Steinway & Sons releases first complete recording of the STECHER & HOROWITZ COMMISSIONS.

Notable prize-winners of the New York International Piano Competition perform works commissioned for the competition on this jewel of an album, which also includes the premiere recording of Walter Piston’s Concerto for Two Pianos Soli, written for Stecher & Horowitz.

$16.95 + $1.95 Shipping

STECHER & HOROWITZ DUO-PIANISTS: $29.95 + $2.95 shipping

STECHER & HOROWITZ DUO-PIANISTS is truly the “Unequaled Journey” of a remarkable duo. Tracing their lives from young piano students through years of pursuing a concert career, they created a school for the performing arts; composed and wrote an extensive educational piano library; and finally developed an international piano competition. All is documented in this comprehensive, delightful, and unique story. Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz have dedicated a lifetime to their artistic careers; compromising nothing, enduring considerable hardships but succeeding, due to their unfailing trust and belief in each other.

STECHER & HOROWITZ KEYBOARD LEGENDS: $14.95 + $1.95 shipping

Book & CD Set: $37.95 + $2.95 shipping

The Complete 3 DVD Set:
On a Personal Note (2008), Beyond the Practice Room (2006), and Speaking with Music (2004)

See below for descriptions.

Films by Lucy Bruell
In association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation
Rating: G (General Audiences)
DVD | NTSC | Region 1
Price: $51.95 + $2.95 shipping

On a Personal Note | DVD

Having as a backdrop The New York Piano Competition, “On a Personal Note” explores the relationship between young classical pianists, and their individual artistic approach, relative to their personality and interpretation of a composed work. For centuries many classical compositions have had their composer’s precise score defining each note to be played, their duration, as well as tempo, and dynamics. Added to these indicated markings, a young artist is faced with many recordings of renowned musicians as benchmarks of interpretation.

Why classical music today? How can a young artist contribute to such formal art and vice versa? Why would an aspiring young pianist endure daily hours of rigorous training and practice in search of personal expression and identity? And how to interpret a brand new work, as it is the case when all the contestants are asked to perform composer John Musto’s commissioned work, “Improvisation and Fugue,” created especially for this competition. These questions are part of this documentary, and a reflective investigation into the soul of emerging artists.

A film by Lucy Bruell
In association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation
Rating: G (General Audiences)
DVD | NTSC | Region 1 | Color | 56 min. | 2010
Price: $19.95 + $1.50 shipping

Beyond the Practice Room | DVD

What are the essential ingredients in the development of young pianists? Certainly, love of music and a combination of skill and study are essential. But the pianists who become concert artists share an additional quality. For these performers, once on stage, a switch flips on, propelling them to soar beyond what they can do in the rehearsal hall.

Beyond the Practice Room will take a close look at this “switch” to see what motivates young pianists to perform and to take risks on stage, to experiment as artists. Parental influence, passion for music, dreams and expectations are among the many themes explored in this intimate, behind-the-scenes feature length documentary of teenage contestants at the New York International Piano Competition. It has aired nationwide on more than 100 public television stations.

A film by Lucy Bruell
In association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation
Rating: G (General Audiences)
DVD | NTSC | Region 1 | Color | 56 min. | 2006
Price: $19.95 + $1.50 shipping

Speaking with Music | DVD

Speaking with Music follows 22 teenage pianists as they compete in the Inaugural New York Piano Competition. From opening night ceremonies at Steinway Hall through five days of intense performance, ensembles and master classes, we experience the passion and talent of these young performers who express themselves emotionally and intellectually through their art. Speaking with Music also creates an evocative portrait of Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz, the duo-pianists who created the competition, contrasting what it was like for them as nineteen year old performers in the 1950s with the challenges young pianists face today.

A film by Lucy Bruell
In association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation
Rating: G (General Audiences)
DVD | NTSC | Region 1 | Color | 56 min. | 2004
Price: $19.95 + $1.50 shipping