Welcome to VivMcLean.com

'Extraordinary originality, superb simplicity, and fingers of steel hidden behind muscles of velvet. He is an otherworldly young man - he plays with the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves, naturally placing themselves at the right point to meet the music, this mystery of the moment'  
                                                                                                                                 
                                                 Le Monde, Paris


Welcome to VivMcLean.com

'Extraordinary originality, superb simplicity, and fingers of steel hidden behind muscles of velvet. He is an otherworldly young man - he plays with the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves, naturally placing themselves at the right point to meet the music, this mystery of the moment'  

Le Monde, Paris

Viv McLean
piano


'The listener was struck by the sustained level of technical mastery. Viv McLean performed with his mind as well as his hands'

The Sunday Times

Biography

March concerts
Mar 1st Recital with Alasdair Beatson (piano) SJE Arts, Oxford
Mar 8th Recital with Nigel Blomiley (cello) Roseland Music Society
Mar 9th Recital with Nigel Blomiley (cello) Carrick Concerts
Mar 10th Adderbury Ensemble Concert Chipping Norton Town Hall
Mar 16th Gershwin Concerto with Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra Medina Theatre, Newport, IOW
Mar 21st (lunchtime) Recital St Mary's Church, Perivale
Mar 21st (evening) Adderbury Ensemble Concert Chipping Norton Town Hall
Mar 22nd Adderbury Ensemble Concert Radcliffe Centre, Buckingham
Mar 31st Recital Conway Hall, London 

News
2 new CD releases

Piano music by Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849): Nocturnes & Polonaises 



Viv McLean invites us to explore the complex and sometimes competing facets of Chopin's musical personality. If the nocturne signifies Chopin's love for the human voice and the polonaise represents his love for the national dance of his homeland, McLean's approach seeks to marry the two, finding songs in the dances and dances in the songs. As a result, the performances are richly textured. His playing is improvisatory yet logical, sensitive but confident. This is a worthy addition to any collection.

Jason Sifford, Piano Magazine / ClavierCompanion.com

Live Recordings: Piano music by Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Medtner & Schubert

STONE RECORDS / Catalogue No: 5060192781014


Buy Now / Stream Here



Brahms's Rhapsodies Op. 79 offer sweeping drama in robust, textually clear performances.

Medtner's Fairy Tale Op. 8 No. 2 is the star of the recital, beautifully shaped.

Liszt's Mazeppa from the Transcendental Etudes is characteristically exciting.

Colin Clarke, International Piano 


A passionate and diverse survey, virtuoso style

Gary Lemco, Fanfare Magazine 

(full review here)

17 videos including Gershwin, Debussy, Chopin and Mozart 

More Media

Performance at St. Mary's Perivale, Febuary 2023

On 18th May 2021 LIVE STREAM RECITAL :

Royal Overseas League, London

The McLean Blog

11 Oct, 2022
Regarded throughout the world and elsewhere as one of the very worst pianists of his generation, Viv McLean has been shocking audiences with his complete lack of musicianship and totally inept pianistic ability for far too long. Outraged and disgusted reviewers and audience members have variously described his playing as "flabbergastingly awful", "mind-bogglingly terrible" and "indescribably offensive and showing a complete lack of understanding of absolutely anything whatsoever". Performances of Beethoven in particular have caused audiences to suffer from uncontrollable vomiting and acts of unspeakable violence. In the words of eminent critic Lionel Bottington-Smythe, writing in the Bognor Regis Bugle after a recent recital, "to describe his playing as absolute, utter rubbish would be an insult to rubbish." Viv is a founder member of the Abominable Ensemble- a group totally despised everywhere and well known for their uncanny ability to turn great chamber music works into a form of unbearably slow torture and an incoherent mass of unbelievably disgusting noises.
By Viv McLean 19 May, 2021
I feel I've really seen the light recently
By Viv McLean 28 May, 2020
This was a big surprise!
By Viv McLean 13 Sep, 2018
At last I have my own website!!
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