Piano Forum



New Piano Piece by Chopin Discovered – Free Piano Score
A previously unknown manuscript by Frédéric Chopin has been discovered at New York’s Morgan Library and Museum. The handwritten score is titled “Valse” and consists of 24 bars of music in the key of A minor and is considered a major discovery in the wold of classical piano music. Read more >>

Topic: Famous pianists with small hands?  (Read 33315 times)

Offline brahmslover

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 15
Famous pianists with small hands?
on: December 01, 2009, 12:57:13 AM
I have small hands myself (octave only) and am curious to know small-handed pianists who made it to the top. The only one I know is the late Alicia de Larrocha. Do you know any other famous pianist with known small hands?

Offline sheena

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 37
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #1 on: December 05, 2009, 02:08:07 PM
From what I've heard, Josef Hoffman had very small hands and even had a specially manufactured piano with less wide keys.
I think Pletnev and Ashkenazy also have quite small hands.

Offline communist

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1100
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #2 on: December 05, 2009, 03:24:04 PM
From what I've heard, Josef Hoffman had very small hands and even had a specially manufactured piano with less wide keys.
I think Pletnev and Ashkenazy also have quite small hands.

Ashkenazy does have small hands, I don't know about Pletnev.

Perahia also has pretty small hands.
"The stock markets go up and down, Bach only goes up"

-Vladimir Feltsman

Offline minor9th

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 686
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #3 on: December 05, 2009, 04:40:59 PM
Alicia de Larrocha.

Offline richard black

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2104
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #4 on: December 05, 2009, 10:49:33 PM
Godowsky had small hands (for a man) and claimed it as a distinct advantage over having large ones - most people assume he meant in terms of agility.

I remember a story of Busoni, who could be (often was) tactless, meeting a promising young female pianist and exclaiming straight off something like, 'Oh dear, what small hands!'. Can anyone remember who that was?
Instrumentalists are all wannabe singers. Discuss.

Offline thalbergmad

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16733
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #5 on: December 06, 2009, 06:55:27 PM


Not that i am famous, but i have got small hands. An uncomfortable 10th at best.

Perhaps my hands are better suited to dislocating peoples thumbs in arm wrestling competitions.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline gyzzzmo

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2209
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #6 on: December 07, 2009, 04:55:07 PM


Not that i am famous, but i have got small hands. An uncomfortable 10th at best.

Perhaps my hands are better suited to dislocating peoples thumbs in arm wrestling competitions.

Thal

You dont really seem to have small hands, just a lack of stretch really. Many pianists who started early can get pinky-thumb almost in line.
1+1=11

Offline thalbergmad

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16733
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #7 on: December 07, 2009, 05:58:47 PM
Well, i started at 3 but did not find a good teacher until 37 ;D

I think I play Hanon ::)

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline indianajo

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1105
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #8 on: December 17, 2009, 04:47:56 PM
Well, watch super-stretching your thumb at age 37, you might find arthritis at 60 ends your playing enjoyment.  Odd pops I had in two knuckles at age 8 are requiring daily NASD pills now at 59.  I'm limited to C-E span like you, and I just cheat. Nobody is going to pay me to play classical anyway. I play "Pictures at an Exhibition" which requires octave and a fifth, and I enjoy it even wrong as I play it.  JS Bach Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor apparently requires octave and a fifth, but I am putting the offending notes on the other manual.  For a modern pianist that writes hard stuff without a huge stretch, listen to George Winston's "Winter' album. I transcribed his "Holly & Ivy" for fun, and it is the rhythm that is tricky, not the handspan. 

Offline birba

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3725
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #9 on: December 17, 2009, 06:01:27 PM
All one needs is a comfortable octave.  The rest you can dance around. Not that a larger hand can definitely make things easier.  But I have seen five-foot koreans play Rachmaninov like nobody's business...

Offline catk

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 1
Re: Famous pianists with small hands?
Reply #10 on: April 16, 2013, 06:44:52 PM
I have small hands myself (octave only) and am curious to know small-handed pianists who made it to the top. The only one I know is the late Alicia de Larrocha. Do you know any other famous pianist with known small hands?

I have very small hands and I was wondering the same thing. I uncomfortably get an octave  :-\
I am short so my hands are too.
For more information about this topic, click search below!
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert