Robert Schumann’s “Marchenbilder” is a group of four “Fairytale Pictures” for viola and piano forms a tonally coherent suite of character pieces in the style of Schumann’s earlier piano pieces. There is no indication in …

One of the 20th century’s greatest violinists, Leonid Kogan was less widely known than his somewhat older contemporary David Oistrakh, but no less a first-tier artist. More concentrated in tonal focus and with a quicker …

One of Mozart’s most celebrated piano pieces, the Fantasia in D minor, K. 397, was composed in 1782 or between 1786 and 1787 and it was left unfinished. (For this reason, the catalog lists it …

Frederick Chopin wrote four ballades, a term he was the first to apply to a music composition, having been normally associated with poetry and song. The first of these Ballades is a piece full of …

I have been a fan of pianist and conductor Andras Schiff for many years. He is a fine musician and I enjoy his teaching methods. Here are hus subtle and so important suggestions for improvements …