… often feel like a conversation between the intellectual and the emotional, requiring performers to balance clarity with warmth, and precision with spontaneity. And this is where Radu Lupu, a Romanian pianist known for his poetic and introspective approach, emerges as a natural fit. Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118 (Radu Lupu, piano) The Enigmatic Poet Radu Lupu Radu Lupu was one of the most enigmatic and revered pianists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Known for his reclusive nature and reluctance to engage with the media, Lupu let his music speak for itself. His performances were marked by an …

… tour of international engagements, and Lupu made his New York debut in April 1967. Remarkably, Lupu remained modest and somewhat reluctant. According to his own later reflections, he did not particularly enjoy competition. He saw them as nerve-wracking, and his reaction to the win was almost one of relief. Radu Lupu performs Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2, “Andantino-Allegretto” (Van Cliburn) Homecoming Victory Radu Lupu Only a year after his Cliburn success, Lupu won the George Enescu International Piano Competition in 1967. This victory carried special weight, not only because Enescu was Romania’s most celebrated …

… the instrument. The whole balance, the line, the tone, is perceived and controlled by the head.” Radu Lupu Plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459 Radu Lupu was born in Galați, Romania on 30 November 1945. He was the only child of Meyer Lupu, a lawyer, and Ana nee Gabor, a French teacher. He had his first piano lessons at the age of six with Lia Busuioceanu, and he performed his public debut in 1957 featuring his own compositions. Lupu remembered “from the very beginning, I regarded myself as a composer. I …

… a household name when I was growing up in the 1970s. My parents were keen concert-goers who heard all these pianists – and other now-legendary musicians – live in concert and their names were familiar to me from an early age. I don’t remember if I ever heard Radu Lupu live as a child, but I certainly heard his recordings. But it was not until 2014 that I was afforded the privilege of hearing him live, performing music by Franz Schubert, a composer with whom Lupu had a longstanding association. Everything I had read or heard about him …

… Maurice Ravel Long’s La Petite Méthode de Piano, written when she was 89, remains in print, its exercises as whimsical as ever. Cortot’s editions of Chopin, annotated with fingerings and dynamic markings, are standard in conservatories worldwide. Yet, Long’s legacy is probably more subtle, as she taught pianists to listen to the silence between notes. As her student Radu Lupu recalled, “She didn’t teach technique. She taught poetry.” For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter Marguerite Long plays Ravel: Piano Concerto in G

… Years Toward the end of her life, many of the great musicians she had befriended over the course of her long career banded together to organise a pension for her. Contributors included Martha Argerich, Yehudi Menuhin, and Radu Lupu. Yours Guller died on New Year’s Eve in 1980, at the age of 85. Even though there is still much to learn about her life, one thing is clear: she was one of the most extraordinary musical survivors of her generation. For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter Youra Guller Plays …

… undeniable? Well, it could be a self-affirmation in the face of impending demise, a delusional triumph against his fate, an imagined joy that didn’t belong to him – or a joy that finally belonged to him, but in another world. For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960 - IV. Allegro ma non troppo (Radu Lupu, piano)

… to another world tour in 1973 with the same soloists and Andrew Davis. The ensemble is dedicated to touring around the world, expanding their repertoire while maintaining their size. The performances on tour with stellar guest artists read like a ‘who’s who’ of musicians—Maxim Vengerov, Radu Lupu, Itzhak Perlman, Hilary Hahn, Sarah Chang, and Pinchas Zukerman. In 1968, they performed in both South America and the USA and embarked on their first coast-to-coast tour of the USA in 1979 with Vladimir Ashkenazy. Their acclaimed tour to Japan in 1987 with Mitsuko Uchida was …