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USEFUL INSIGHTS -- ON THE LIVES OF BARBER AND BRITTEN

'... valuable advice for the first-time listener on approaching opera in general: "Even when you listen only ... do your best to envision the action, because the composer certainly did." I like his suggestion that the horn solo in Britten's Serenade acts as a "shadow tenor", and his explanation of the natural tuning in the work's Prologue should answer most newcomers' questions.'

Mike Wheeler reviews Daniel Felsenfeld's book 'Samuel Barber and Benjamin Britten. Their lives and their music'

PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS WITH PATRIC STANDFORD -- VALUE

'Because music is such an abstract concept, it seems to have suffered an abstract attitude toward its value from those who listen and play, but still have no real understanding as to where it comes from and how its form materialises in a person's mind.'

Read Patric's complete article

Join the debate on how we pay for musical creation

or read the lengthy correspondence between Chad Wozniak and Alistair Hinton, sparked by Patric's previous offering on the death of tonality

ASK ALICE -- CLASSICAL MUSIC'S AGONY AUNT

'My husband is jealous of my violin -- or, at least, of the time I spend on it, away from him. We've never had children and until I got good enough to play in the orchestras we did most things together. Now he complains when I practice and is sour when I go to rehearsals. Should I turn down the quartet, for his sake?'

More agonising problems for Alice McVeigh

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