Feature – The Piano Files

Josef Lhévinne at 150

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / December 13, 2024

When I first started collecting records, Harold C Schonberg’s book The Great Pianists was my training manual. I dutifully read through it (more than once), making a list of names of pianists he recommended and

Marguerite Long at 150

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / November 13, 2024

The French pianist and pedagogue Marguerite Long was born on November 13, 1874. Over the course of her 91 years, she would become among the most prominent pianists and teachers of her generation. Long’s elder sister

Notes for Piano Library: Westminster & American Decca on Eloquence

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / November 11, 2024

I was delighted to be asked to write the booklet text for yet another superb release on the magnificent Eloquence label: a 21-CD set featuring an array of 1950s & 60s recordings by a range

Ronald Turini at 90

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / September 30, 2024

September 30, 2024 marks the 90th birthday of Canadian-born pianist Ronald Turini. The esteemed musician has the distinction of being one of handful of official pupils of the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Born in Montreal on

The Piano Files at 15

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / July 9, 2024

For the 15th anniversary of my Facebook page The Piano Files with Mark Ainley, I thought I would share some of what I’ve shared the last year. As I’ve recounted on previous occasions, when I started

‘Historical Perspectives’ Column in International Piano Magazine

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / 1 Comment / May 25, 2024

I am delighted to have been invited to contribute a regular column to International Piano magazine. I have written several features about great pianists for the magazine, first in 1999 in its initial incarnation as

Dinu Lipatti plays Bach’s D Minor Concerto

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / October 2, 2023

Dinu Lipatti is justly celebrated for his performances of Bach. He had a remarkable capacity to vary the attack used by different fingers even within the same hand so that the voicing of each line

Remembering Etelka Freund

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / No Comments / September 29, 2023

Hungarian pianist Etelka Freund died on May 27, 1977 at the age of 98. She was a pianist with a remarkable lineage whose interrupted career and relative dearth of recordings has led to her largely

Dinu Lipatti plays Liszt’s La Leggierezza

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / 1 Comment / September 25, 2023

Dinu Lipatti signed his contract with the Columbia label of EMI in January 1946, and at his first session at a studio in Zurich that July he recorded three works: Chopin’s Waltz in A-Flat Op.34

Claudio Arrau at 120

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Recordings / 3 Comments / September 13, 2023

With 2023 marking the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau on February 2, 1903, it is a fine occasion to explore the artistry of this legendary pianist. With a performing career

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