It’s hard to believe Alfred Brendel turned 90 at the start of 2021. He’s been a part of my musical landscape since I was a teenager, when my mother, who was a great fan of Brendel and admired him in

Practicing has never been more challenging than right now while for the foreseeable future scheduling live concerts is in doubt. Amateurs, students, professionals—we’re all in the same boat. Without a performance on the horizon I too am unmotivated to practice.

The piano sonata genre boasts some of the finest music written for the instrument, from the wit and inventiveness of Haydn or the rhetoric and forward vision of Beethoven to the passionate romanticism of Chopin and Liszt, and the modernism

Nestled somewhere in Ravel’s output there resides a curious set of piano pieces, entitled Le Tombeau de Couperin – literally, Couperin’s Tomb. The set of six piano pieces were composed between 1914 and 1917; four of the six then went

Menopause is the hardest teacher I’ve met. Harder than fame– Tori Amos, singer-songwriter York Bowen: Evening Calm (Joop Celis, piano) No one likes to be reminded of increasing age and for women the menopause is perhaps the most obvious indication.

Many of us have unique and sometimes daunting audition stories. I was fortunate enough to win the position of associate principal cello of the Minnesota Orchestra but not without an ordeal. In 1979, I held the same position with the

In simple terms, dynamics are directions which indicate how quietly or loudly a piece of music should be played. Dynamics are an important way of conveying mood and enhancing the dramatic narrative of the music. Directions, indicate in the score,

“Farewell, Farewell… touch her soft lips and part…” William Walton: Henry V (adapted by Christopher Palmer) – IV. Interlude: Touch her Soft Lips and Part (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus; Westminster Cathedral Choir; Christopher Plummer, reader; Academy