In July 2014, I was interviewed by Zsolt Bognar as part of his Living the Classical Life series of interviews. Although generally until that point the performers had tended to be well-known pianists such as Stephen Hough, Yuja Wang, and Daniil Trifonov, the series has expanded to include non-piano instrumentalists (such as violinist Joshua Bell) and other non-performer types… which is where I fit in.
Bognar had for several years been a subscriber to my Piano Files page on Facebook and as an active pianist interested in the role of the interpreter was interested in my thoughts about performance practice, and so he extended the invitation to be part of the series. I needed to see a few piano-related folks in New York last year and so we timed my visit to coincide with when he would be in the Hamptons as part of the terrific program Pianofest in the Hamptons, run by Paul Schenly.
Our unedited conversation extended to about 60 minutes, covering a few parenthetical topics (such as my practice as a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and what connections I saw between that and my musical work), but in the interest of focusing on the essentials, it was edited down to its current 26-minute length. We discuss how I first became interested in historical piano recordings, why we should listen to them, and the distinctive qualities of fine piano playing.
Here’s the episode:
Here are some of the recordings we mention therein:
Joseph Villa’s brilliant reading of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, transcribed by Liszt, which I use as an example for what is possible for a single musician to accomplish at a single instrument:
Josef Hofmann’s otherworldly interpretation of Chopin’s First Ballade, which I refer to in terms of playing that has to be heard to be believed, playing so different from what it is that we could normally expect to hear:
An example of Alfred Cortot’s glorious pianism – we discussed a lot of his playing (not just his infamous wrong notes), including his incredible tonal colours, exquisite colours, and amazing timing:
Dinu Lipatti’s legendary reading of Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso… with at least one textual change that actually creates a more idiomatic effect than the pedal marking Ravel had notated:
And these are just a few of the pianists mentioned therein. I hope viewers will be inspired to examine the playing of these great pianists, as well as others mentioned (Ignaz Friedman, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Marcelle Meyer…)! There are so many amazing artists of the past to explore… hence this website!
Update: Zsolt has been conducting ‘Where are they Wednesdays’, follow-up chats on Instagram with guests of the series to see where they are now. We had a great casual conversation on a wide array of topics beyond my classical music interests. Here’s the video: