Pianist Steven Osborne

Psychotherapist and broadcaster Nemone Metaxas delves into our psychological relationship with music and talks to some of classical music’s brightest stars to untangle why music can be such a powerful presence in our lives.

This week, she's joined by the pianist Steven Osborne who has spent much of his life thinking about what happens in the process of performance and our emotional response to music. He talks to Nemone about how he's dealt with performance anxiety throughout his career, what it feels like to entrance an audience, how music can enable us to explore emotions we may not be able to talk about directly, and why improvisation is the true essence of who you are as a musician. Featuring music by Beethoven, Britten, Messiaen, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Rutter.

We'll also hear from our resident psychologist Dr Claire Renfrew who explains how our brains respond to music, how emotional mirroring comes into play when we're at a concert, and what's happening when someone experiences performance anxiety.

To listen to this programme on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Matters'.