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One of the world’s most respected pianists, Murray Perahia began playing at the age of 4, and has been an established figure on the concert stage worldwide for more than 40 years.  He began his musical training in New York, and absorbed musical wisdom from such greats as Vladimir Horowitz, Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals.  Having been catapulted into the limelight after winning the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1972, he made his concert debut at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1973, and recorded his first CD that same year.  Now with an extensive discography on Sony, the label issued a compilation of his complete recordings to date in 2012 to celebrate his distinguished career.  His concert life has encompassed solo recitals, chamber music and many concerto performances.  Perahia also takes on the roles of conductor, currently as Principal Guest Conductor at the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, festival director (co-artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1981 to 1989), and music editor, preparing new Beethoven editions for Henle.

As Murray Perahia takes his latest solo recital programme to concert halls across Europe, Tom Service talks to him at the piano of his London home. Perahia is highly respected for the depth of thought which goes into his performances, and he discusses and demonstrates how he puts this into practice in the central repertoire of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, which is his passion and constant source of enquiry, and discusses his musical mentors and musical preferences along the way.

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