A couple of readers said they'd like to hear more about Radu Lupu. I only met him a few times and didn't know him well, but I vividly remember the impression he made. When I went for my lessons, I was probably focusing on trying to play each phrase as beautifully as I...
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Very sad news today that the great pianist Radu Lupu has died. He was probably the first 'favourite pianist' I chose for myself rather than taking my teachers' choices on trust. I tweeted something about having once had a couple of lessons with Radu Lupu when he was...
Recently I've heard or coached a number of amateur pianists whose playing I haven't heard for 18 months, or before All This started. I had been afraid that everyone's playing would have fallen apart, but actually my impression was that lockdown has enhanced rather...
I'm coming towards the end of my week in Fiesole, a week of baking heat during which I have realised that much of the music we've been studying must have been written in a cooler climate. In this kind of intense heat we can hardly face playing, or even hearing, some...
I'm off to Italy to teach for a week on the European Chamber Music Academy course. ECMA is an unusual organisation which moves around during the year, holding courses at a number of 'host institutions' in different parts of Europe. It offers high-level coaching to...
I've been leaping boldly into the world of new media by uploading an audio file to one of the new online music distributors which helps artists to get their music directly to new audiences. (Details to follow when I've got to the end of the process). It's instrumental...
I have had a delightful letter from a piano trio in Tokyo, asking for advice about how to perform Judith Weir's first Piano Trio. The work ends with the pianist banging shut the lid over the piano keyboard, dryly snapping everyone out of the realm of music and back...
Yesterday I gave some coaching to the Minerva Piano Trio, who had brought the first version of Brahms's B major Trio opus 8. He composed it around 1853-54, at the time when he first got to know the Schumanns, Clara and Robert. It's well known that he became very close...
This week also sees my mini-residency at King's College, Cambridge. On Friday 22 Feb I'm giving a pre-concert talk at 7pm and a solo recital at 9pm - music by Haydn, Schumann and Billy Mayerl. On the morning of Saturday 23 Feb I'm giving a three-hour masterclass for...
I have had a delightful time working with the young musicians who took part in my London masterclasses over the last two days. Thank you, Trio Fournier, Gagliano Ensemble, Trio Minori, Veronika Kopjova and Vashti Hunter! Chamber music is in safe hands if the hands are...
It's time once more for my own London masterclasses. This Thursday and Friday, Feb 14 and 15, I'll be teaching four young professional chamber groups (see my Concerts and Events page for details). We'll be working on Beethoven (a piano trio and a cello/piano sonata),...
Melvyn Bragg's excellent Radio 4 Series on 'culture' has been a thought-provoking companion every morning this week. Various guests on the programme, talking about 'high art', have commented that older forms of music have been overtaken and overshadowed by the vast...
