Stephen Downes

Esteemed literary critic Peter Craven has praised to the heavens my debut novel The Hands of Pianists . In Saturday’s The Weekend Australian,  he called it ‘virtuosic in its techniques and grand in its achievement’. Indeed, it’s hard to know where to start in quoting from Peter’s review. I’m over the moon, of course — Craven is the doyen of Australian critical writing.     He begins by calling Hands ‘an absolutely compelling literary novel’ written by a ‘born artist’. By …

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My debut novel The Hands of Pianists is officially out tomorrow. (Please see good online bookstores for details.) Hands has received some quite amazing recommendations. The great Liszt pianist Leslie Howard calls it ‘rich and remarkable’. W. G. Sebald scholar Dr Deane Blackler says it ‘offers much to reflect on, a great deal to admire, and perhaps a little to fear’. Golden-voiced Colin Fox, formerly of ABC Classic and these days a presenter at radio 3MBS, would like Hands sub-titled …

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Even a sideways glance at great pianist Annie Fischer’s left hand tells you that she could throttle pigs with it. Plough fields. Dig trenches. Or murder Liszt’s most difficult piano music. Taken decades ago by Jeno Szots for Jozsef Gat’s famous tome The Technique of Piano Playing, the snap demonstrates a key attribute of great ‘piano’ hands — long little fingers. Most great pianists have big, strong, peasant hands with long little fingers. For the most demanding music they help …

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