some countries don’t seem to be represented at all, like for instance Spain. Does Spain […]

What is the difference between the automobile market and the music record business? Not much. Sales statistics cover the mass market in either sector. But irrespective of figures and predictions there will always be room, however small, for a ‘niche’, as long as there is a demand for ‘The Best’. Not numbers, but the quality […]

It is not the first time that Chopin’s spiritual output has been used by other creative minds to rearrange or transcribe it for another instrument or even a full orchestra. Mily Balakirev used four of Chopin’s well-known pieces for his Chopin Suite. And, at the other end of the musical scene, who isn’t familiar with […]

I do not think that the Amsterdam Sinfonietta had anything else in mind than producing an album of “several romantic works, each with a very specific expressive power of its own”. A selection of genuine and adaptations for string ensemble. But in the face of actual global Covid-19 health developments, it may come across quite […]

Each new organ recording from Jake’s stable is a joy for organ lovers and exceptional in all its diversity compared to the previous ones. And so is this one. With this present release, the listener is taken into the Temple Protestant church, Dijon (tracks 1-5), and the Saint-Bernard church of Fontaine-les-Dijon (tracks 6-14) in France, […]

Some have learned to hear the difference Technical aspects of music reproduction continue to occupy our minds. Leaving aside the indifferent, there seem to be two principal schools of thought: The innovators, wanting the very best, and the dissenters, going to any length to prove them wrong; Hi-Res makes no difference to the human ear, […]