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!

Remembering Alfred Brendel and all things Italian

Pianist

WHAT MAKES A WINNER? • As the Pianist 2026 Composing Competition kicks off, judge Matt Ash offers up some sound advice for those on the verge of putting pen to manuscript paper: You could be the lucky winner of a Kawai piano!

Hong Kong heist in Fort Worth • Against stiff competition, Aristo Sham triumphed at the world’s leading piano competition, witnessed

Alchemist of the piano • Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi is about to distil 20 years of concert experience into live recordings of the two Brahms concertos. He talks to Warwick Thompson about filming with Maria João Pires and Alfred Brendel, playing Chopin with an accent, and why he’s applying for Italian citizenship

LEGATO WITH CLARITY FINGER PEDALLING • When we want to create a smooth line, our right foot can automatically reach for the sustain pedal: Mark Tanner suggests focusing on your fingers – not your feet – for successful seamlessness

THE BENEFITS OF PLAYING EXERCISES AND STUDIES • Do we need to practise exercises? It’s an age-old question, but for Graham Fitch – who shares some of his favourites within this article – it’s all about how you practise them

THE SCORES • Pianist 145 • Read the lessons • Play the scores

OTTORINO RESPIGHI MINUETTO FROM SIX PIECES FOR PIANO • This surprising, charming piece is full of contrasting ideas: Practise slowly and carefully, says Matthew Mills, and you’ll grow to love it more and more

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN ETUDE OP 8 NO 11 • Despair, hope, tragedy, beauty, melancholy… How is it possible to distil all these mixed feelings into one thickly-textured etude? Yevgeny Sudbin shows you how

KONSTANTIN EIGES CANON FROM ALBUM FOR THE YOUNG OP 6 NO 4 • This quirky piece by a Russian composer unfamiliar with us today is a great introduction to contrapuntal playing, says Melanie Spanswick

Arcangelo CORELLI (1653-1713) • Gavotte

Melanie SPANSWICK • Little Sonatina

Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) • Pavane de la belle au bois dormant

Konstantin EIGES (1875-1950) • Canon from Album for the Young Op 6 No 4

Luigi DENZA (1846-1922) arr. IAGO NÚÑEZ • Funiculì, Funiculà

MARCELLO arr. J S BACH (1685-1750) • Adagio BWV 974

Muzio CLEMENTI (1752-1832) • Second movement from Sonata Op 1 No 5

Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757) • Sonata in D minor K 9

Domenico CIMAROSA (1747-1801) • Sonata in B flat C 38

Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936) • Minuetto, No 4 from Six Pieces for Piano

Giovanni SGAMBATI (1841-1914) • Swinging, from Mélodies poétiques Op 36 No 4

Giuseppe MARTUCCI (1856-1909) • Melodia No 1 Op 16

Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915) • Etude Op 8 No 11

Italian Style ITALIAN PIANISTS THROUGH THE AGES • Is there an Italian school of playing? And if so, what are its characteristics? Melissa Khong goes in search of the answers by looking at the legendary Italian pianists, past and present, and those who taught them

Bel Canto Piano ITALIAN COMPOSERS THROUGH THE AGES •...