The world of classical music is a mystifying one. Leaving aside the intricacies, complexities and nuances involved in actually trying to appreciate it, not to mention the slippery nature of what one actually terms 'classical music', attempting to navigate your way around the multitudes of impenetrable names, hundreds of interpretations and swathes of Italianate jargon is a labyrinth of confusion.
I’ve been listening to and playing classical music most of my life (rarely by choice; thanks middle-class British upbringing) and I’m no closer to explaining the difference between a cantata and an oratorio or why Rubenstein’s rendition of Chopin’s Waltz in C Sharp Minor is superior to Lugansky’s.
