Browsing: Piano

+ Cleveland Classical talks with guitarist Denis Azabagić about winning prizes, his wife and duo partner flautist Eugenia Moliner, and practice philosophy. “I remember when I came to the U.S. more than a decade ago. I opened the yellow pages and found an ad that said, ‘Learn to play the piano without practice.’ I thought, who in the world could put out such an ad? I mean how can you lie like that — because that’s impossible. We would all like to get our things in life the easy way, but music is something that certainly doesn’t happen like that.…

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Splitting time between recording Beethoven concertos, directing music festivals, and conducting the Camerata Ireland, which he founded, Irish pianist and composer Barry Douglas is a well-travelled, decorated artist. To “Tiny Desk Concert,” Douglas brings his heritage in the form of Celtic folk songs. Rippling left-hand waves, impish alternating chords, and gossamer trills come together to capture an image of pastoral Ireland from its rugged cliffs, crisp breeze, and sylvan freshness. Barry Douglas – NPR “Tiny Desk Concert”

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+ Read Jeanne Hourez’s review of Nicholas Angelich’s latest release of Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin. (French) + Jacques Lacombe was invited to the Tanglewood Music Festival for the third consecutive year. He will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra with soloist Joshua Bell on July 8, and Orff’s Carmina Burana on July 9, followed the next day by a concert with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra with a program of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Schumann’s Third Symphony. (French) + 53 years ago today, the Beatles invaded America with “From Me to You.” + In light of the ongoing Montreal Jazz…

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For another American themed video, here’s Russian-born American virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz’ piano transcription of the iconic American bandmaster and composer John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.” 00Horowitz wrote this famously difficult transcription on occasion of his naturalization as an American citizen. Valery Kuleshov – Horowitz’ transcription of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”

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1 July 2016 — The management of the Canadian Music Competition – Canimex (CMC) is pleased to announce the name of the winner in the 11 to 14 years-old category. • Grand Prize, 11 to 14 years old: Eric Guo, Piano, 14 years old (Scarborough, ON) The winner will receive $1,500 grant from Power Corporation of Canada. 2016 Gala Concert Soloists • First Prize of the Stepping Stone: David Dias Da Silva, clarinettist (Montreal, QC) • Grand Prize, 19 to 30 years old: Philippe Prud’homme, Piano, 25 years old (Montreal, QC) • Grand Prize, 15 to 18 years old: Philippe Gagné, Piano,…

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+ A CD review of English composer Granville Bantock’s epic late-Romantic oratorio Omar Khayyam, re-released from the 1979 Lyrita version with the BBC orchestra and chorus under Norman Del Mar. + The results of the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, held in Fort Worth TX, are in. + David Lang talks with The Guardian’s Kate Molleson about writing music for memorials. A classic daunting Lang commission: construct exactly the right music for collective remembrance. “Right,” he nods, but he doesn’t look daunted. “How to write something that seems ancient, like a kind of music whose origins we don’t question.…

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This is a great time for piano lovers, a terrible one for young pianists. The past four years have flung up the most phenomenal range of new talent, more than listeners can take in. Daniil Trifonov, the 2011 Tchaikovsky winner, set a new benchmark. Since then, the 2015 Chopin competition has yielded Seong-jin Cho and Charles-Richard Hamelin, the Van Cliburn has brought forth the prodigious Beatrice Rana, the BBC Young Musician winner Benjamin Grosvenor has quickly made a name for himself and there are more coming through all the time. And then there’s Lucas Debargue. Placed fourth in the 2015…

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In perhaps the coldest concert ever recorded, Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi plays an ode to the Arctic while floating on a platform in the middle of the ocean. Associated with Greenpeace, this act of environmental activism is to raise awareness for the environmental degradation of one of the most fragile ecosystems on our planet. As Einaudi plays, parts of glaciers crack and fall into the Arctic Ocean, a chilling reminder of climate change due to the greenhouse gas effect.

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20 June 2016 — This morning, pianist Louise Bessette received the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, from Western University in London, Ontario. The Montreal pianist is recognized for her accomplishments as “an internationally recognized performer and leading light in the interpretation of 20th and 21st century music, and for her significant impact in the contemporary world of classical piano.” Louise Bessette is one of today’s pre-eminent interpreters of the music of our time. Possessing a unique combination of eclectic repertory and impeccable delivery, Bessette has been hailed as “a 20th-century specialist of penetrating insight and unerring technique” (The Gazette) and is praised for…

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Every few months I take my ears out for a cleaning. This is not as easy as it sounds. Finding music that is original, unfamiliar, astringent, elevating and altogether uncomplacent restricts the seeker to the dustiest corners of recorded repertoire. And no sooner do you find a box that fits the bill than what you thought was household detergent comes stuffed with sticky minimalisms. Anyway, this week, I’ve struck lucky with some top-grade industrial ear cleanser from a British pianist I’d normally associate with Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Messiaen. Steven Osborne, though, has a quirky turn of mind and a wonderful…

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