International Piano

International Piano offers a rich mix of inspiration and guidance to pianists and piano fans around the world, from dedicated amateurs and students to professional pianists, teachers and aficionados. Celebrating the piano in all its forms, including the fortepiano and digital keyboards, each edition of our magazine is packed with interviews, features, news and reviews showcasing the top artists of today and yesteryear.

Straight from the heart

International Piano

LETTERS

NEWS IN BRIEF

London piano retailer unveils showroom expansion

Cliburn Junior competition breaks record

Fingerhut Ukraine video raises £13,000

Flower of youth • Starting piano at age three and home-schooled until he was 17, British pianist Thomas Kelly had an unconventional journey to the concert platform. He meets Michael Church

Cause for optimism? • Classical music is routinely sidelined by media outlets, but is there hope that King Charles can bring it back into play, wonders Jeremy Nicholas

Arms of steel , heart of gold • Josef Hofmann’s famous tribute to Rachmaninov holds the key to one of the greatest of all pianists. Robert Matthew-Walker explores the discography of this giant among men

The Midas touch • The recordings Rachmaninov made in America pay testimony to a formidable talent. But where did these extraordinary gifts spring from? Simon Hodges fills in the background to a remarkable studenthood

From the couch • Elger Niels examines the programme of hypnosis Rachmaninov underwent at the turn of the last century and wonders whether the composer’s real motive for seeking treatment has been suppressed

Succession of brilliances • Dmitry Rachmanov surveys recordings of Rachmaninov’s evergreen Paganini Rhapsody – one of the most recorded works for piano and orchestra

Soul-stirring scores • The works of Rachmaninov are deeply embedded in our concert repertoire but some works feature more prominently than others. Moscow-born Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg argues for the underdogs

Forgotten pioneer • At the age of 20, Kiyoko Tanaka became the first Asian to win a prize in a European piano competition, but her playing career was brought to an abrupt halt 16 years later when she fell ill with lupus. Vincent Lenti assesses her legacy

RETURNING TO THE PIANO • A technical refresher course for recommencing piano enthusiasts, created for International Piano

Piece in D minor

Suite écossaise

Key similarities • Coupling C minor sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert on disc, Lima-born pianist and musicologist Luisa Guembes-Buchanan acknowledges their differences but focuses on the complex underlying codes that link them.

Critics’ choice

BOOKS

SHEET MUSIC

In concert

NEXT ISSUE APRIL 2023

Musical magicians • Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova picks her favourite classical recordings