There is a new fashion among intellectual pianists. I call it the “pianissimo fetishism.” It works as follows: the intellectual pianist wants to distinguish himself from crowd-pleasing virtuosos and ...

Beethoven would have loved these guys. They took his nightmare and turned it into an inspiration for every deaf kid in the country. Rock ’n’ roll was still a century and a half away when the great ...

In 1801, at the age of 30, Ludwig van Beethoven complained about his diminishing hearing: “From a distance I do not hear the high notes of the instruments and the singers’ voices.” Harvard professor ...

"Music," Ludwig van Beethoven said, "is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." Transcending dogma, creed, culture and even language, music has the power to elevate the soul as well ...