Piano Street's Classical Piano News

Piano Day, an annual worldwide event founded by a group of likeminded people, takes place on the 88th day of the year – in 2020 it’s the 28th March – because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated.

“Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener.” – Nils Frahm

Official website: pianoday.org

An exclusive broadcast from the Sydney Opera House

Introduced by Piano Day’s founder Nils Frahm, this is a celebration of the piano in all its forms with and exclusive broadcast featuring moving performances, unseen recordings and interviews.

Piano Day Playlist 2020 on Soundcloud

World Piano Day – Global Livestream

Deutsche Gramophon marks #WorldPianoDay March 28, 3pm CET, with an international virtual festival featuring performances by members of its family of artists, live-streamed on our FB and YouTube channel. The roster of stars includes Maria João Pires, Víkingur Ólafsson, Joep Beving, Rudolf Buchbinder, Seong-Jin Cho, Jan Lisiecki, Kit Armstrong, Simon Ghraichy, Daniil Trifonov, Evgeny Kissin – bringing people together through the power of music.

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A classic viral piano piece, “Dusting the Piano” has finally got a follow-up. While Dusting the Piano should be managable for players of ABRSM grade 1 and suitable for performances during less critical times, the new Coronavirus Etude is more complex (around ABRSM grade 5) and aimed to be more effective against viruses.

Which piece is most useful?

The effectiveness of the new Coronavirus Etude may be questioned since most of the effort probably does not remove, but just move the viruses and bacteria sideways. Most likely, a lot of it will just get stuck on the sides of the keys and “Dusting the Piano” may end up as the winner.

Viral spread

The Coronavirus Etude itelf appears to have gone viral, with dozens of performances already recorded and published in various social media. Check out the Instagram tag #coronavirusetude for some examples.
Here are some of the more notable interpretations so far. If you have recorded it, please post a link in the comments below!

Download sheet music: Coronavirus Etude

More advanced: Dichotomie

If you are into something even more advanced, check out Dichotomie, a piano piece by Esa-Pekka Salonen composed in the year 2000.
Here, pianist Aura Go plays the first movement, ‘Mécanisme’:

On a more serious note

While pandemics are no fun at all, these musical jokes remind us about the importance of hygiene when using shared instruments in lesson and practice spaces and may be justified. If you want to learn more about how to effectively clean your piano keys, please read our article:
“How to Keep Your Piano Keys Clean from Viruses?”

As a collaborating partner Piano Street is proud to present the third issue of The World of Piano Competitions, a new magazine initiated by PIANIST Magazine (Netherlands and Germany) and its Editor-in-Chief Eric Schoones. Here we get a rich insight into the world of international piano competitions through the eyes of its producers and participants.

Click cover to download:

Contributing Editors: Mark Ainley, Gustav Alink (Alink-Argerich Foundation), Patrick Jovell (Piano Street), Rudy Tambuyser

Free download!

Piano Street is happy to share the third issue of WOPC with our readers free of charge: The-World-of-Piano-Competitions-issue-1-2020.pdf

Content

Gustav Alink reports
Paderewski Competition, Bydgoszcz
Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition, Paris
Bartók World Competition, Budapest
The International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn

Interviews
Claire Huangci & Gerrit Glaner on Paris Play-Direct Academy
Gilles Ledure, Queen Elisabeth Competition
A conductor’s view: Gilbert Varga
A technician’s view: Peter Head, Maene Piano’s
Rob Hilberink, Liszt Competition Utrecht
A teacher’s view: Rena Shereshevskaya
A director’s view: Adam Gatehouse

In Profile
International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition
Bechstein-Bruckner Competition
Concours International Piano Val de Travers-Neuchâtel
ARD International Music Competition
Santa Cecilia International Competition
The International Schubert-Competition Dortmund
International Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition

Behind the Scenes
Play it safe or commit to being personal?
Florian Riem, Interim Secretary General WFIMC
Virtual Reality at the Chopin Competition

Background

The piano enjoys a tremendous popularity worldwide and has the universal quality to be able to communicate through cultures, history and geographical borders. The value of piano competitions cannot be overestimated in terms of focus on the piano as an instrument and piano playing. The competition industry engages a multiplicity of concerns including hi-end piano manufacturing, media coverage and broadcast, repertoire spotlight and pedagogy, concert and lecture production and not least, career opportunity and exposure for laureates and non-laureates. All this contributes to a richer cultural life and can powerfully promote the aim we all share: to spread the joy and riches of the art of piano playing.

”Piano music, especially live, is incomparable and can be a great source of joy for players and listeners. We all should strive to allow as many people benefit from it as possible. For that, this edition of The World of Piano Competition is an excellent form of encouragement. I hope its message spreads widely! I wish everyone much joy reading it and, later on, attending a concert!”
— Guido Zimmermann, President Steinway & Sons Europe

THE WORLD OF PIANO COMPETITIONS
is published twice a year by PIANIST, as a part of the regular edition, and also worldwide as a separate magazine.

PIANIST (regular edition) is published four times a year in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and Belgium.
www.pianist-magazin.de
www.pianistmagazine.nl

Although there is a tremendous activity of piano playing going on, the world could indeed benefit from even more! If you agree, help us promoting the art of piano music and piano playing by liking, sharing and commenting on our posts from the website or social media.

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Daniel Barenboim joins the Berliner Philharmoniker for three performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, led by chief conductor Kirill Petrenko. We are immensely happy about our continuous collaboration with Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall which enables us to invite our members to the live streaming of the January 11 performance in Berliner Philharmonie.

A long-time and renowned interpreter of Beethoven’s works, Barenboim performs as the soloist for this dark and dramatic concerto which marks the start of the Beethoven 250 year 2020. The program also includes Josef Suk’s expressive symphony “Asrael”.

Free tickets for Piano Street’s members

Thanks to a continuous collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall, all Piano Street members enjoy free access for 48 hours to the Digital Concert Hall. Log in to your Piano Street account to get your free voucher code which gives you instant access to the Digital Concert Hall. Take the opportunity to hear a live concert with Barenboim, Petrenko and Berliner Philharmoniker on Saturday 11 January 2020 and to access all concerts in the archive for 48 hours!

No Piano Street account? Sign up here to get your live stream ticket!

Members: Get your free 48 hours ticket! >>

LIVESTREAM: Saturday 11 January, 18.00 (UTC/GMT)

Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in C minor, op. 37
Daniel Barenboim piano

Josef Suk: Symphony in C minor, op. 27 “Asrael”

In his Third Piano Concerto, Beethoven knew how to triumphally stage the pianist (himself, that is). After 111 orchestral bars, the piano begins with what could be called an imperious demonstration of power, as the soloist spans the whole keyboard in three run-ups, then practically gouges the main theme into the keys, forte and unisono: a show of manual strength with piled-up octaves, followed at once, admittedly, by an introspective piano reflection. The playful dialogue of Baroque concertizing is transformed here into existential seriousness: a matter of self-assertion and of unyielding subjectivity. Kirill Petrenko programmed this third Beethoven concerto with Daniel Barenboim as the soloist. His playing is characterised by a profound understanding of the score, a concentrated kind of music making that always remains open for the orchestra’s developments.