As medici.tv’s Chief Content Officer I spend a lot of time thinking about classical music—and a lot of time on the internet. Here’s my selection of the top five news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
Piano legend Alfred Brendel passed away (The Guardian)
A giant of the classical world left us this week: pianist Alfred Brendel passed away at the age of 94. Brendel leaves behind a towering legacy that includes pioneering recordings of the complete works of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, and Liszt, as well as a collection of writings ranging from essays and lectures to poems. He was a one-of-a-kind figure who has influenced generations of musicians. As The Guardian wrote, he was “an artist who relished eccentricity yet focused on the inner essence, who countered a cerebral image with a delight in the whimsical, and above all who never ceased in his search for musical truth.”
Two suggestions if you’d like to celebrate his legacy: a pitch-perfect late-career performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, alongside Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, or a fascinating public lecture entitled “Does classical music have to be entirely serious?”
A thoughtful close-up on a poignant piano piece (The New York Times)
I was thrilled to see this mini feature on Brahm’s Romance in F, a pocked-sized piano work that is one of my absolute personal favorites, and one of the pieces that I continuously come back to as an amateur pianist. Journalist Zachary Woolfe’s description is spot-on: “There is a lot of music that cries. I associate Brahms’s music, though, with holding back tears, with not confessing to your ex that you’re still in love, with gazing back without lingering, with a stiff upper lip that — like that trill — is ever so slightly quivering.”
“What’s in my case?” series (The Strad)
Fans of “What’s in my bag?” content will love this new series from The Strad, which asks string players to share what they keep in their instrument cases, from the specific gear needed to perform at the highest level to the personal mementos that keep them going. Two volumes have been published so far with violinists and violists.
Maria João Pires steps away from performing for health reasons (Facebook)
Celebrated Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires revealed this week that she will be taking a break from performing for the foreseeable future due to a cerebrovascular health issue. Pires wrote on her social media, “I will devote this period to rediscovering the balance between body and spirit, and to finding joy in retreating, reading, meditating, and learning from the lessons life wishes to teach me.”
New technology allows us to see inside a musician’s brain in real time (Classic FM)
Classic FM reported on a pioneering new initiative that allows researchers to visualize a pianist’s brain activity in real time. The technology will make its debut in the concert hall at this summer’s Verbier Festival, where pianist Nicolas Namoradze will give a “Neurorecital”: his brain activity will be tracked and projected for audience members to see as he performs works by Bach, Debussy, and Scriabin. Namoradze describes the innovative project as “a thought-provoking and immersive journey into the very heart of musical performance.”
