Pianist

Recently I tuned in to Angela Hewitt’s all-Bach recital, broadcast live from Wigmore Hall. As she reached the final cadence of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, modulating from stormy D minor into heaven-sent D major, the hairs on my arms stood on end

What will inspire me to begin? Start with something that moves you in some way; an article, a book, a film, or perhaps a conversation that made you happy or sad. Something that drives you to express a powerful emotion through music. How can I turn th

What does it mean to be a Romantic? Outside the realm of music we might look for examples in the exalted inspiration of Keats (‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’), the Gothic fantasy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the storm-tossed seascapes and visio

Is there a composer you’re not ready for? No, I don’t think so. It’s something that comes from my childhood. Obviously I wasn’t ready for Liszt’s Dante Sonata at the age of 14, but I learnt it anyway. Everybody is ready for everything. Maybe someone

The concept of practising slowly is simple enough: take a passage that’s giving you difficulty – then slow it down! There can’t be many proficient pianists out there who’ve not spent considerable time practising slowly, but there’s more to doing this

What does heaven sound like? We’ll never know until it’s too late, but if there are angels and harps involved, they will surely be playing ‘the’ Ave Maria. Lifting my gaze into the blue yonder I see poor Gounod sitting on a cloud and cursing his luck

Have you considered the differences between sitting at the piano playing through your pieces, and the processes involved in practising? The first situation might feel rather like taking a pleasant drive in the countryside. If your car is in good shap

Key: A major Tempo: Andante, molto sostenuto Style: Romantic Will improve your: ✓ Ability to sustain a melody ✓ Staccato ✓ Chord voicing This evocative piece is called Long Road. Written by Russian Romantic composer Samuil Maykapar, it is the seventh

Key: E major Tempo: Lento espressivo Style: Romantic Will improve your: ✓ Pedalling ✓ Balancing of melody ✓ Inner voice projection Every now and then, composers write something that they are so attached to they just have to use it repeatedly. In Lisz

Key: F sharp Tempo: Andante amorevole Style: Romantic Will improve your: ✓ LH ‘blind’ playing ✓ Sense of barcarolle tempo ✓ Cantabile The barcarolle is a traditional Venetian boat song. As a solo piano piece, it has been adopted by many composers inc

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Kathryn Page has appeared in concert and on television as a soloist and in chamber music. She is a teacher, adjudicator and administrator for Chetham’s International Summer School and Festival for Pianists, as well as the Manchester International Con

Thank heavens for Wigmore Hall, which came out of lockdown early in June to present a daily series of lunchtime recitals live on BBC Radio 3. The last but one of them was given by the reigning queen of Bach on the piano, Angela Hewitt. She had been d

In the first chapter of Charles Rosen’s fantastic book, Piano Notes, he talks about the conventionally accepted way of playing scales by crossing the thumb under the hand. He quotes Dinu Lipatti: ‘You know, it has been at least ten years since I last

A typical day always begins the same way: strong Italian coffee! I’m not really a morning person, so a caffeine hit first thing is essential. My recording studio at home also serves as an office, so once I’ve opened up the studio and had some Weetabi

In Mary Wollaston, a novel by Henry Kitchell Webster published in 1920, a young man called Anthony March wins the heart of the story’s title character through his physique and intellect – and ability to tune a grand piano. It’s hard to imagine a pian

Pianos go out of tune for many reasons. Older ones can suffer from loose tuning pins while all are sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. Too dry and the soundboard can split; too wet and glue can dissolve, wooden parts rot and strings rus

Although my teacher Marjorie Withers encouraged me in every way, and got me to a standard where I was able to play on ‘Music Club’ (a programme on the Childrens’ Department of the BBC Home Service when I was 13 years old), it never occurred to me tha