Vladimir Horowitz - an "Out-of-Body Experience?" Read On!

The fourth recording of the Yale-Carnegie Hall recordings of Vladimir Horowitz was just released, and we continue to revel in these legendary performances which have never before been available.
I just finished listening to this recording, which was the final Berlin recital of the great pianist, three years before his passing.
Horowitz, approaching his middle eighties, was in superb form in this performance, and gives us the indefinable luster, control and power which have always been his signature.
In one piece, however, Horowitz appears, at least to me, to have become electrified at what he discovered that moment in the Scriabin d# Etude, a piece he had been playing for much of his career -it is as if he had never fully realized the implications embedded therein, and, as wonderfully thrilling and magnificently colored is the first half of this brief piece, Horowitz seems to have found a way to look back down upon himself from some sort of immeasurable distance, and the last half of the Etude, for me, is an experience I cannot describe. I am convinced that this performance of the Etude, unlike his other brilliant evocations of the same piece(which are on record) is a true fingerprint, and he himself would have told you that the experience he had while performing the Etude could never again be approached.
Have you ever tried to describe to someone on the telephone how to tie a tie? Well, this is precisely how I feel about attempting to describe what Horowitz experienced in this particular playing of the Scriabin.
Just go out and order this recording, and let me know on "comments" if you agree with me.

Time and War - What a Different World!

It's been some time since I have mulled over the issue of Man's constant companion; namely (and sadly), War-
I was thinking today of the world in the last century, experiencing History's most defining war:
It took Hitler about six weeks to conquer France.
In about four months, England won the Battle of Britain, leading to Hitler's decision to invade Russia in 1941 without defeating Britain, therefore activating a two-front war which insured the eventual destruction of Hitler and Nazism.
Only six months after Pearl harbor, Japan's offensive campaign in the Pacific was permanently destroyed in the Battle of Midway, paving the way to the defeat of the Japanese Empire.
It took approximately nine seconds to obliterate the city of Hiroshima.
In our present day, War and Time have formed a different equation.
Be reminded that the Second World War, the world's most devastating conflict, lasted for about five and two-thirds years.
In our present time period, palpably disconnected from the two great wars of the last century, there are no borders to cross over.
It has been almost a decade since the horror of 9/11, in 2001.
There are now countless soldiers throughout the world without uniforms.
And our world is in perhaps its deepest peril.
How different our world has become.

Don Shirley - an Engrossing Talent

Don Shirley is a Jamaican musician, who may not be as well known to today's music lovers as he should be.
When I was starting out in my career, I came across some of Shirley's recordings, and was overwhelmed by his creative gifts.
First of all, he is a superb pianist, wonderfully trained in the classics, and started out by performing the famous Tchaikowsky concerto with several of the world's most acclaimed orchestras.
Along the way, he moved into the world of pop music, and is chiefly known for his work in that aspect of the art.
He is the only major musician I know of who has three earned doctorates, only one of which is in music, which to me demonstrates the nature and breadth of his genius.
We know of the attainments of the great British pop pianist, George Shearing, who was also thoroughly grounded in the classics, and we are all familiar with the way he can take a tune, and play it in the style of a Mozart, or Bach, or Delius, or Schumann, etc. You may remember in one of my previous blogs about Shearing's having stated to me that he thinks of himself as "a classical pianist who happens to play jazz."
Well, in the case of Don Shirley, this musician takes a different road in his knowledge of the classics, as he utilizes that aspect within the pop field. Unlike Shearing, Shirley has found a way to create a true fusion; a complete synthesis in the binding of the classical techniques with various pop styles; and, for me, a new language has been formed by this phenomenal man.
I am not stating that he is 'better' than Shearing - I am merely pointing out that in some arcane way Shirley has discovered new tactics through a unique imagery that produces musical ideas which simply cannot be replicated. My words, or any written or spoken description of what Shirley produces are veritably hapless in hopes of clarity. The only way one can come up with any kind of understanding of Shirley's incarnations - is to listen.
There are recordings available.
By the way, Don Shirley is one of only three pianists to have performed at the La Scala Opera House; the other two - Artur Rubinstein and Sviatoslav Richter.

...and How About Jakob Gimpel?

If you are not familiar with the name Jakob Gimpel, and were this moment able to hear one of his recordings, I feel quite confident that you would scratch your head (at least metaphorically!) and ask, "why have I not heard this pianist before this moment - where have I been?"
Gimpel was born in Poland, and died in, I believe, his 84th year.
He was, essentially, equal to virtually any pianist, alive or dead - that is; as a piano player. His playing of the instrument was nothing short of astonishing. I would suspect that the reason that History does not place him in the top bracket of great pianists is that his repertoire was somewhat limited.
However, I would invite you to look for his recordings and indulge in a thrilling experience. At least, get the film, titled "Mephisto Waltz," and listen to the incredible piano playing - this is Jakob Gimpel playing the music sound track for this film. He also did other movies, let alone perform throughout the Western World, and successfully so.
Please allow me to comment on the recent passing of Earl Wild. I have already done a blog on Wild; however, it would be remiss of me not to bow to this truly wonderful American pianist, dead at about 94. Personally, I consider Wild, along with the late William Kapell and Constance Keene and, of course, Murray Perahia, as the foremost American pianists of our time.

E. Robert Schmitz - An Unfinished Recital

E. Robert Schmitz was a distinguished 20th century pianist, having been born in Paris, and known widely for his playing of Debussy. He performed extensively, with New York his favorite place to perform in.
In one recital, which included a Beethoven sonata, Schmitz got to a certain point pretty well into the composition, when his memory failed him, resulting in a screeching cessation of the music. It is said that he turned beet-red with anger; anger of such a huge dimension that he decided to start the sonata over again, which he did. A calamity was the result; specifically, when the pianist reached the same place where he had stopped in his first playing of the sonata, he again could not get past that fatal measure. This time, he was so upset with himself that he leaped from the bench and stomped off the stage, not to return.
I would imagine that the audience involved must have felt almost as uncomfortable as the unfortunate pianist.

How Many of Us Remember the Young Fou T'song?

When I was just beginning my work in both musicology and education, one of my heroes was a young Chinese pianist, Fou T'song. What I remember most clearly about his playing was the remarkable interpretive grasp he possessed of the piano music of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially the music of Chopin. I have, from time to time, been in wonder of why this truly powerful musician did not climb to the top of the ladder.
Of all of the musicians of Eastern traditions I have known of throughout my career, I am of the opinion that Fou is the most 'westernized' pianist in the playing of the Romantic period. I am aware that the young sensation Lang Lang is among the most recognized pianists of the day; however, for me, the poetic views that Fou gave to my ears remain among the most beautiful and intelligent contributions to the history of piano performances.
I believe he was born around 1934, and has been a master teacher these days. I noticed his name connected with master classes in Lake Como, for instance. I believe that he does continue to perform from time to time - I should love to hear him now.

Walter Gieseking -A Pianist of Greatness and Swirling Controversy

Although Walter Gieseking was born in France, he is thought of as a predominantly Germanic entity - as I recall, he was born in 1895, and died in the middle fifties.
His astounding raw talent appeared early, at about age four, and his incredible gifts were soon apparent to those who listened to him during the early years. It is said that his sight-reading abilities were like no other great pianist, including the likes of Rachmaninoff and Horowitz, both of whom were resoundingly known as superlative sight readers. Gieseking sight read the Grieg Concerto at sight and at tempo, for instance. I cannot be sure as to whether that accomplishment was an apocryphal example of story telling. I assume that it indeed occurred, based upon the reality that Grieg himself saw Rachmaninoff, whom he befriended, do the very same thing! I remember, as a child, owning a recording of the Grieg as played by Gieseking; I've always been rather curious as to why this wonderfully luminous recording has not been connected to Gieseking, in historical terms.
His performances of Debussy and Mozart are legendary. Gieseking had an uncanny pianistic "vision" of the possibilities of dynamics and timbre which no other pianist, in my view, has ever matched, less exceeded. Michelangeli comes close, in my opinion, in his recordings of Debussy.
Listen to the digital revivifying of the recordings of Gieseking's playing of the French Impressionist, and I feel confident that you will be overwhelmed by the illimitable views of nuance and plasticity that this man could cajole out of the instrument.
The unfortunate controversy surrounding his relationship with the Nazi regime kept him from playing for some years after the war in various countries, including America; however, he was eventually given clearance. The result, for me, was to witness him just once, in Boston. I shall never forget the absolute magic emanating from the stage. His control over the keyboard made the music sound as if it floated not directly from the piano, but rather from the general area of the stage, as if the entire front of Symphony Hall were the instrument. His ability to totally abolish the elemental reality of the piano as a member of the percussion family is still vivid in my memory bank.
He was a large man, with big hands, making the piano appear relatively small. He appeared rather heavily bandaged around the head, having been in a bus accident which killed his wife; and yet, while still showing evidence of that recent tragic event, there he was, creating a world I have yet to be witness to again.