Berman refused to play Chopin, explaining “Of course I used to play him, but many years ago I entered for a Chopin competition in Warsaw and I did not qualify. It was a tremendous blow to my pride, and I vowed that I would never play him again.”
“Sviatoslav Richter who knew Gilels quite well reported that he was killed accidentally by the Russian doctor responsible for the check-up.”
His body was rumored to have been buried along with a book of Hanon’s piano exercises, because according to Horowitz, “I never want to do anything without warming up; that includes dying.” Horowitz was 86.
“Gieseking is said to have been a natural and intuitive pianist. According to legend, he never practiced except in his own mind. He apparently would study the score, imagine playing it, and then perform it flawlessly. His habit of spending hours in total silence as he pored over scores is said to have frustrated his wife to no end”.
[size=150]“Rubinstein recalled a time in 1931, during a Russian concert tour, when he was invited to hear a 15-year-old boy called Emil Gilels. ?I remember his playing as if it were yesterday?I can?t describe it. All I could say was that if he ever came to America I might as well pack my bags.? Gilels chose Beethoven?s Appassionata Sonata and Ravel?s Jeux d?eau for that auspicious occasion”.
In a 1968 BBC interview pianist Julius Katchen said, ?my generation is a continuation of the Russian virtuoso tradition, largely because of the presence of Horowitz in America.?
“There is in the life of every piano-mad youngster a time of absolute Horowitz-worship” (Arrau).[/size]
[size=150]French classical pianist [color=cyan]FRANCOIS-RENE DUCHABLE is quitting the industry in protest at its elitism - by destroying two grand pianos and burning his recital suit at his last three gigs.
Duchable - who won France’s soloist of the year title three years in a row in the 1990s - believes the piano is an “arrogant instrument”, so at the end of this month (JUL03) he plans to launch his piano into LAKE MERCANTOUR in the French Alps in his first farewell concert.
The second farewell concert will see Duchable burning his recital suit on stage, while the last gig will see him blow-up his piano in mid-air.
He says, "I have had enough of sacrificing my life for one per cent of the population. I have had enough of participating in a musical system, which in France at least, function badly and limits classical music to an elite.
“Used as this society uses it, the piano is an arrogant instrument which excludes all those that don’t know about music.” [/size]
sheeeeeeeeeeeyat
