Patron Hunt

The Piano Files is Mark Ainley, a musician, writer, and teacher with a passion for individual expression in music, and for much of his life he has had a fascination with historical piano recordings. It began when he was a teenager in the mid-1980s, and in the three decades since he has written magazine articles and CD booklet notes, produced CD reissues of rare recordings (particularly of the legendary pianist Dinu Lipatti), and given lectures worldwide about the great pianists of the past. He hosts a page on Facebook called ‘The Piano Files with Mark Ainley’, which has over 8500 subscribers and is now approaching its 10th anniversary, on which he posts a YouTube clip and description of the artist’s performance virtually every day of the year. He also runs the website The Piano Files, on which he has a collection of longer articles and resources about great pianists. He has a passion for sharing these recordings and writing about them, as the musicians of the past had direct links to the composers they revere: pupils of Liszt have recorded, and pupils of pupils of Chopin… those who knew Ravel, Debussy, de Falla, and others have left fascinating performances on disc, while a number of composers – such as the great Rachmaninoff – have left their own accounts of their compositions. The way these artists played is surprisingly different than how they tend to be performed today, and their recordings open up new possibilities in understanding the art of interpretation and individuality in musical expression. As membership increases, content will too!

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