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Erica is the editor of UK-based Pianist Magazine, an internationally renowned magazine for people who love to play the piano. It features interviews with top concert pianists, full-length features on current issues, how-to piano lessons, CD and sheet music reviews, Questions and Answers, teaching tips and concert highlights.

I thought, who better to chat with than the editor of one of the world’s top piano magazines for interesting opinions and conversations on all things piano related!

Erica originally had a scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music, and we also chat about her musical journey- it’s Erica’s wonderful piano playing that we hear at the beginning and end of this podcast episode.

Erica Worth at the piano

Show Notes

  • A brief introduction about Pianist Magazine [0.30]
  • About Erica’s impressive piano skills [1:55], including:
    Erica’s teacher at Manhattan School of Music, Constance Keene who made the best (IMO) recording of the Rachmaninov Preludes
    Erica’s Liberace scholarship, and a chat about Liberace’s place in the world of classical music

    Erica with Liberace

    Erica (2nd from left) with Liberace (centre)

  • Mainstream and crossover classical pianists- quite rare compared to other instruments such as the violin [15:45]
  • The demographic of Pianist Magazine [21:05]
  • Modern mainstream resistance to classical music, and the role of music education in schools [23:50]
  • Listening to recordings- is it useful when developing as a pianist? [29:40]
  • Amateur pianists and what they find useful [31:50]
  • Interviewing piano superstars! [35:30]
  • What does it take to make a solid career as a concert pianist? Does one have to start incredibly young with very vigorous training? About the modern style of piano playing [45:10]
  • Chatting about the Leeds International Piano Competition 2018, and about the value of competitions in music [51:20]

Links:

Pianist Magazine: www.pianistmagazine.com

A British Pathé clip of Constance Keene: https://youtu.be/61NhVzHPsS4?t=177

Constance Keene playing Rachmaninov Prelude no. 4 op. 32 in E minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4pAB8Ng2nk&t=404s – I personally tried learning this one many moons ago, and gave up- this version is just incredible!

A pivotal scene in the film ‘Whiplash’: https://youtu.be/xDAsABdkWSc

Behind the Candelabra: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291580/

A really fantastic clip of Dudley Moore jazzing up Rimsky-Korsakov’s  Scheherazade (I could have chosen from so many clips to show what an amazing pianist he was!): https://youtu.be/uUcBbJVhQnI

The legendary Victor Borge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKeqaDSjy98

The magnificence that is the video for Richard Clayderman’s Ballade Pour Adeline: 😂 https://youtu.be/eCCan3TFPoc

André Rieu- Hallelujah, featuring lots of beautiful frocks. 😂 But you can’t say the audience aren’t enjoying themselves!: https://youtu.be/NZb-SVm7eLE

Tokio Myers on the final of Britain’s Got Talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgoe2kYFyiQ

Tokio Myers & Erica Worth

Tokio Myers and Erica Worth

Chloe Flower playing at the Grammy Awards 2019 for Cardi B: https://youtu.be/WGOGjTuezNY

One of Vanessa Mae’s old crossover videos: https://youtu.be/euOu89d3npA

Exquisite playing by Emil Gilels: https://youtu.be/Yu06WnXlPCY

Menahem Pressler’s gorgeous unsentimental recording of Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante Défunte that Ravel would have loved: https://youtu.be/uROzEvSdIdU

Information about virtuoso Arcadi Volodos: www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/volodos-arcadi -‘For someone who did not take piano seriously until he was 16, Volodos plays with the wizardry of one who was a child prodigy. […] Volodos said that, “It is not too late at 16 [to learn piano]. In the end it depends on how you deal with the music. I have never practiced scales and I always got bad marks for technique.”’

About Evgeny Kissin and his teacher: http://andrewsolomon.com/articles/questions-of-genius/

The Leeds International Piano Competition 2018 jurors are listed near the bottom of this page: https://www.leedspiano.com/2018-competition/ – perhaps not quite as many non-pianists as I thought but still 3 out of 9 are not pianists!

My personal favourite of all the Leeds Piano Competition 2018 finalists, Mario Häring: https://youtu.be/HeJrgSrbB5c -his playing was outstanding in every one of the preliminaries I saw him in