Pianist

In a few weeks’ time I will fly to Ft. Worth, Texas, to attend the finals of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Held every four years, and celebrating its 60th anniversary, the competition has a distinguished track record of success in awarding its top prizes to pianists who have gone on to enjoy brilliant careers (among them Cristina Ortiz, Olga Kern and Beatrice Rana, all previous cover stars of Pianist). The competition was named in honour of the American pianist who – after a heated debate among the jurors – won Gold at the first Tchaikovsky Competition held in Moscow in 1958. The 23-year-old Texan captured the hearts of Russians and Americans alike: he became the first (and probably only) musician ever to receive a ticker-tape parade on his return…

Finding Fialkowska I have just finished reading a book called A Note In Time, written by the pianist Janina Fialkowska. This memoir is full of many wonderful stories, and there’s one particularly moving chapter where she talks about having had cancer in her left arm. Her right arm was still fully functionable, so she arranged many of the left-handed works (among them the Ravel Left Hand Concerto) for the right hand. She performed them with many orchestras, too. As far as I understand, with left hand only works, it’s the thumb that usually carries the melody, and even if it might seem hard at first, the thumb can create a good strong tone. So it makes sense. However, if you were to do the reverse, and play these left hand pieces…

An advance copy of the latest Hyperion piano release drops through my letterbox, and I can’t resist giving it a spin. The repertoire is the collected rags by William Bolcom played by the indefatigable Marc-André Hamelin. Hamelin can cast a spell over anything he plays, and this latest instalment doesn’t disappoint: it’s on repeated listening for the rest of the day. On a Zoom call a few days later from his home in Massachusetts, the Canadian virtuoso talks about his admiration for ‘Bill’ Bolcom (born 1938): ‘He’s quite the major figure in the US,’ Hamelin explains of a composer less familiar on the other side of the Atlantic, though Naxos has released several albums of his music including an epic choral-orchestral setting of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. ‘Bill has…

As American pianist Van Cliburn (1934-2013) emerged seemingly overnight from relative obscurity into worldwide fame following his triumph at the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, nearly everyone wanted to claim him. The Soviets, for whom the playing of the tall, attractive Texan seemed even ‘more Russian’ than that of native performers, cherished both his heartfelt musicality and a persona marked by exaggerated naivety and folksy charm. Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev, a fearsome bear of a man, was instantly smitten; esteemed pianist Emil Gilels actually kissed Cliburn in public following one competition performance (in violation of the rules). Ordinary Muscovites swamped him when he appeared on the street. Little wonder. He was unusual: six foot four and capped by bushy blond hair (the American ambassador’s wife dubbed him ‘Brillo Top’). His face…

The overwhelming impact ofVan Cliburn’s win at the Tchaikovsky Competition sparked the urge to reproduce that kind of explosive excitement on the American side of the world. On 30 November, 1958, after a performance byVan with the Dallas Symphony, a reception in his honour was held at the Ridglea Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas. On hand were Grace Ward Lankford, head of the Ft. Worth Piano Teachers Forum, and Dr. Irl Allison, founder of the much larger National Piano Guild; each had planned a surprise. Lankford was going to reveal that her organization was to offer a $1,000 prize to a young pianist. Allison had bigger news, and sent her a note as they ate dinner: ‘Hold on,’ it said. ‘I’m going to make a startling announcement.’ It was dramatic…

Our hands should always feel relaxed and natural when playing the piano. The more at ease our hands and fingers are, the more supple and manoeuvrable they will be. With efficient practice, our actions become consistent and the musical outcome more dependable. Key to this is the approach we take to changing hand positions as we move more adventurously around the keyboard. But before tackling this, it’s good to feel ultra secure repeating a single chord. To get a basic sense of what’s going to be happening here, form a relaxed fist and turn your wrist upwards or towards you, then slowly open and close the fingers as though you are gently squeezing a sponge ball. Centring the hand At the piano, simply allow the hand to settle on a sustained chord…