My love for the composer,
my passion for his music,
my dedication to his piano sonatas
The musical titan, his force of expression, his masculine character, his spirit, his work, his piano sonatas: all these attributes led me as an artist to be devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven´s work.
I didn´t really know why I was going to engage myself with it, as I began to be intensively involved in the study of the 32 piano sonatas.
But I felt with the power of spirit that I have to go on this journey. Those compositions were “sleeping” in myself for a long time, just waiting to awaken, so I did it and let them come out.
Since I feared his most difficult work, the Hammerklavier Sonata, I had first the intention to study it when I would have finished the work with all the other sonatas.
But this turned out as a false conclusion.
An inner voice was [...]

A woman plays Beethoven
„ Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” (L.v.Beethoven)
Beethoven used these words to make a clear statement to the people of his time and to posterity. He considered music as the highest form of expression.
As a composer he was absolutely conscious about the strong influence of his art to other people. Beethoven had particular preference for the instrumental form of the string quartet, he also declared that his way of imagining the sound was always symphonic.
Nevertheless he found the perfect expression of all his emotional feelings through the piano sonata form.
A similar huge work cannot be found in the whole piano literature like the 32 piano sonatas compendium, which is still a difficult enterprise for a pianist, even today, about 200 years later. Mastering them requires to grow and to mature as a musician for a deeper understanding of Beethoven´s style and sound.
These [...]

Did you ever ask yourself whether your piano practicing is in fact efficient? Or have you ever had the feeling that your exercises on the keyboard are just a boring routine you daily repeat while not knowing why you do it?
Remember first: Practicing means exploring every unknown detail of the score you are studying; it is like disclosing the secret of music and discovering the unlimited power of the composers´masterworks.
A good approach to your daily practice should include a Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S.Bach. This repertoire represents the absolute fundamental work for a pianist.
Studying meticulously Preludes and mostly Fugues by Bach requires a high concentration, especially when pointing out the plurality of voices (polyphony) relating together through counterpoint. This is the basis of efficient practicing and, in the long term, the perfect construction of high professional piano playing.
After your first approach with Bach, choose a piece [...]

As long as someone can play piano, he or she is not necessarily a pianist. The way to become a professional pianist is not a simple scheme or pattern which can be used and experienced equally by every person.
I am not speaking about simple piano playing, what I often prefer to define as a pushing down of keys, depressing pedals like the accelerator of your car with a typewriter technique. Not at all.
It is very important not to strive after a quite impersonal and unattractive style of playing.
How do you consider your being a pianist?
Did you set your own mission statement about your personal musical development? If not, believe me, you should.
Unless you want to play rather for yourself in your free time and not for public.
But remember: being a pianist is only the step before you become an artist…

This column is dedicated to extraordinary personalities of the piano world. Great pianists of the past, sometimes remembered as “Immortals” or even “Legends” will be featured on this place.
It will be different from other portraits or features about those artists, it will be more like a portrait of pianists who deeply influenced and inspired other musicians and non-musicians.
Thepianist.com starts with Glenn Gould, the eccentric Canadian pianist who certainly set a milestone in the history of the piano and pianists.
A large source of information has been written, spoken, broadcasted about Glenn Gould.
It will not be necessary to put more information about him, as it is already available. And everybody knows that there are controversial opinions about his interpretations.
Let us simply remember Glenn as someone who wanted to change the old patterns of classical music, to bring more life in the masterworks of great composers, to suggest new and original approaches to [...]

“I practice very industriously…” – Quote Ferruccio Busoni, Letters to his wife 1895-1907, London, Edward Arnold & Co. http://www.rodoni.ch/busoni/bibliotechina/letteregerdaEN/gerdaEN1.html

Do these words of Ferruccio Busoni sound familiar to you? They certainly do, especially if you are a pianist with your heart and soul like Busoni was. He was the pianists´pianist, the musicians´musician. To be as good as he was, or at least if you want to play with his virtuosity and to have a profound knowledge about piano playing, you have to do only a simple thing: practice!
Oh my God, this terribly sounding word…our teachers threatened us with it, I am sure that the more your piano teacher repeated this word during the lessons, the less you wanted to do it.
I practiced up to seven hours a day during the time of my former music education, not only because my teachers said that, but also because I felt that spending many [...]

Do you believe in coincidence? Or do you prefer to believe in a perfect master plan of the universe? Well, if you are reading this blog, it is probably not a coincidence. You just found this blog because you are making music. Maybe making music is the main component of your personal expression, maybe you are a music student, or music is your profession, either as a career or as a music teacher. Anyway, making music is the part of my life which drives me since my childhood.
Music is my life, this is the reason why I simply decided to be a pianist. But I don´t want to remain “just” a pianist.
Professional development as a pianist is as much essential as personal development in life. Remaining “just” a pianist would mean stopping at a certain stepping stone without considering a wider perspective of experience.
You should not find satisfaction as a [...]