2021 – The Piano Files

Walking Up the Mountain Track – An Enlightening Publication

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Review / No Comments / December 2, 2021

The greatest performers in musical history were focused on their craft from the context of a wider landscape – they were more than ‘performers’, weaving their musical expression on a much wider canvas than is

Géza Anda at 100

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / 1 Comment / November 18, 2021

Hungarian-born pianist Géza Anda was born 100 years ago, on November 19, 1921. In his short life he achieved international recognition, particularly for his 1960s cycle of Mozart Concertos on the Deutsche Grammophon label; his

György Cziffra at 100

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / November 6, 2021

The 100th anniversary of the birth on November 5, 1921 of György Cziffra provides an opportunity to consider the true nature of one of the most misunderstood of pianists. His capacity to play the most

Remembering Nelson Freire

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / 1 Comment / November 2, 2021

The great Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire passed away on November 1 at the age of 77. An internationally acclaimed artist with a glowing international career spanning well over half a century, Freire was certainly one

Jascha Spivakovsky at 125

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / 1 Comment / August 18, 2021

Today, August 18 2021, is the 125th anniversary of Jascha Spivakovsky’s birth. Unfortunately current global circumstances scuttled the varied plans that I had been brainstorming with the pianist’s son and grandson over the last year

Celebrating Ernest Hutcheson

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / July 20, 2021

The Australian-born pianist Ernest Hutcheson was born 150 years ago, on July 20, 1871. Hutcheson had studied under Carl Reinecke (who studied with Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt), Bernhard Stavenhagen (a pupil of Liszt) and Bruno Zwintscher

Hilda Bor

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / 3 Comments / July 16, 2021

A wartime concert in the series organized by Bor Yet another pianist I’d never heard of showed up in a YouTube upload recently and I was stunned by the playing. The artist was one Hilda Bor, a

American Master Pianist Sidney Foster

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / May 23, 2021

With the advent of the CD in the 1980s, historical recordings began being made available at a faster rate than ever before, and as a result we are today able to hear more great artists

Leo Sirota

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / May 4, 2021

Busoni disciples Leo Sirota and Egon Petri It is remarkable that a pianist whom Busoni said was among his greatest disciples could be forgotten to the extent that many fans of piano playing today have never

Dohnányi – The Pianist

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / April 25, 2021

In 2010, I was invited to give a presentation by Alan Walker at the Great Romantics Festival that he was organizing in Hamilton, Ontario, an invitation for which I am eternally grateful. It was my

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