On St. Patrick's Day, Don't Forget John Field!

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd inject a reminder about John Field, one of Ireland's most gifted artists. To listen to Field is to listen to music worlds away from Beethoven, although he was born only twelve years after the passing of Beethoven.
The most important music Field produced are his Nocturnes for piano. One is immediately transported into the heart of the Romantic era upon listening to these pieces. The melodies are tunes one would expect to be given us by one of the great Irish tenors we are so familiar with; however, these gems are unique expressions written for the piano, and are, curiously, "Chopin - like," even though Chopin comes after Field (Chopin was born eighteen years after Field).
Two telling stories about Field :
One day, while teaching at college, I ventured into the library to find some music to play during a break from classes. As I passed the librarian , I asked her what editions of John Field are on the shelves. Her answer was "who's John Field?"
On another occasion, one of my sons was preparing to go on one of his trips to Ireland. So I asked him to stop in at one of the record stores in Dublin to pick up any CD he could find of one of Ireland's own; namely, John Field.
Upon his return, he handed me a CD he purchased in , I believe Dublin. I had pictured his being able to find all kinds of Field while being in Ireland. What I found was that the CD he brought back was one recorded in Worcester, Massachusetts, about forty miles from my home.
In other words, Field should be better known than he is.
Finally, to cite an example of the indefatigable and indestructible force we call Irish Humor: after hearing a young Liszt attacking the piano as only Liszt could do, Field turned to his companion, and asked "does he bite?"
Listen to his Nocturnes, and experience some wonderfully pleasurable moments.

Earl Wild - A Pianist Who Should Be Heard

The great American pianists are relatively few in number. Two in mind are, of course, Murray Perahia and William Kapell. Perahia is, in fact, one of the world's great Mozart interpreters; and, tragically, Kapell's meteoric career was cut short at age 31 in a plane crash.
Another American pianist, who, though not a great musician in the Perahia or Kapell cast, is nevertheless a major force in his performances, and does give us some great playing in many of his recordings.
As I recall, he was born somewhere in Pennsylvania in 1915, and so far as I know, is still among us.
His career glitters by way of such attainments as a staff pianist with the legendary NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini, and he has performed with countless major orchestras and given recitals all over the world. His teachers were students of Liszt, and I believe he studied with Egon Petri, perhaps the greatest pianist Holland ever gave us.
Wild is also a very fine composer, and one of his more attractive compositions is a transcription of tunes, in medley form, from Disney's Snow White, in which he employs the great tradition of 19th century transcription techniques in a brilliant display.
Wild also champions neglected composers such as Scharwenka and Paderewski. Actually, Paderewski's Concerto in "A" minor is quite beautiful and well written. Both of these composers have been wonderfully recorded by Earl Wild, and I would certainly recommend these performances without hesitation.
I think that you will be most impressed by Earl Wild and his terrific pianism.

An Artist Cloaked in Self-Made Mystery

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was one of the most evocative and brilliant pianists of the twentieth century. His command of the keyboard was beyond description. The control over each note seemed to emerge as a complete cosmos unto itself. The quality of sound fanning out of the piano was to me the same as watching the properties of quicksilver. His interpretations, though at times controversial, were engrossing in their power of projection.
Another equally compelling aspect of this man was, shall we say, his eccentricities.
There was no artist I know who was harder on himself (and inevitably upon his audiences at times) than Michelangeli.
Many times an audience, waiting for him to perform, would find itself leaving the hall without having seen or heard him - he simply would not appear.
The reasons for such a debacle were many; to cite a few, if the piano had somehow been affected by weather (in his consciousness), or if the weather, for whatever reason affected his state of being, or if he awakened on the day of a recital or concert not feeling exactly the way he needed to feel in order to perform to his expectation of the moment, he would simply not appear.
I was never part of any audience involved in a Michelangeli Moment, and am thankful for not having been. I am grateful for being able to pull out a CD or video of this great musician, knowing that he will show up each and every time.

Art Tatum - A pianist like no other

Great classical musicians speak of the pianism of Art Tatum with the same open-mouthed admiration that lovers of popular music do.
There are very few popular performers who are constantly part of the consciousness of teachers and students alike in the music colleges and conservatories around the world. One of these vaunted few is Art Tatum.
Born with veritably no sight, Tatum is still the measure that all the great popular pianists go by.
From George Shearing to Oscar Peterson to "Fats" Waller to Teddy Wilson; and on and on,without exception, the world-class pianists in the pop field continue to look up to this giant among giants as the Better Man.
The gifts of Tatum are so powerful that even among the great classical artists of our and the previous century, there are words of admiration. Even Vladimir Horowitz, the titan of twentieth century pianism, openly admired Tatum. In another piece which I will write soon, I will relay to you the bond between Horowitz and Tatum.
As one who has taught music at college level, I cannot tell you the number of times the name of Tatum was inculcated into the topic of the moment.
There are many recordings, of course, of this pianist; however, a gripping phase of Tatum's recording history goes back to 1940 and 1941, before Tatum achieved world recognition.
At Columbia University was a student of musicology, Jerry Newman, who had heard Tatum in one of the bars in Harlem, and immediately perceived the immense potential of this performer, who was going from one dive to another, playing for drinks.
Newman approached Tatum in one of these places, and asked if he could record him on a portable wire-recorder. The result is a treasure of performances in these bars in Harlem. At times Tatum was recorded in Newman's apartment on the wire-recorder in addition to those done in Harlem.
I have a recording of these wire-recordings, and they tell us of the Coming Giant, and his ultimate influence on the great performers who followed him. I personally am convinced that Art Tatum was probably, at around the age of fifteen, already without parallel in his pianism. His destination was to polish and build upon this gigantic technique, a style of playing that becomes his vocabulary, known the world over.
See if you can find these recordings from the Newman Archive.