Uncategorized – The Piano Files

Dinu Lipatti at Abbey Road, September 24, 1947

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / No Comments / September 24, 2022

September 24 this year was the 75th anniversary of one of Dinu Lipatti’s most successful recording sessions, so I prepared this video that features them in sequence, along with some notes about the recordings and

Harold Bauer: On Film and On The Radio

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / No Comments / April 28, 2022

Harold Bauer was born 149 years ago and I am celebrating him with two wonderful clips: brief film footage of the wonderful British pianist playing the Chickering Double Keyboard Piano in 1928 and a radio

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

Alfred Cortot plays Stravinsky

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / No Comments / April 19, 2021

There was quite a bit of excitement when a Youtube upload was made of a 1927 test pressing of Alfred Cortot playing the Danse Russe from Stravinsky’s Petrouchka Suite. Those who didn’t read the details

Jan Smeterlin plays Chopin

by Mark Ainley / Feature / Preview / Recordings / Uncategorized / 2 Comments / June 19, 2020

I am delighted to have written the liner notes for a superb new release of Jan Smeterlin’s incredible 1954 recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes, which also features some other recordings in the two-disc set. Here is

Expanding The Piano Files

by admin / Uncategorized / No Comments / February 20, 2018

I have recently started a Patreon page to help support my activities on this website, my YouTube channel, and my Facebook Piano Files page. [Detailed explanation follows – there’s a bullet point summary at the

“The Greatest Pianist You’ve Never Heard Of”

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / 3 Comments / October 16, 2015

One of the marvels of our technological age is the possibility of new discoveries in musical arenas. Old records are being reissued and made more available than at any other time in history and archival

Resources for Historical Piano Recordings

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / No Comments / May 27, 2015

If you are interested in purchasing recordings of the artists featured in my posts, the following sources may be useful – most of which are the labels themselves. I always suggest, if possible, that you

The Valse Mélancolique

by Mark Ainley / Uncategorized / 3 Comments / December 31, 2012

For fans of great music, the possibility of a new discovery is always tantalizing. However, there are times when a work is misattributed – the famous ‘Albinoni Adagio’, for example, was written centuries after the

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