Modest Mussorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition is one of the best loved piano suites of all time: its musical imagery seems so vivid and tangible. It has spawned any number of adaptations, ranging from the frequently performed orchestration by Ravel to the 1971s synthesizer-heavy progressive rock version by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Every performer and arranger of the work superposes their own interpretation of the pictures that Mussorgsky tried to depict in the music.

Q: I am trying to find a recording of Marcelo Bratke, Le groupe des six. Can you help?

A: I believe the recording you want is on this link:

We've just had an "interesting" experience failing to book tickets for a heavily oversubscribed festival (not classical, as it happens). Tickets went on sale at 9am today, with several authorised outlets available. At 9am, we were online attempting to log in to various websites while at the same time trying the phone numbers.

Having just spent a great evening listening to Shostakovich's large scale works at the Royal Festival Hall (see the review), it was fascinating to listen to a work on a very much smaller scale - at least instrumentally - in the shape of his D minor Cello Sonata. This was played last night by the new pairing of cellist Gemma Rosefield and pianist Katya Apekisheva in a private run-through as preparation for a concert next week.

I was intrigued to be sent a copy of Bach & Friends, a new DVD which billed itself as "World-class musicians reflect on the power and genius of Bach's music and perform his greatest masterpieces". The DVD turns out to be a series of interviews with a variety of musicians in which each tells us something about Bach and the way it has affected them emotionally and musically.

Last night, a stage on London's South Bank was turned into a small corner of Russia as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and their Moscow-born conductor Vladimir Jurowski treated us to a semi-staged performance of Shostakovich's little-performed opera fragment "The Gamblers". The stage was set with card tables at which an all star cast of Russian singers played cards while singing through Shostakovich's remarkable setting of Nikolai Gogol's acidly oppressive play.

Sunday night brought the intriguing mix of Chelsea Opera Group, the amateur chorus and orchestra which hires professional conductors and singers, to the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s Southbank Centre. The occasion was a concert performance of Verdi's La Traviata, with the world renowned Romanian opera singer Nelly Miricioiu, the rising star Italian conductor Gianluca Marcianò and tenor Cosmin Ifrin making his UK debut. With some caveats, the evening was an overwhelming success with the audience springing to their feet at its close to reinforce their enthusiasm for the performance.

A combination of possibly the vastest array of audience I have ever seen – Club K brought out both young and old for this unique event – from miniskirts and makeup to ties and suits (neither of which seemed out of place) it seemed much of the audience was as intrigued about the event as I was, with an atmosphere of mystery and anticipation surrounded the BIC Solent Hall.

When you're in Italy, classical music does seem to crop up in some unlikely places.

One of several BBC Inspire Workshops around the country was held at the BBC Maida Vale studios on February 13th 2010. This was the first lab of its kind that I had attended, and so I was not entirely sure what to expect.

The group came to around 30 ‘young composers’ between the ages of 11 and 18, and 8 adults who worked for the BBC in one way or another, either running the studios, in charge of the workshop, or members of the BBC Orchestra.