Which is the most heart warming piece of music you’ve heard this year? For me, it’s a simple piece composed by Diana Newell, an 88-year old RAF veteran who dreamt her whole life of becoming a concert pianist. She got her chance to perform when her husband, Phil, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, passed away six years later. Diane wrote her eulogy in a piece called ‘Dreams’ which was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October this year.

Here is ‘Dreams’ with Diana Newell at the piano, accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under conductor Mark Wigglesworth as part of Classic FM Live at 25.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche