If Morteza Mahjoubi’s pianism is alive today, it is not out of devotion or praise for his person, but rather on account of something internal to his virtuosity: a sublime rubato that penetrates beneath the level of surface and releases melodies that cultivate and nourish the soul. Mahjoubi’s tone is so striking, its kinship to […]
Tag: Keyboards
Posted inPlaylist
A Maurizio Pollini Playlist
The 2014 EuroArts documentary portrait of Maurizio Pollini, “De main de maître,” opens with a literal portrait: that of the pianist’s great-uncle. The interviewer mistakes the painting for Pollini himself. Pollini recounts the life of his forbear: “He ran away from home when he was 16, in 1800, joined Garibaldi’s army, and took part in […]
Posted inInterview
Question Everything
I asked flutist Emmanuel Pahud what it was like working with harpsichordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock; Pahud answered that it was a gift from life. I asked soprano Carolyn Sampson; she said Pinnock is “the complete musician, combining talent, hard work, and care for the people around him.” A pioneer of the historically informed performance […]
Posted inReport
The Price is Wrong
Of all the marginalized composers who’ve yet to receive the acclaim they deserve—and there are many—Florence Price is perhaps the one closest to getting her flowers. Dedicated work on Price has been happening since the 1970s without fanfare, with scholars like Barbara Garvey Jackson, Rae Linda Brown, and Helen Walker-Hill championing Price’s music. The 2009 […]
Posted inStuff I’ve Been Hearing
Recordings for the End of Time
Are we still meant to be listening to music? This is something I’ve been struggling with over the last two-and-a-half months, even when I am, by virtue of my profession, actually meant to be listening to music. Either the political ramifications of a work start to become too foregrounded (try listening to Maria Callas in […]
Posted inStuff I’ve Been Hearing
In These Times
“Beethoven” It’s always fun when an album nearly slips past your radar until it becomes the catalyst for controversy. This isn’t a slight to Alice Sara Ott, whose early recordings of Chopin’s complete waltzes and Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata are among my favorite interpretations. More likely, her Beethoven compendium—including a live performance of the First Piano […]
Posted inInterview
The Possibility for Conflict
Discussing repertoire in VAN last week, pianist András Schiff said, “No one can do everything; we have our limits.” Tell that to Jacob Greenberg. A longtime member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Greenberg performs as a soloist, accompanist, and with orchestras on piano, harpsichord, harmonium, organ, and clavichord. He has recorded repertoire ranging from Bach […]
Posted inInterview
Indirect Nostalgia
Listening to classical music can occasionally give you the kind of blow on the head that the hero of Mark Twain’s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court receives: all of a sudden you’re in a different time and place. Thanks to our very own HIPsters, it’s possible to hear music just—or almost—as it […]
Posted inStuff I’ve Been Hearing
Where Past and Future Are Gathered
“The Beginning and the End” Earlier this summer, I was in Athens with Joyce DiDonato and the orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro as part of their EDEN tour—an ambitious multi-year program that will see the musicians perform on six continents and offer a host of workshops for local children’s choirs. While DiDonato and I shared a […]
Posted inInterview
Next to a Miracle
On Alexander Melnikov’s latest album, titled “Fantasie,” the Russian pianist performs music by seven composers including two Bachs, Mendelssohn, Busoni, and Schnittke. Despite the Romantic reveries implied by the title—in the feet of a lesser pianist, this would be a washed, pedal-heavy album—Melnikov’s approach to the fantasies is decisive and articulate, full of precision and […]