My colleague and greatest living Korngold fan Jessica Duchen took over editorship of The Amati Magazine earlier this year, and has quickly turned it into one of the must-read classical music blogs – which will come as no surprise to anyone who follows her own long-running music blog. Anyway, I was incredibly flattered to be asked to contribute, and delighted that Jessica was willing to indulge me with a project I’ve been keen to undertake for years – a series of articles about my favourite classical music reference books. Three have appeared so far – Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music (crazy name, crazy book); The Well-Tempered String Quartet (if you’re an amateur quartetter yourself you’ll know it, if not…well, my thoughts are here) and the Pelican Guide to Chamber Music.

Have a look, and while you’re there, have a browse around – The Amati Magazine is full of good things these days. Jessica’s typically insightful and engaging interview with Raphael Wallfisch gave me quite a few nice talking points when I interviewed Raphael prior to the Orchestra of the Swan’s concert at Birmingham Town Hall yesterday.