Tom Service went to Basel, Switzerland, to meet up with Krystian Zimerman to talk with him about his very personal and passionate philosophy of music. Winner of the 1975 Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition, Zimerman went on to perform with a variety of stars from Bernstein and Rubinstein, to Abbado and Rattle. He now lives and teaches in Basel at […]

Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (1854) is arguably his finest composition and one of the greatest piano sonatas ever written. Many places it alongside Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 as “the two 19th-century masterpieces” of the piano literature. Although Liszt performed it for his enthusiastic disciples in Weimar the work failed to impress Brahms or Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann, to […]

“In the clanging chords of the opening, he was in brilliant form. A few minutes later, he seemed to be bending close to the piano, listening. Then his left hand fell from the piano, his head almost touched the keys. A second later he rolled off the stool on to the floor. It was a cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors were called […]

Pianists who begin practicing in childhood have been found to have better developed nerve pathways in parts of their brains. Scientists believe this results in better fine motor coordination. Most professional pianists begin their careers in early childhood. Very few people can develop their capacities as fully later in life. A research group under the leadership of  Fredrik Ullén, a […]

The legendary German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) shares his thoughts on piano technique in an interview with Harriette Brower, published in her book Piano Mastery (1915): – How do I produce the effects which I obtain from the piano? The young German artist, Willielm Backhaus, was comfortably seated in his spacious apartments at the Ritz, New York, when this question […]