In Beethoven’s hands the Classical piano sonata reaches its apotheosis. A fine virtuoso pianist himself, he had a lasting influence on the genre, and the design of the piano, and his piano sonatas reveal the demands he placed on pianist

On April 24 2019, Xavier Bouvier visited Shanghai and made headlines. A professor of composition at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, he donated a sketch to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He’d purchased the sketch at an auction in

The title of this post is a quote from the British actor Michael Caine‘s memoirs which he read on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. The phrase was first mentioned when he was describing setbacks in his early career

Something that music teachers and composers could learn from people who mix and master music for a living is that music is the rule. Knowing the rules of music is as equally important as knowing the feel of music. Fine

The Evolution of the Classical Piano Sonata Say “Piano Sonata” and most people will think of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata (Op. 27/2), a work which bears what is generally considered to be the standard structure of a sonata – a work

While clearing out my piano room ahead of a house move last year, I came upon a box of old concert programmes, some dating back twenty-odd years. Some were dog-eared and scuffed, or covered in scribbled notes from when I

Once a musician feels ready he or she might attempt to land a position in one of the major orchestras—Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Liepzig Gewandhaus, Leningrad Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic;

A lot of odd things have been said about classical music. I was at a round table of concert reviewers a while back and someone made the comment about a concert they had reviewed. The person said the playing was