Those of us over at Austin Piano Festival are busy working on a really exciting lineup for this season’s piano concerts in late May. (You can read all about it here.) To celebrate, we’re offering a pair of free tickets to hear Katia and Marielle Labèque on April 4, 2014 […]
One of my earliest, and still very vivid, musical memories was a commercial for set of Van Cliburn cassette tapes. I didn’t know I was hearing the opening chords of Tchaikovsky 1 at the time, or who Van Cliburn was, but I was bowled over by the emotion of the […]
Great works of art and great performances are never middle of the road. Some of my favorite performers, like Richter and Argerich, also elicit my most negative reactions. Rudolf Serkin’s concerts were incredible or disastrous, but rarely mediocre. Beethoven has a large collection of worthless compositions. So does Mozart. This is […]
There is so much in this interview, not just about music but about life. It is worth watching many times over. Want to learn piano but don’t know where to start? I’ve taught hundreds of happy students! Click here for my free beginner lesson course.
I love Scarlatti. I think it was Horowitz who considered Domenico Scarlatti to be the “first Romantic”. I find it hard to disagree. Scarlatti’s own preface to his “Sonatas” gives us a peak into his own benevolent disposition: “…show yourself to be more human than critical, and then your pleasure […]
Have a listen to this radio interview with the amazing Anton Nel! Want to learn piano but don’t know where to start? I’ve taught hundreds of happy students! Click here for my free beginner lesson course.
Last Thursday I saw Richard Goode perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major K. 456, with the San Francisco Orchestra. There really aren’t enough good things to say about Goode’s playing. Thoughtful, beautiful, and a colorful crisp sound. But most stunning is Goode’s ability to make his ideas […]