Anatole Leikin

Anatole Leikin is Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has published in various musicological journals and essay collections worldwide and recorded piano works of Scriabin, Chopin, and Cope. His critically acclaimed books The Performing Style of Alexander Scriabin and The Mystery of Chopin's Préludes were recently published by Ashgate Publishing (UK) and reissued by Routledge (UK). Dr. Leikin also serves as an editor for The Complete Chopin — A New Critical Edition (Peters, UK).

Articles By This Author

Anatole Leikin - November 25, 2008
Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946), a great Polish virtuoso and a scathingly acerbic wit, once remarked, on learning that his fellow pianist Artur Schnabel had been rejected by the army as a draftee, "Well, what did you expect? No fingers!" The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen definitely has fingers.
Anatole Leikin - July 29, 2008
The second installment of this season's Midsummer Mozart Festival took off on Thursday at Mission Santa Clara. Unlike the first program, this concert featured only two works — and for good reason. The Serenade for 12 wind instruments and a double bass, K.
Anatole Leikin - May 13, 2008
There are several pianists today who have built their repertoire around the music of a particular composer. I can think of a number of prominent artists specializing in Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or Chopin. But I would hesitate to name a foremost “Rachmaninovist.” Pianists face daunting difficulties when they play Rachmaninov.
Anatole Leikin - May 13, 2008
Even before Polish piano virtuoso Rafal Blechacz struck the first chord in his San Francisco debut recital Sunday at Herbst Theatre, the hall was brimming with anticipation. A former student of mine, a Polish-born young woman, came up to me with her mother, who said excitedly, "We are so proud of him!" Polish was spoken everywhere, of course.
Anatole Leikin - February 12, 2008
Although Yuja Wang's recital program Sunday at Herbst Theatre was not the longest I have heard, it was definitely one of the more technically demanding and emotionally intense. The 20-year-old virtuoso played three sonatas in a row: Liszt’s monumental B minor; Scriabin’s Sonata-Fantasia, Op. 19; and Bartók’s Sonata from 1926.
Anatole Leikin - October 30, 2007
Mark-André Hamelin’s appearances have become a regular feature in San Francisco’s concert life. Moreover, it seems that the Canadian-born, Philadelphia-based pianist is building some continuity into his San Francisco concert series.
Anatole Leikin - October 23, 2007
It is always gratifying to hear an elegant playing of Beethoven's music by a master perfectionist. Or, as it were, mostly Beethoven, and mostly elegant. The program on Sunday, in Davies Symphony Hall, featured András Schiff in a performance of four Beethoven piano sonatas: Op. 10, Nos. 1, 2, and 3; and Op. 13. There was also a colossal encore, Bach's Partita in C Minor.
Anatole Leikin - June 26, 2007
The San Francisco Symphony's festival this month, "Russian Firebrand, Russian Virtuoso: The Music of Prokofiev," conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, features, quite appropriately, four pianists (Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Mikhail Rudy, and Ilya Yakushev) who, like Prokofiev, grew up or received their musical training in Ru
Anatole Leikin - June 19, 2007
The San Francisco Symphony's festival this month, "Russian Firebrand, Russian Virtuoso: The Music of Prokofiev," conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, features, quite appropriately, four pianists (Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Mikhail Rudy, and Ilya Yakushev) who, like Prokofiev, grew up or received their musical training in Ru
Anatole Leikin - May 1, 2007
The Russian-born, British-based pianist Nikolai Demidenko made an impressive Bay Area debut on Saturday afternoon. His recital at the Florence Gould Theater, under the aegis of Chamber Music San Francisco, showed him to be a serious, sincere, intense, and engaging pianist of diverse repertoire.