Bringing Great Pianists Back to Life

Software entrepreneur John Q. Walker uses computers to bring piano legends back to life — digitally reconstructing their performances from audio tracks and playing them on real instruments, live.

Listen to the presentation on TED:

The Art Of Piano - Great Pianists Videos

This video documentary provides a survey of 18 extraordinary keyboard artists that dominated the concert world in the mid 20th century, from Ignaz Paderewski to Claudio Arrau. Featured performers are Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Sviatoslav Richter, Sergei Rachmaninov, Glenn Gould, Edwin Fischer, Claudio Arrau, Georges Cziffra, Wilhelm Backhaus, Alfred Cortot, Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Francis Plante performing live and on film.

Watch the movie online:

The Art Of Piano Movie: Great Pianists Of The 20th Century

Barenboim Signs Major Recording Agreement

Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics are delighted to announce the signing of a wide-ranging recording agreement with conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. Music director of Berlin’s Staatsoper and Staatskapelle and Maestro Scaligero at Milan's Teatro alla Scala – with projects including a new Ring production at both houses – Barenboim has been called by The Times (London) "one of the few musicians in the world today who could accurately be described as legendary".

Deutsche Grammophon renews a collaboration with the artist which previously yielded landmark recordings of solo music by Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelssohn, and of orchestral works by Bruckner, Debussy and Ravel. For Decca Classics, this brand new collaboration with Maestro Barenboim marks an exciting chapter in its programme of expansion as a world-class core classical label.

Read more: http://ping.fm/98Kcb

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Daniel Barenboim plays Beethoven:

"The tone isn't breathing"

 - complains pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, distraught. This is a typical sentence in Steinway & Sons' chief technician and Master Tuner Stefan Knupfer's normal work day. Each piano has its own personality, each piece demands its own timbre, and every interpretation has a particular temperament.

The film Pianomania takes the viewer along on a humorous journey into the secret world of sounds, and accompanies Stefan Knüpfer at his unusual job with world famous pianists like Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, Till Fellner and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, among others.
Read more: Pianomania - the movie

Play Piano and Improve Your Life!

If you have always dreamed of learning how to play the piano, your interest may be due to hearing the lovely sounds that the instrument can produce when played by a talented musician. This article will outline a number of reasons for you to get busy and start learning how to play, or to get your children started in regular piano lessons.


There's no reason to ignore the reasons just mentioned - if you love to hear piano music being played, your feelings will only deepen when you learn how to play the piano yourself. And when you reach the point that you can play one of your favorite pieces or you have the skill to improvise a piece of your own music, your understanding of the wonders of playing the piano will become even more clear, and you will learn to appreciate the instrument even more.

Then there's the social aspect of knowing how to play the piano. It may be awhile before you're asked to play in front of other people, but the ability to play a few bars of a children's song can add a lot to family music-making nights! And because the piano is easily the best instrument for accompanying others, there will always be someone around to make music with.

Another benefit of learning the piano is that it is so versatile. When you start to learn the music arrangements for the piano, you will also learn a lot about other kinds of music, such as pop, orchestral, folk music, and more. You can find any type of music that you like already converted into piano arrangements.

And since the piano can produce harmonies, it can help you learn a great deal about music theory, which adds to your comprehensive musical understanding. All of this brings us to one of the greatest benefits that can be had from playing the piano: it allows you to exercise both your mind and body. Practicing the hand-eye and hand-eye-feet coordination that is necessary to play the piano is a wonderful way to keep your mind sharp. And when you memorize or sight-read music, your mental acuity gets a real workout.

If you have the proper posture when you're sitting at the piano, you can strengthen your fingers, arms and your back. All of this contributes to your ability to concentrate and discipline your mind. So take piano lessons - but be careful not to get ahead of yourself - and before long your self-esteem will get a huge boost. In time you will have a feeling deep within that you are capable of doing anything!

Find Your Piano Sheet Music Online

Whether a beginner in piano or if you have been playing for years, one of the basic tools for all pianists is that of sheet music. You may have the advantage of having a music store right around the corner but for many pianists, there are no local options. Many individuals drive several miles to a neighboring town or city where there is a music store that sells sheet music only to become disappointed when the store does not carry the one piece they were looking for.

A logical step is to call before you go and inquire whether or not the piece is available but that doesn't necessarily guarantee the store will be able to get you what you want. But with just some basic web researches, you can locate any type of piano music you want online. And there are other advantages to buying your piano music online. For instance, some online music stores will also offer an audio recording of your piano piece as well.

Meeting others who share your interests in piano music is something that most people are attracted to. In the past, you may make some friendships in the local music store but it would be very rare to find someone that had the same likes and dislikes as you in the world of music. In today's world, you can meet people all over the world through online websites that cater to people with an interest in sheet music. These websites allow you to not only buy sheet music and music downloads but also to communicate with others who share your musical tastes.

Furthering your musical education is very important to you. The world of e-books is a common way to increase your knowledge. E-books are easy to download and your access to the information is instantaneous. The days of traveling miles to the next city in hope of acquiring a much desired music book or sheet music are over.

Music teachers are always looking for the best resources to give to their students so that they can find sheet music as well. Having a few reputable piano music websites to give them is worth all the time and trouble doing online research.
Students will advance more quickly when they have the availability of online music at their disposal. The variety of online music you will be able to offer your students is another plus and they will thank you for it!

Do you want to learn to play piano?

Then you are not alone. There are millions of people over the world who would like to be able to sit down at a beautiful, black grand piano, creating beautiful music by moving their hands over the black and white keys. But what do you need to get started?
Read more: Learn to play piano

Piano humor with pianist Victor Borge

"I'm going to play it with both hands so that way I will get through with it a little faster."

Danish humourist and musician Victor Borge gave his first piano recital when he was 8 years old and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying under Olivo Krause. Later on, he was taught by Victor Schioler, Liszt's student Frederic Lamond and Busoni's pupil Egon Petri.

Watch the funny videos:
Piano Humour: A Victor Borge Tribute