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By Jacob Stockinger
Today – Saturday, March 28, 2020 – is World Piano Day.
The international celebration is fitting because today happens to be Day 88 of the year – a timely parallel to the fact that most pianos have 88 keys.
Here is a link to the official website with a list of international events and other links to playlists of piano music on SoundCloud and Spotify: https://www.pianoday.org
Here is a link to the virtual live streaming piano festival — starting at 3 p.m. Central European Time (CET), which is 6 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time or at 9 a.m. CDT) — by the record label Deutsche Grammophon: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/classical-news/deutsche-grammophon-world-piano-day-livestream/
A lot of us took piano lessons.
So today seems like a good occasion to say something about the role of the piano in your life.
Why do you love the piano? The sound? The physical act of playing? The vast repertoire?
Maybe you want to mention a specific piano piece that made a difference in your life, as the Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39, by Chopin did for The Ear. (You can hear Arthur Rubinstein play it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Maybe you have a favorite piano piece or piano composer you like to listen to?
Maybe you wished you had stopped lessons earlier or continued them longer?
Would you like to say thank you to your piano teacher?
Maybe you have memories – good or bad — of a recital you gave?
Who is your favorite pianist from the past – maybe Van Cliburn or Vladimir Horowitz (below), Sviatoslav Richter or Dame Myra Hess?
Which pianist today would you recommend to others? Daniil Trifonov or Haochen Zhang, Simone Dinnerstein (below) or Maria Joao Pires?
Those suggestions hardly exhaust the possibilities. So be creative and leave a Comment with a YouTube link, if possible.
The Ear wants to hear.
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J.S.Bach’s Goldberg variations have been a favorite of mine for many decades. It’s fascinating to hear how Bach could draw so many interpretations, in so many differing moods, out of a single melody. For a long time I listened to the famous Glenn Gould recording complete with its vocalizations, but now I prefer the more thoughtful Jeremy Denk recording, introduced to me by The Ear.
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Comment by Ann Boyer — March 28, 2020 @ 9:47 pm
Rudolph Serkin, playing Beethoven, 1956
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Comment by Mary Gordon — March 28, 2020 @ 7:28 pm
I am currently listening to the live stream of Deutsche Grammophon’s all-day festival of performances by some of the pianists who record on that label – all performing from their homes…wonderful. Right now
Kit Armstrong is playing the first Prelude and Fugue from Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier Book 1. I’m so happy to know about this, thanks to The Ear. Obviously I need to tear myself away from this event to do some piano playing myself! This is inspiring and great to bring so many people together around our beloved Pianos!
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Comment by Bill Lutes — March 28, 2020 @ 11:30 am
Dear Ear,
Indulge me in a brief reminiscence of my mother. She was a pianist for most of her life. I don’t know when she started (age 5, 6, 7?) but she played until a few days before she died, age 94. She said one of the worst years of her life was when she had to stay home, quarantined for months because she had TB. One of the pieces she often practiced was Chopin’s Revolutionary, here in a performance by Horowitz:
I think she’d very much like the pianist Shai Wosner. There’s an elegant classicism as well as novelty and playfulness to his musicmaking (at least to my ears), an example of which can be found here:
Schubert’s Final Sonatas.
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Comment by Ronnie — March 28, 2020 @ 10:21 am
Hi Ronnie
No need for indulgence.
This is exactly the kind of reply I hoped the post would bring.
It’s a wonderful memory of your mother along with two great pieces of music played by great pianists!
Thank you.
Any others want to follow suit?
The Ear
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Comment by welltemperedear — March 28, 2020 @ 10:30 am