the most insane random fact about any pianist is -

[stevie]

[lil_stevie] 11:17 pm: hahahaha actually the most legendary random fact about
any pianist in history

[lil_stevie] 11:17 pm: is about sviatoslav richter

[da jake] 11:18 pm: what did richter dio
[da jake] 11:18 pm: i like how he screwed around with russian agents on the bus
[lil_stevie] 11:18 pm: richter couldnt perform without knowing his plastic toy
lobster was back stage
[da jake] 11:18 pm: HAHAHA WHAT?!!?
[da jake] 11:18 pm: where did you hear this?
[lil_stevie] 11:18 pm: indeed
[da jake] 11:18 pm: i don't believe this
[lil_stevie] 11:18 pm: hahahaha randomly


firstly, is this true? i heard it somewhere

and secondly, who can beat this INSANE RANDOM genius?

[henrah]

I'm hoping it was. It would explain his amazing technical ability.


I want a magix lobster too!
Henrah

[ted]

Yes. It seems that during one particular bout of depression he took a plastic lobster everywhere; not all his life though. It's in a book of interviews with him by Monseignon.

[pianistimo]

i read a random article on the internet that said something about that they figured out for certain who was beethoven's 'eternal beloved.'  apparently you had to register in some kind of a book if you went out of the city of ?  can't remember now - and this lady was registered with beethoven's name when they wanted to re-enter the city. 

oh, the things people come up with.  will ahve to look for the article.  i think she was married.

stravinsky, not a violinist, was asked to compose a violin concerto for samuel dushkin.  he hesitated because he felt he lacked ' a sufficient profound understanding of the instrument,' but hindemith urged him to do it anyway because he would not fall into the use of 'violin cliches.'  so stravinsky did it- and composed his concerto of 1931 with samuel dushkins advice on violin matters.  he asked about one widely spaced chord (if it was possible for a violin to play it.  it spanned over three octaves - with a note in each octave range (d, e2, a3) something like that - and it became a chord called his 'passport' to the concerto.  it begins every movement.

[pianistimo]

mrs. amy marcy beach was not only a musical  prodigy but a mathematical genius who puzzled out music theory on her own initiative at an early age.  did you know her musical horizons were much shaped by brahms?  her concerto has four movements, like brahms second, and includes a brilliant perpetuum mobile scherzo as the second movement. 

[mike_lang]

How about that Jorge Bolet learned the Mephisto Waltz in 1 1/2 hrs time?

[stevie]

these facts are impressive, but not as INSANELY RANDOM as being inseperable from a PLASTIC LOBSTER.

[da jake]

This fact makes Richter even cooler.

[Mozartian]

a. plastic. lobster.

[Waldszenen]

How about that Jorge Bolet learned the Mephisto Waltz in 1 1/2 hrs time?

Bolet had an incredible technique and sightreading skills, and also the Mephisto Waltz really isn't that hard. 

[pianistimo]

ok.  i've got one.  my husbands brother recently heard a concert with valentina listitsa?  (forget spelling) and the only thing that kept the concert from more encores was her new BABY.  he was impressed with her concert - but apparently the baby was in the audience and was getting fussy.  now how does she manage that?

[da jake]

If she was playing Prokofiev, I'd weep too. 

[pianistimo]

it was a mostly liszt recital.  awesomely good, he said.

[mike_lang]

Bolet had an incredible technique and sightreading skills, and also the Mephisto Waltz really isn't that hard. 

Well come on - it's not chicken feed either.  One week is pretty impressive on that piece.  Tell me you're not impressed by an hour and a half.

[alwaystheangel]

Satie had a collection of hundreds of umbrellas in his very samll flat, two upright pianos built together by Satie himself and he only ate white food.

Is that random enough?  Most people probably know that already though, I just find it funny, and kind of sad...

[emmdoubleew]

Satie was completely f cked up.

[henrah]

Cziffra had an arse that looked like he was wearing nappies. Diapers to you Americans.

[jehangircama]

i read somewhere that Mozart once went to some concert which had a symphony or opera or something with multiple parts and came home and wrote down the entire score from memory flawlessly. that's impressive!

[prometheus]

Well, I do think that we have to take stories like that with a grain, at least, of salt.

[emmdoubleew]

Gould collected black pens.

Gould colleted a lot of sh*t.

[gymnopedist]

i read somewhere that Mozart once went to some concert which had a symphony or opera or something with multiple parts and came home and wrote down the entire score from memory flawlessly. that's impressive!

This one is actually true.  Mozart went to the vatican when he was 14 to hear a performance of the Miserere in the sistine chapel. The Miserere was only allowed to be performed in the sistine chapel on certain holy days, and it was illegal to write it down. So, after the performance, Mozart wrote the entire thing down from memory. The pope somehow heard about this, and agreed to let Mozart see the original score, which showed that Mozart had made some small mistakes.

[BoliverAllmon]

This one is actually true.  Mozart went to the vatican when he was 14 to hear a performance of the Miserere in the sistine chapel. The Miserere was only allowed to be performed in the sistine chapel on certain holy days, and it was illegal to write it down. So, after the performance, Mozart wrote the entire thing down from memory. The pope somehow heard about this, and agreed to let Mozart see the original score, which showed that Mozart had made some small mistakes.

I don't buy it totally. Mozart's composition teacher at the time had access to the score and probably let Mozart take a look at it. You have to remember that it is leopald telling this story. He was known to exaggerate his son's ability to help make him more money.

bolive

[BoliverAllmon]

Bolet had an incredible technique and sightreading skills, and also the Mephisto Waltz really isn't that hard. 

but is dull, boring, and overrated.

[mike_lang]

I don't buy it totally. Mozart's composition teacher at the time had access to the score and probably let Mozart take a look at it. You have to remember that it is leopald telling this story. He was known to exaggerate his son's ability to help make him more money.

bolive

I buy it.  There was an 8-year-old in my studio that came back from a CSO concert and played the entire thing back on the piano from memory.  It's called total recall.

ML

[BoliverAllmon]

but he made mistakes. that lends me to believe he didn't have total recall.

[mike_lang]

but he made mistakes. that lends me to believe he didn't have total recall.

Or that he is in fact a human being.

[allthumbs]

Cziffra had an arse that looked like he was wearing nappies. Diapers to you Americans.

Too funny, I remember thinking that myself the first time I saw one of his videos.

[jas]

but is dull, boring, and overrated.

You say that like it's fact.

Cziffra had an arse that looked like he was wearing nappies. Diapers to you Americans.

?!?! What do you mean?

Jas

[thalbergmad]

Adolph Henselt, won the Russian International fly swatting Championship for 3 years running.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Adolph Henselt, won the Russian International fly swatting Championship for 3 years running.

That explains the quote in one of my books: "A much-feared teacher, he dressed entirely in white, save for a bright red fez, and would wield a fly-swatter with unerring accuracy throughout the lesson".

Not only that, but he was pathologically shy. Once, on being recognized by the band in a cafe, he leapt up with a look of sheer terror on his face and exited at high speed through the kitchen. On the rare occasions when he appeared in a concerto, he would hide in the wings until just before the piano entry, at which point he would race onto the stage, play his part and then dash away again without once looking at the audience.

[thalbergmad]

On the rare occasions when he appeared in a concerto, he would hide in the wings until just before the piano entry, at which point he would race onto the stage, play his part and then dash away again without once looking at the audience.

On one famous occasion in front of the Czar, he forgot to remove his cigar.

[arensky]

Supposedly Horowitz was convinced in 1935 or 36 that his hands were made of glass, and would shatter if he played to loudly. Around that time he retired for 3 or 4 years until 1939, suffering from stomach problems.

If an artist of Richter's caliber needs to have his plastic lobster to perform, we get it for him. Right away.
 

[gorbee natcase]

They are like drug addicts. any period of time away from the piano they begin to twitch needing there next fix