You probably have a favorite pianist from the past – are you a Richter fan or more of a Rachmaninov admirer? Horowitz, Rubinstein, Schnabel, Hess…the list goes on. Or you may be someone who adores a particular composer like Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, Bach or Mozart. This section provides both news and articles about the historical figures who have made classical piano music what it is today.
How to save a 100-year-old piano
When an instrument speaks across generations, sometimes it takes a village to save it. Sometimes when an inanimate object has been around for a long time, it takes on a life of its own. Oh, if the 99-year-old Steinway piano at Roosevelt High School could talk, the...
Moscow Nights: A Texan Pianist Changes the Cold War
In this book review of Nigel Cliff's new book MOSCOW NIGHTS The Van Cliburn Story - How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War, James Barron focuses on the premise of what Van Cliburn's role was in thawing relations during tense times. ...one of Cliff's...
Boston Symphony Orchestra’s New Season: Great Pianists
If you're in Boston this season, you're in for some great piano playing. Has it really been five years? In March 2011 a young Latvian conductor stepped in for the ailing James Levine at Carnegie Hall, leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the first time in a...
Bach’s final fugue: the pianist who completed it.
How often have you 'fixed up' a composition? Bach's final Fugue has had its share of attempts. J S Bach’s final masterpiece, the Art of the Fugue, is one of the most challenging, intense and intellectual keyboard works of all time. The work also confronts the ultimate...
The Power of Pedagogy
Can "listen(ing) to great singers" improve your playing and that of your students? The Power of Pedagogy In arts education, students must be taught to create, not imitate. ENLARGE Pianist Vladimir Horowitz in 1936. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES By BYRON JANIS All musicians,...
Anna Beer’s New Book Looks at Women Composers from the Past
Dead White Men. That's a pretty good description of the vast majority of 17th, 18th and 19th century composers. But Anna Beer is trying to make sure that people know a bit about the female side of history. Classical music fans know the names Mendelssohn and Schumann....
