|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
73.222.105.47
Looks as if he died earlier today. He was born in 1930 and was definitely one of the great pianists of the twentieth century.I was fortunate indeed to have gotten to know him a bit better than many were able to, since I was a student in one of his master classes in the early 80's, I helped him with a lecture he did at Stanford, and I had dinner with him and his wife twice.
The recordings he made on the Connoisseur Society label were fabulous, but there were some great recordings he did for other labels too - one of my favorites is the very personal Schumann Concerto / Franck Symphonic Variations he did with Neumann and the CzPO on the Supraphon label.
RIP.
Edits: 07/27/15Follow Ups:
I also remember him for playing Mozart No.22 for Amadeus soundtrack.
I'll check out his Debussy tomorrow.
Edits: 07/27/15
makes me think that Mozart was actually a good composer.
Looks as if he's got a couple of recordings of #25, one with Vlach and one with Marriner. (I'm not sure if I even have the one with Marriner, although I do remember hearing it.)
Also #20 on video:
Heady times - this was recorded not too long after the Iron Curtain fell. It seems to give this performance something even more special than the CD with Marriner.
Streaming this one now.
In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, SWEET!
What a breath of fresh air after being 'Lang Langed' to death by today's keyboard 'greats'.
And there are dozens of his albums up for streaming between QOBUZ, TIDAL and Deezer Elite.
Sadly not the Command Classics though, but many are still available on ebay.
Love his playing. I have Mozart 20 and 23, and his Brahms no. 2. What else do I need to get?
Well. . . there are more Mozart concertos, the Brahms No. 1, Beethoven 3 and 4, solo Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy - most of it is top quality. Another performance I really like (with a composer you don't normally associate with him) is his Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.
Also the Ravel Concerto in G, Franck Symphonic Variations, and two recordings each of the Schumann and Brahms #1 concertos.
His playing always seemed to me meticulous without being fussy, essentially humble. A servant of the music rather than an exponent of his own considerable brilliance. A very great pianist indeed.
Of course, for all I know he may have been a completely different animal at the dinner table, throwing bread rolls and ventilating petty jealousies, but somehow I doubt it.
. . . of the two of us at one of those dinners, and he's got this big grin on his face. He was actually quite jovial during both of the dinners I referred to, and he had some very funny stories, a couple of which I've related in previous posts. David Oistrakh keeps popping up in a couple of recent threads, so let me mention one story (which I don't think I've posted yet) that Mrs. Moravec told me concerning Oistrakh. This was during the days when Karel Ancerl was the conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Oistrakh was already quite portly. After a concert where Oistrakh appeared as soloist with the CzPO (Ancerl conducting), there was a party at the Ancerls' apartment (the Moravecs were there too), and Mrs. Ancerl had gone to considerable trouble to get a supply of Mozartkugeln (the famous chocolate/marzipan confections from Austria) - which must have taken some doing with the Iron Curtain in the way. In any case, she had arranged the candies on a serving tray for the guests to enjoy (typically, a couple for each guest), but before she brought it out from the kitchen, she had to leave for a moment to take care of something else. When she returned, there was the serving tray, with all of the Mozartkugeln missing and Oistrakh standing nearby with a guilty look on his face. She went up to Oistrakh and said, "David! You didn't!", whereupon Oistrakh replied, "I'm sorry - I couldn't help myself!" The Moravecs were very amused by this!
I hear where Herbie Hancock got some of his Musical Ideas!
Sus 4 heaven...
Ivan plays beautifully.
Edits: 07/27/15
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: