Brings together interviews with virtuosi classical pianists


Over the last thirty years, music critic Michael Church has interviewed many of the world's leading classical pianists. Each interview presents a snapshot in time, reflecting the personality and modus operandi of the pianist, and providing readers with a revealing glimpse of their hopes and dreams. Some show surprising extra-curricular hobbies, others are politically very outspoken. With an interpretive introduction, the book is a barometer for change in the pianistic game over three decades. Each interview has an additional post scriptum indicating the pianist's subsequent career - some going on to achieve greatness, some going tragically off the rails, some departing this life.

In the early Nineties, Russian and Central European players were a dominant force. Now some of the most prominent players are from China, Japan and South Korea. The fortepiano is making a tentative comeback, while agents and record companies play an increasingly important role in shaping programmes and careers. Pianists now promote themselves, via video performances and by maintaining a regular social media presence; video is allowing a greater number of players to enter competitions from far afield.


Pianists interviewed: Behzod Abduraimov, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Katya Apekisheva, Kit Armstrong, Sulamita Aronovsky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Mariam Batsashvili, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Alim Beisembayev, Nick Van Bloss, Ekaterina Bonyushkina, Alfred Brendel, Yefim Bronfman, Can Çakmur, Shura Cherkassky, Seong-Jin Cho, Federico Colli, Dame Imogen Cooper, Bernard d'Ascoli, Barry Douglas, Martín García García, Kirill Gerstein, Richard Goode, Hélène Grimaud, Benjamin Grosvenor, David Helfgott, Angela Hewitt, Sir Stephen Hough, Maria João Pires, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Alexandre Kantorow, Thomas Kelly, Su Yeon Kim, Evgeny Kissin, Pavel Kolesnikov, Stephen Kovacevich, Lang Lang, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Igor Levit, Paul Lewis, Nicolas Namoradze, Noriko Ogawa, Vikingur Ólafsson, Steven Osborne, Murray Perahia, Mikhail Pletnev, Ivo Pogorelich, Maurizio Pollini, Menahem Pressler, Beatrice Rana, Charles Rosen, András Schiff, Grigory Sokolov, Daniil Trifonov, Dame Mitsuko Uchida, Lars Vogt, Arcadi Volodos, Yuja Wang, Llŷr Williams, Krystian Zimerman.