The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Learning Side by Side July 28th, 2019 Most students probably expect their teacher to be able to play anything, and indeed the best teachers will have a comprehensive repertoire coupled with extensive knowledge. One need not have played all the Beethoven Piano Sonatas or Chopin’s Etudes in -
The Tchaikovsky Competition XVI
Brilliant But Not Without Snafus July 27th, 2019Finals with Zlatomir Fung The Tchaikovsky Competition, the Olympics of music held every four years, is arguably the most important competition for young musicians between the ages of 16 and 32. The major monetary prizes are but a small part. -
The Voice of Vibrato July 26th, 2019 Vibrato can make you feel more than what is intended. String instruments pronounce it, woodwinds make it felt, brass, well maybe it only slightly works for them, but the human voice excels with applied vibrato. Select and functional vibrato can -
Piano Competitions
Olympics for Pianists or an Important Part of a Young Musician’s Development? July 25th, 2019The 16th edition of the Tchaikovsky International Competition has finished (and not without controversy, but that’s another story….) and another crop of prize winners have been crowned and launched onto the international music scene. French pianist Alexandre Kantorow was awarded -
Iván Erőd (1936-2019)
“Art is Communication” July 24th, 2019Iván Erőd was born the son of a businessman in Budapest in 1936 amidst the brewing catastrophe of World War II. In fact, his brother and his grandparents were murdered in Buchenwald and Auschwitz in 1944, and his parents barely -
Pianola Museum July 23rd, 2019 Museums aren’t always interesting or exciting places to visit. Some are boring, some are too informative, some simply don’t appeal to us. Stepping into the Pianola Museum in Amsterdam with an exceptionally ordinary entrance, I didn’t expect much, but it -
Thou Shall Not Steal July 22nd, 2019 “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” The more I compose and create, the more I agree with this well-known Picasso quote—or Stravinsky for the same matter, as the ambiguity on the ownership persists. Actually, thanks to Cage and his writings, -
Is Classical Music ‘Elitist’? No, But You Might Be! July 21st, 2019 Classical music has an image problem. Depending on where you hail from in the western world, society as a generalised group will probably have a fairly stark concept of this artistic medium we all hold dear.