Using negativity to drive forward: One-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy conquers the classical world

This is the 150th birth anniversary year of the great French composer, pianist and conductor Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). His music is being celebrated all over the world. The Symphony Orchestra of India featured his best-known large orchestral work Boléro on the weekend in Mumbai under the baton of Andrew Litton.

The BBC Proms 2025 season also highlights Ravel’s music. On July 20, Nicholas McCarthy made his Prom debut performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Mark Wigglesworth conducting.

In Hindi, “baayen haath ka khel” is an idiom used to describe something ridiculously easy. This is certainly not applicable when it comes to piano compositions for the left hand.

But why would composers even bother with such a repertoire in the first place? Keith Porter-Snell, pianist, piano teacher, and writer of educational music for piano students, lists four reasons: technical, injury or disability, virtuosic display and compositional challenge.

Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was created for all four of the above considerations. Concert pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), older brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, was shot in the right elbow during the First World War, necessitating...

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