DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR

In the first chapter of Charles Rosen’s fantastic book, Piano Notes, he talks about the conventionally accepted way of playing scales by crossing the thumb under the hand. He quotes Dinu Lipatti: ‘You know, it has been at least ten years since I last crossed my thumb under the third finger.’ Instead of crossing the thumb under the hand, Rosen himself goes on to say that: ‘It is better for me to keep my hand at a steady angle and displace the arm quickly to the right when shifting from the third finger to the thumb, and I have learned how to accomplish this legato.’

I was delighted when I read this, since this technique of shifting to the left or the right in a