Gleaming Poise
I learned a lot about the great pianists of the past by reading Harold C Schonberg’s classic book The Great Pianists. While he went into great detail about many pianists, he didn’t talk lots about...
View ArticleDistinguished Elegance
The French pianist Alfred Cortot soon became one of my favourite pianists – once I got used to the fact that he didn’t always hit all the notes. In our era of sterile perfection in recording – and with...
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Twilight of a God
Alfred Cortot’s name is sometimes uttered with disdain for his technical ability at the keyboard. It is indeed a fact that some of Cortot’s performances have wrong notes, something that our sanitized...
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Refined Impulsiveness
It is always interesting how some pianists’ reputations continue to grow after their death while others’ do not. The French pianist Alfred Cortot, for example, is still known by present-day piano...
View ArticleA Chopin Celebration
Chopin was born on this day in 1810 – or at least this day is what is generally referred to as his birthday: although February 22nd was apparently entered in the baptismal register, March 1st is when...
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