Pianist

For the passionate players, or early beginners, Pianist magazine will teach you the art of piano playing through professional advice, sheet music and lessons for all levels. Your piano playing journey starts here with the magazine that doubles as an entertaining read and the ultimate interactive piano teacher. Read, learn and play the piano with Pianist magazine every issue. Improve your piano playing and perfect your tone with 40 pages of specially selected sheet music. Whether it’s reading fascinating industry articles or putting your fingers to work with beautiful sheet music, you’ll be playing like an expert in no time with a digital subscription to Pianist magazine!

Music’s healing power

Pianist

WHAT MAKES A WINNING COMPOSITION? • A composer herself, Melanie Spanswick offers up valuable advice for those thinking of entering Pianist’s 2027 Composing Competition

GOOD FOR THE SOUL • With a ‘healing’ theme weaving its way through this issue, we asked ten pianists to choose a piece of piano music that lifts their spirits – and there are some surprising answers

Straight to the heart • Bertrand Chamayou talks to Peter Quantrill about Mendelssohn and Ravel, and how the most private music can touch us most deeply

PLAYING LOUDLY QUALITY IS KEY WHEN IT COMES TO A BIG SOUND • Generating power has much more to do with technique and instrumental control than physical strength, says Mark Tanner

RULES, RULES, RULES! CHALLENGING SOME OLD-SCHOOL TRADITIONS • In this article, Graham Fitch looks at some of the old rules of piano playing to discover which still hold true and which can be discarded

FRANK BRIDGE ROSEMARY, NO 2 FROM THREE SKETCHES H.68 • Ann Martin-Davis shows you how to revel in the melodies, the lush harmonies and the dramatic middle-section of this romantic masterpiece

SERGEI RACHMANINOV ROMANCE, NO 1 FROM FOUR PIECES (1887-88) • For Boris Giltburg, ‘less is more’ when performing this early work by Rachmaninov – so hold back on the rubato and let the music speak for itself

JOSEPH HAYDN MINUET IN G FROM 12 MINUETS HOB.IX:8 • Melanie Spanswick knows the importance of maintaining rhythmic precision and neat articulation in this elegant courtly dance

Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809) • Minuet in G from 12 Minuets Hob.IX:8

Louis STREABBOG (1835-1886) • Bees in Clover, No 2 from 12 Easy and Melodious Studies Op 64

Melanie SPANSWICK • Cantabile in F major

Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856) • Wiegenliedchen Op 124 No 6

Alexander GRIBOYEDOV (1795-1829) • Waltz No 2 in E minor

Dora PEJAČEVIĆ (1885-1923) • Papillon Op 6

Léo DELIBES (1836-1891) • Scène de bouquet, No 3 from Le roi s’amuse

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) • Baba Yaga from Children’s Album Op 39 No 20

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) • Andante from Sonata No 10 in C K330

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) • Song without Words Op 102 No 1

Frank BRIDGE (1879-1941) • Rosemary, No 2 from Three Sketches

Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918) • Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, No 1 from Children’s Corner

Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) • Romance, No 1 from Four Pieces (1887-88)

PIANO TEACHER HELP DESK Comfort and ease at the piano • Comfort and ease are not luxuries reserved for advanced players – they are foundations upon which artistry is built, says Kathryn Page

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC • We all know that playing or listening to favourite pieces of music can soothe a troubled heart. But is there yet more to the healing power of the piano? Can it mend bones? Deaden pain? Palliate social problems, even? Several top pianists and musicians think it can, and share their stories with Warwick Thompson

FLEX TIME • Can a yoga-inspired piano method...