My introduction to SeymourMy earliest exposure to Seymour Bernstein came during childhood, after hearing several student performances of his beloved impressionistic suite, Birds. Inspired by one of Bernstein's own pupils, Birds charts the progress of a precocious student named Christopher as he moves towards specific pianistic goals—such as evennes...

No one questions that Beethoven's controversial choices in his work are appreciated as groundbreaking. But nearly anyone would question a choice made by a young pianist to deviate from instructions printed in Urtext scores. As a young student, celebrated pianist and best-selling author Seymour Bernstein made that conscious choice in a passage of Be...