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In Reply to: RE: The most underrated pianist? posted by Eldragon on November 18, 2014 at 19:31:31
As did I.
Arrau:
(From the New York Observer)
The legendary Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) once confessed that hearing Mr. Goldsmith play Schubert and Schumann in a 1969 master class was “literally one of the most gratifyingly musical experiences I can remember … listening to him I had tears in my eyes with pleasure and happiness.” Musical luminaries such as the pianists András Schiff and Richard Goode are also longtime fans of Mr. Goldsmith’s acumen. What is the secret of his mastery?
Read more at http://observer.com/2006/09/a-music-critic-performs-practices-what-he-preaches/#ixzz3JWjhbrM0
Goode:
(From the New York Times)
As a pianist, Mr. Goldsmith was best known for his recordings of the Beethoven sonatas, Mr. Goode said. “He had a powerful grasp of music in general and classical style in particular,” he added. “He was much more than a pianist; he was a student of the whole literature. He knew the Beethoven symphonies and quartets by memory.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/arts/music/harris-goldsmith-classical-pianist-and-critic-dies-at-78.html?_r=0
It's too bad that Goldsmith's lapidary success as a critic for many people obscured his gifts as an interpreter, and it's also bad that most of his extant recordings are of variable quality. I was told that his early recordings were self-produced and not to be cruel but he was no more qualified to be a record producer than any other randomly-chosen classical musician of the 1960s. So, I was told, the session tapes were not very editable because the piano was tuned before the session and then the tuner did not stay around to touch up the tuning every 20 minutes or so.
It is possible that the last of his recordings were produced and engineered by David Hancock; and I do know at least that they admired each other.
David Hancock was a very good pianist but he really had no performing career to speak of, whereas Goldsmith did.
So you can he whether the fuss is justified, here is a YT of Beethoven's Piano sonata n°21 op 53 in C major.
I have to confess that Harris Goldsmith was an early supporter and encourager of John Marks Records, and I will always treasure his review of Arturo Delmoni's recording with Yuri Funihashi of the sonatas of Brahms (1) and Amy Beach:
"The Brahms begins with an arching, patient nobility which proves to be the keynote of both interpretations. Delmoni's tone is golden; his phrasing positively eloquent... Magnificent interpretations... uncommon realism..."
-- Harris Goldsmith, Fi magazine
I think that Goode was a superstar household name (did not Reader's Digest advertise and sell his LVB sonatas as a set?) compared to Harris G.
FWIW & YMMV.
JM
Follow Ups:
Not that this is important, but less than lapidary in my book.
Jeremy
Nikita Magaloff, Guiomar Novaes, Sergio Fiorentino, Roger Woodward, Nelson Friere, Grant Johanneson, Artur Balsam, Paul Jacobs, Gina Bachauer, Tatiana Nikoleyeva, Stephen Bishop Kovacevich, Julius Katchen... the list goes on and on. Not to mention many great accommpanists like Gerald Moore, Jorg Demus, Geoffrey Parsons, Graham Johnson and more.
Ivan Moravich is an excellent pianist who tends to be over looked
Alan
Moravec might have been less of a popular star than, say, Helene Grimaud, but, he had a very respectable international career, was the star pianist for his country's label (during the old regime) and has a substantial discography from the early 1960s through 1990s, most of which is still in print.
One decisive factoid is that Moravec's 1964 NYC debut was not some self-funded recital at Town Hall, but rather a concerto performance with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra (I have to assume at Carnegie Hall).
Moravec was in Phillips' suitcase-sized boxed set "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" with 2 CDs. That's not quite being in the Federal Witness Protection Program, Pianists Division.
I think that what the OP wanted was "Joyce Hatto, but without the fraud."
I think that anyone knowing enough about the piano repertoire who auditioned the Goldsmith Beethoven YT I put up blind, would say, "Wow, who was THAT!"
No excuses needed and no stories to tell.
ATB,
John
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