These are heartfelt, brilliant performances of the two warhorses. The playing here is not lightweight but rather brooding, revealing the dark colours of Rachmaninov's music. Both orchestra and pianist perform the concertos impeccably.

Instead of an ordinary review for this special film, I've decided to write just an outline to name the different reasons that make Toni Erdmann stand out as one of the best (if not the best) films of the year.

Underrated. Skrowaczewski was an underrated conductor in his lifetime. Yes the press would review the CDs he would release on smaller record labels but he was never the sensational star conductor like some of...

Even though I had been thinking of reviewing this 3CD set, the fact that it was recently awarded the Gramophone Recording of the Year Award, made me finalise my decision. Levit’s achievement here is...

Title: The Bell Jar Author: Sylvia Plath Originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas If Aliens were ever to visit us (if they haven’t so far) they might think that our everyday lives are simple and easy. They...

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 3 Martha Argerich (piano) Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Ricardo Chailly Released remastered for Philips 50 series (2001)I remember being a student in London and entering one of the record stores with the largest classical music...

Title: Tokyo StoryDirector: Yasujirô OzuReleased: 1953 One of my favourite film reviewers, Dennis Schwartz claims that, “This very well might be the best film ever made.” I concur. While this could be true for most of Ozu’s...

Title: Cemetery of Splendour Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Released: 2015Well, this film is impressive in its ability to seem completely unimpressive, as is the case with most of the Thailandese director’s films. Unimpressive, that is, in a...

Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto can be described as sumptuous, lush, exotic. It is said that the composer himself was inspired by the Polish poet Tadeusz Miciński, and specifically his poem Noc Majowa (A Night...

Title: The Luminaries Author: Eleanor Catton Published: 2013 The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton is a massive book: massive in size, scope and depth. Set in 19th century New Zealand it tells the story of Walter Moody, a...