Piano Street's Classical Piano News

We wish you a Happy New Year with a list of recommended reading from Piano Street. These are the 15 most read, discussed or shared articles of 2020.

/The Piano Street Team

P.S. The top list is also published on our Facebook page. Feel free to share the list your piano playing friends!

News From the Past: Can We Play Like Schubert Did?

Christina Kobb is a Norwegian pianist and researcher, specializing in Viennese fortepiano performance. Her research now focuses on practically reconstructing piano technique from the early romantic era. How did Schubert, Chopin and the other masters manage before the free-arm-technique became the norm? Read more >>

How to Keep Your Piano Keys Clean from Viruses?

The current pandemic brings questions to the fore about how to eliminate the spread of infectious and harmful microorganisms in our teaching or practicing spaces. One of the most burning ones is what can be done to sanitize or disinfect piano keys without harming them. Read more >>

Argerich Performs Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 Live

During Symphoniker Hamburg’s Internet festival the world was fortunate to be able to enjoy Martha Argerich solo – something which is utterly sensational as the legend these days exclusively appear in concerts with orchestras and in chamber music collaborations. Read more >>

Crash Course: How to Teach Piano Online

What you have been wondering and perhaps worrying about for many years is suddenly upon you. The question was if online piano lesson are worth it and if so, how to get started? Now there is no more time to ponder, this week you will be teaching all your piano students online! Read more >>

The World of Piano Competitions – New Issue

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. Read more >>

Coronavirus Etude – A New Viral Piano Piece

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. Read more >>

Talking Bach with Pianist Ramin Bahrami

Iranian pianist Ramin Bahrami is considered one of today’s most interesting interpreters of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. A regular performer at Cremona Musica, Bahrami and flutist Massimo Mercelli presented works from their latest CD, “Bach Sanssouci”, on the Decca label. Piano Street’s Patrick Jovell was happy to get the chance to talk to the inspirational performer. Read more >>

Vexations – Was Igor Levit’s Lonely Stroll Too Long?

In a bid to raise awareness of all musicians who have been silenced by the coronavirus pandemic, finding themselves suddenly out of work, pianist Igor Levit performed Erik Satie’s piano piece Vexations in a 15-hour long virtual performance on May 30. Read more >>

A Livestreamed Chopin Celebration in Warsaw

While the 18th Chopin Competition in Warsaw is postponed until 2021, the Chopin Institute will not leave the piano world lot-less. Beginning October 1st the Institute will celebrate Chopin’s music and pianism through a series of piano masters’ recitals and chamber concerts by a wonderful lineup of some of the most outstanding pianists of the previous editions of the competition. Read more >>

Dear Glenn – Can Yamaha Bring Gould’s Genius Back to Life?

Yamaha’s ongoing project to develop a piano playing Artificial Intelligence system has been dubbed “Dear Glenn”, as a tribute to Glenn Gould. The project is “inspired by his unique creative style and launched to explore the future of music through the use of artificial intelligence.” Read more >>

The End of an Era: Keith Jarrett’s Return to his Roots

Keith Jarrett, one of the greatest musicians and profilistic pianists of our time, has recently announced that he will no longer be able to hold up his career as a performer. Now 75, he suffered a pair of draining strokes two years ago that left his left side paralyzed and resulting in an unability to play the piano. The recently released “Budapest Concert” – a return to his grandparents’ native country Hungary – is likely one of Jarrett’s final recorded public solo piano recitals. Read more >>

193 Pieces by Liszt Added to Piano Street’s Sheet Music Library

The latest addition to our already vast piano sheet music library almost doubles the number of pieces by Franz Liszt. Last week, we added 193 pieces by this multifaceted composer, taking a significant step towards our goal of publishing a complete library of the classical piano repertoire. Our Liszt section is now nearly complete, but more will follow – with this extremely productive and hard-working composer-pianist it’s hard to know where to stop! Read more >>

34 Works by Beethoven Added to Piano Street

We’ve spent the months leading up to Beethoven’s birthday preparing a number of his scores that have been missing from our sheet music library. As part of this week’s celebrations, we’re happy to announce that our Beethoven section – comprising 130 works – is now complete! Read more >>

An Uncancelled Beethoven Celebration

In this interview with Konstantin Scherbakov, the phenomenal performer shares his experiences derived from a lifelong relationship with the composer, on stage, in the recording studio and as an influential tutor. In this first part of the interview we get to learn about Scherbakov’s year of celebration and complete sonatas recording project. Read more >>

World Piano Day 2020

Piano Day is an annual worldwide event which takes place on the 88th day of the year, honouring the 88 keys on a modern standard piano. Piano Day 2020 welcomes every piano lover to join the festivities. Read more >>

We’ve spent the months leading up to Beethoven’s birthday preparing a number of his scores that have been missing from our sheet music library. As part of this week’s celebrations, we’re happy to announce that our Beethoven section – comprising 130 works – is now complete.

Many of the new pieces are very accessible to the intermediate piano student. Most of them are lesser known works, which for various reasons were not published during the composer’s lifetime. A majority are listed as WoO (Werk ohne Opuszahl, or Work Without Opus number). There are several Bagatelles that didn’t find their way into one of the published collections; minuets, ländler and other dances originally composed for orchestra and later arranged for piano by Beethoven; sonata movements, rondos…

Included is also a short Sonata for four hands, as well as two rarely played variation works for the same setting. Finally, we’re pleased to add two great pieces from the standard repertoire, for the advanced or professional pianist: the Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and piano, op 56, and the Choral Fantasy, op 80, for piano, chorus, and orchestra.

Listen, download and print:
Beethoven – complete piano music

List of recently added pieces

Renowned Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman joins forces with the London Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Simon Rattle at LSO St Luke’s for a three-concert cycle of the five piano concertos. The stream will take place on DG Stage, a new video music service for classical concert streams from Deutsche Grammophon.

Streamed on the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, this opening concert begins with Concerto No.1, written after No.2 but published first. Brimming with bold melodic and harmonic writing, No.1 reveals the emergence of Beethoven’s own inimitable voice. Second on the programme is Concerto No.3, in the key of C minor, associated in Beethoven’s work with a sense of drama and foreboding.

Program:

Ludwig van Beethoven
– Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, op.15
– Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, op.37

Krystian Zimerman, London Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle

Stream starts Thursday 17 December, 19:00 GMT and can be watched on demand until 2020-12-19

Get your ticket on www.dg-premium.com (9.90 EUR)

The remaining three concertos will be streamed on December 19 & 21.

The new platform DG Stage

DG Stage – The Classical Concert Hall, is a new online platform featuring exclusively produced classical concert streams by the world’s leading artists. The pioneering online venture, developed within the DG Premium platform, expands Deutsche Grammophon’s commitment to great music, inspirational artists and new technology. International audiences will be able to watch a broad range of classical concerts, including piano recitals, chamber music sessions and orchestra and opera performances, exclusively produced live on tape for DG Stage.

As a collaborating partner Piano Street is proud to present the fourth issue of The World of Piano Competitions, a 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: Gustav Alink (Alink-Argerich Foundation), Gerrit Glaner (Steinway), Patrick Jovell (Piano Street), Maria Nikiforov, Florian Riem (WFIMC)

Free download!

Piano Street is happy to share the fourth issue of WOPC with our readers free of charge: The-World-of-Piano-Competitions-issue-2-2020.pdf

Content

Interviews
Yang Yang Cai | Let the music guide you
Jacques Rouvier | A question of character
Nelson Goerner | The long way

Competition Report
Liszt Competition | Labour of love
Pianolink | The more friendly alternative

In Profile
Queen Elisabeth Competition
The Robert Schumann Competition for young pianists
Brahms Piano Competition
Young Pianist Foundation
ARD International Music Competition
International Carl Maria von Weber Competition for Young Pianists
Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes
International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn
International German Piano Award
International Piano Competition Memorijal Jurica Murai
The International Schubert-Competition Dortmund

Behind the Scenes
WFIMC | Piano Competitions on five continents
More and more Online Competitions
Ruhr Piano Festival | Rising Stars
Column | The Power of Visualisation

The Piano
Steingraeber anniversary
Concerthall
Mutual Love, Admiration and Fascination

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

November 19-22 all fans of great piano music have the opportunity to hear a once in a lifetime live concert with Lang Lang performing the Goldberg Variations streamed from J.S. Bach’s Leipzig church. The stream will take place on DG Stage, a new video music service for classical concert streams from Deutsche Grammophon.

Stream starts Thursday 2020-11-19, 19:00 and can be watched on demand until 2020-11-22, 19:00 (GMT).
Get your ticket on www.dg-premium.com (9.90 EUR)

An Extensive Album Release

The Goldberg Variations album with Lang Lang was released on September 4 on DG. Also available is a super deluxe edition featuring not only Lang Lang’s studio recording but a performance captured live in concert at Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried. This coupling of studio and live recordings, a world first for the “Goldbergs”, offers fascinating insights into the art of interpretation.

The concert which took place in Leipzig’s Thomaskirche in March 2020 was Lang Lang’s second ever live performance of the work. Although he was very aware of the composer’s long association with the church, the emotional impact of playing this monumental work just metres from Bach’s grave still took him by surprise. Lang Lang is now giving fans the chance to experience the unique atmosphere of this recital, through a special streamed concert on DG Stage.

“The more time I spent with the Goldberg Variations, the more I wanted to know about Bach, his contemporaries and the composers he later inspired,” explains Lang Lang. “From a vocal number by Stölzel that was obviously popular in the Bach household and a work by the young Goldberg himself, to a beautiful miniature by Schumann – who loved and studied Bach throughout his life – via solo piano arrangements of some of Bach’s loveliest vocal and instrumental writing, all seven of the pieces I’ve just recorded as part of this project have added to my understanding of his music.”

The new platform DG Stage

DG Stage – The Classical Concert Hall, is a new online platform featuring exclusively produced classical concert streams by the world’s leading artists. The pioneering online venture, developed within the DG Premium platform, expands Deutsche Grammophon’s commitment to great music, inspirational artists and new technology. International audiences will be able to watch a broad range of classical concerts, including piano recitals, chamber music sessions and orchestra and opera performances, exclusively produced live on tape for DG Stage.