International Piano offers a rich mix of inspiration and guidance to pianists and piano fans around the world, from dedicated amateurs and students to professional pianists, teachers and aficionados. Celebrating the piano in all its forms, including the fortepiano and digital keyboards, each edition of our magazine is packed with interviews, features, news and reviews showcasing the top artists of today and yesteryear.
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LETTERS
American composer George Crumb remembered
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Bechstein donates 16 pianos to Beirut Conservatory
Applications open for 2023 Cliburn Junior Competition
Into Europe • Busoni Competition winner Jae Hong Park is the product of South Korea’s impressive music education system, but now he wants to spread his wings.
Stretched to the limit • Do piano fingerings tend to favour men’s large hands? Margaret Fingerhut highlights gender bias in leading editions of core keyboard repertoire
The Ill-Tempered Clavier • Know anything about classical music? Ignorance is not bliss, says Charivari
Into the cosmos • Mitsuko Uchida waited until late in her career before conquering the Diabelli Variations, Beethoven’s Everest for piano. Owen Mortimer explores the work’s many technical and metaphysical challenges with a pianist who has a profound understanding of its complex structures and its spiritual depth
Toward the flame • A new book celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Scriabin, a self-proclaimed deity whose piano music ranges from extreme delicacy to almost hysterical outbursts.
Chopin: The Perfect Virtuoso
Keyboard whirlwind • Hungarian pianist Zoltán Kocsis was a savagely brilliant performer who left an extensive discography as a pianist and conductor. Away from the stage, he was a vocal critic who heaped extravagant praise and merciless criticism on his fellow artists. Benjamin Ivry considers Kocsis’ provocative legacy
Seeking silence • Colin Clarke introduces an uncompromising new piano concerto to be heard in London this month
Rooted in tradition • Almost every pianist’s biography makes mention of the teachers behind the artist. Over the years there have been various attempts to draw up a pianistic genealogy, showing the links between artists, but Spanish pianist Daniel Pereira has taken the idea to new lengths with a major project hosted by the University of Maryland.
The Clara Schumann Tradition • This abridged version of ‘The Friedrich Wieck and Clara Schumann Tradition’ is reproduced with kind permission of Daniel Pereira. To view the full tree, visit lib.umd.edu/ipam/genealogies/tradition-pages/wieck-schumann-tradition
A musical home • Colin Clarke marks the 30th anniversary of the Cadenza International Summer Music School, which specialises in fostering collaborations between pianists and string players under the expert guidance of a distinguished faculty
Instant access • Owen Mortimer gets to grip with OKTAV, a new sheet music subscription service that offers personalised recommendations from a growing library of over 20,000 piano pieces
RETURNING TO THE PIANO • A technical refresher course for recommencing piano enthusiasts, created for International Piano by Murray McLachlan
international Piano MASTERCLASS • Italian pianist Alessandro Marangoni explores the charming intimacy of Rossini’s ‘Une caresse à ma femme’ from the composer’s piano cycle Péchés de vieillesse
Une caresse à ma femme • From Péchés de Vieillesse
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Légende No 1
Légende
On the record • Jeremy Nicholas marks the tenth anniversary of Grand Piano Records, whose extensive catalogue of undiscovered piano...