Despite the best efforts of those of us within the profession, and many outside it too, classical music still suffers from an image problem. It is perceived by many as high-brow, exclusive and riven with snobbery, largely the result of

During a conversation in a recent lesson with one of my students, she told me that her previous teacher would stop her every time she made a mistake and ask her to correct the error before continuing. She admitted to

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) believed that art was separated from reality and existed as a pure form. Having deep faith in theosophy and perceiving himself as the Divine in the world, he was also influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of Übermensch

French pianist Jean-Claude Englebert (1923-2011) was born in Paris to a family of musicians. His father, Oscar, was a renowned violist and his mother, Suzanne, was a concert singer. He attended the Paris Conservatoire, taking the first prize in music

Hardly a month goes by without yet another international music festival rolling down the shutters and closing its doors forever. Festival d’Ile-de-France, City of London Festival or Lugano, the message is always the same. “Despite new directions and initiatives, the

Some years ago I read a fascinating book by French psychoanalyst and University of Paris literature professor Pierre Bayard, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, in which the author makes a very good case for freeing ourselves from

Today I accidentally stumbled over another rarity from the vault of unusual and singular instruments! The instrument in question—variously called “Tangent piano” in English, “Tangentenflügel” in German, “cembalo angelico” in Italian, and “clavecin harmonieux et celeste” in French—sounds like a

Olivier Messiaen’s monumental and profound work Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jésus (Twenty Gazes on the Infant Jesus) surely ranks amongst the “greats” of the piano repertoire, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with such titans as Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas