notes on my program at the Gilmore Festival last week The piano has always been a virtual instrument. "Virtual" in the sense that for a phrase the keyboardist could sing, or dance, or speak -- by turns, taking on the musical or expressive persona of an Italian coloratura soprano, a violin virtuoso, a country dancer, a marching soldier, or then a whole orchestra, or a madrigal group reading from part books. Robert Schumann commented that … [Read more...]