The Well-Tempered Ear
Today is World Piano Day — so play, listen, watch, celebrate
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By Jacob Stockinger
World Piano Day — established in 2015 — falls on the 88th day of the year because the standard piano keyboard has 88 keys.
Because 2024 is a Leap Year, World Piano Day is being celebrated a day later than usual — on today, March 28.
For more background and past playlists, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Day
There are lots of free celebrations online, to say nothing of just sitting down at a piano and playing or listening to someone else play or going to your library of CDs and LPs or using your streaming service.
Here is a list of live international events from March 12-April 7, complete with information links, to concerts and other events marking Piano Day around the world.
Some presenters have put together their own special celebrations. DG is offering a 30-day free trial to its Stage+ streaming site to mark the occasion.
Deutsche Grammophon, the world’s oldest classical record company, has a terrific stable of prize-winning, critically acclaimed pianists, includes Maurizio Pollini who died last Saturday, as well as Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Vikingur Olaffson, Maria Joao Pires, Seong-Jin Cho, Grigory Sokolov, Alice Sara Ott, Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud and Bruce Liu.
Check it out. Here is a link to DG’s celebration:
You can also find many things to watch and hear — concerts, documentaries — for this year and from past year of YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=World+Piano+Day
And at the bottom, from World Piano Day 2023, is a YouTube video with 88 minutes of piano music from masters old and current — including Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein — to celebrate World Piano Day:
Will you celebrate World Piano Day?
Do you play the piano or did you take piano lessons?
Do you have a favorite pianist?
Do you have a favorite composer and favorite piece for the piano?
The Ear wants to hear.
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YOU MUST HEAR: Alkan’s ‘Barcarolle’
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By Jacob Stockinger
One of the standout recordings for The Ear this past year was “Waves.”
It is a recital of Baroque, Romantic and modern French piano music by Bruce Liu (below), who won the 18th Chopin Competition in 2021 and has since skyrocketed to fame.
Here is Liu’s story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Liu
Liu’s first recording for Deutsche Grammophon was a memorable and highly acclaimed all-Chopin recital made up of excerpts from his competition appearances. Recently, “Waves” (below), his second solo recording, was released.
You can enjoy “Waves” for the crisply articulated Rameau theme-and-variations suite. Or for the nuanced Ravel in “Miroirs” (Mirrors).
But Liu — who was born in Paris to Chinese parents, who came of age in Montreal, Canada, and who speaks fluent Mandarin, French and English — manages to unearth a piece that at least this pianophile never heard before and now wants to play.
It is the Barcarolle by the eccentric and misanthropic French-Jewish composer Charles-Valentin Alkan (1833-88, below).
I’m not usually a fan of Alkan.
He possessed a titanic keyboard technique and his music often sounds too much like simply a showcase for it, especially his Solo Concerto for Piano. Too often he sounds just too much over the top, too forced and virtuosic, not naturally lyrical or accessible.
Perhaps that stems from having so little social contact in his personal and artistic life.
Here is a walk-through narrative of his life: https://www.pianotv.net/2016/10/brief-history-charles-alkan/
And here is his Wikipedia biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan
But then I heard Liu playing Alkan’s Barcarolle — one of a set of pieces —and was joyfully surprised. It sounds mysterious and wistful, more like a nocturne than a rocking-boat barcarolle to me. And it even sounds playable by amateurs like The Ear.
So I intend to check out more Alkan, especially the short pieces like preludes.
Listen to the 4-minute Barcarolle in the YouTube video at the bottom.
What do you think?
Do you like it? Are you surprised by it?
Would you want to play it?
What do you think of Alkan?
Can you suggest other listenable and even playable pieces by Alkan?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Why are Asians dominating Western classical music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The month of May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage month in the U.S.
And here is a perfect story to provide questions and raise issues that pertain to that theme as it figures in classical music.
We have not seen many of them booked for concerts locally, but perhaps you have noticed how so many Asian musicians, particularly pianists, have been winning major competitions.
Those competitions include the Van Cliburn (Korean Yunchan Lim, below top), the Chopin (Chinese-Canadian Bruce Liu, below bottom), the Tchaikovsky, the Arthur Rubinstein, the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the Leeds Competition, the Geneva Competition and many others that are less famous.
Perhaps you have also noticed how we hear more Asian opera singers at the Met and more Asian string players in orchestras around the world.
More Asians also seem to be studying and performing in lower and higher educational institutions and organizations.
And perhaps you, like The Ear, have wondered what is behind that trend?
Here is a terrific first-person story — with research, details, photos and performance videos – written by a Canadian musician of Japanese descent that appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
But The Ear thinks it could easily apply to the United States, Australia and other non-Asian places and cultures.
Here is a link:
Do you think this story applies to Asians and Asian-Americans in the U.S.?
If you yourself are an Asian or Asian-American musician or music student, do the observations and analysis in the story ring true to you own experience?
Do you have other thoughts to add about the cultural reasons for the surge of Western classical music in Asia and among Asians elsewhere?
Are there important lessons here for non-Asian people and places?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Today is World Piano Day. Deutsche Grammophon has a free online celebration
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today — Wednesday March 29, 2023 — is World Piano Day.
That is because today is the 88th day of the year — and most pianos these days have 88 keys, with the exception of the Austrian high-end maker Bösendorfer, which also makes models with 91 and 97 keys.
Deutsche Grammophon is the world’s oldest recording label and has signed many great pianists in the past and continues to do so today, including two of the Ear’s young favorites: South Korean pianist and 2015 Chopin Competition gold medalist Seong-Jin Cho (below top) and Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olaffsson (below bottom).
Here’s the press release:
“Deutsche Grammophon is set to mark World Piano Day on 29 March 2023 with its fourth international festival of pianism.
“Available to enjoy without charge on DG’s streaming service STAGE+ and the label’s YouTube channel, the festival will turn the spotlight on artists including Joep Beving, Seong-Jin Cho, Brian Eno and Roger Eno, Jan Lisiecki, Hélène Grimaud, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Bruce Liu, Fabian Müller, Víkingur Ólafsson, Max Richter, Grigory Sokolov and Daniil Trifonov.
“Together they will offer a feast of music ranging from the keyboard works of J.S. Bach and Handel to contemporary compositions.
“Music-lovers will be able to tune in free of charge for 30 days by using promo code WORLDPIANODAY. Full details can be found at https://worldpianoday.com.”
Piano students and fans will love the many close-ups and hand shots.
You can also sample the 1 hour, 21 minute-digital celebration on YouTube via this link (be sure to click of HEAR MORE to see the pianist, the piece and the timing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H5ZRqfDZ7Y.
You can hear one of The Ear’s favorite young pianists, pieces and recordings — a new release — at the bottom.
Who is your favorite established pianist?
Who is your favorite young pianist?
What are your favorite piano pieces?
Do you have a favorite piano recording, old or new, to recommend?
The Ear wants to hear.
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