Meeting great pianists.

[thierry13]

While reading answers on Stevie's Thread, I saw a lot of people met the greatests of the 20th century. Please post here wich great pianists did you meet, how did it happen, where, did you speak to him and if yes what hapenned/was said. 

[pianistimo]

thalbergmad says he once bumped into ashkenazy on a train.  now how likely is that?  some might say, very likely.  but, i tend to think that he was on meds.

[ramseytheii]

Actually, I had a strange experience similar to it.  I was flying from Cleveland to new York City on Continental Airlines, which occasionally has very cheap tickets between the two cities, round-trip for less than $100 say.  The only thing is you have to fly ina very small, cramped plane.  You cannot even stand up straight (I am an average 6 feet tall).  There is no first class, and you are lucky to get a small bag of peanuts with a beverage.  Who was sitting three rows ahead of me but Radu Lupu, and this after finishing his cycle of the 5 Beethoven cocnerti with the Cleveland Orchestra.  I couldn't believe my eyes; what was this legend of the 20th century doing on this cheap piece of scrap metal?  Somebody near him had apparntly heard one of the concerts and gave a timid congratulations; Lupu just grunted.  Unfortunately the story ends there.  I did not attempt to speak to this intimidating man, though later I learned from a mutual friend that we have he is actually very nice. 

Walter Ramsey

[pianowolfi]

That's me during a Summer academy with Konstantin Scherbakov. He's the one in white on the right side, I'm the second from right. He's not only an amazing pianist but also a fascinating personality with the certain aura.

[daniel patschan]

WOW - amazing ! You know one of my two most loved performers ! Is he really going to record the Godowsky studies ? Maybe he didn´t talk about that during the summer meeting.

[thalbergmad]

thalbergmad says he once bumped into ashkenazy on a train.  now how likely is that?  some might say, very likely.  but, i tend to think that he was on meds.

Yes, i was on the meds, but it was definately Ashkenazy.

I mean, who else wears white polo necked jumpers.

Thal

[pianistimo]

usually people that play a lot of chamber music, imo.  thal, really, i believe you!

when i was younger, i had that 'fetish' of getting a program signed (and having to go through the long waiting line just looking at the ceiling and hearing people say much better things than i was going to say - and trying to work it up better and better - so by the time i got there - i'd say something really profound).  it never seemed to work.  whatever i had in mind - i just lost.  i'd usually say something like - you sounded really great!  can i get your autograph? something stupid like that. 

i once shook hands with john browning, i believe.  he had large hands and feet and was quite tall.  i kept a newspaper clipping of him and showed it to my piano teacher for the first time in 20 years (it was kept in a shoebox along with other clippings).  then, barry douglas came along and i forgot about poor john.  of course, i was married by the time barry came on the scene.  and, now that lance armstrong is unlatched - i'm esconced 21 years.  i thought i saw him go by on the bike trail not too long ago.  must have been a lookalike.

do pianists have lookalikes that can fill in.  how do you know you're meeting the real thing?  what if they bring along the lookalike so they can rest after the performance?  i don't doubt conductors do this all the time.   

[zheer]

Yes, i was on the meds, but it was definately Ashkenazy.

  Is he very short?.

[thalbergmad]

  Is he very short?.

He was sitting down, so difficult to say.

Looked about my height, poss 5 foot 7 in or perhaps shorter.

Not as handsome as me, but arguably the better pianist.

Thal

[pianowolfi]

WOW - amazing ! You know one of my two most loved performers ! Is he really going to record the Godowsky studies ? Maybe he didn´t talk about that during the summer meeting.

Here is another picture.
We were talking about different piano brands at that moment. He said that he always would prefer Steinway (and luckily always had got a Steinway), that Bösendorfer had a to thin tone in the treble and Bechstein were good practise instruments, workhorses that are hard to destroy.
He's doing a complete recording of Godowsky's works. But i think the Chopin studies he will make last because in his opinion they are the most difficult pieces at all.

[thalbergmad]

He seems to be more interested in the pretty girl than you old chap.

Thal

[pianowolfi]

He seems to be more interested in the pretty girl than you old chap.

Thal

She became the girlfriend of his son Alex during that academy. So no wonder he was looking a bit more accurately

[pianolist]

I turned the pages for John Ogdon, as documented last February under Pianist Jokes in the Miscellaneous section. Actually, I met him several times, because I worked as a (very junior) recording engineer at Decca in the late 1960s. He was rather shy, and effusive in his thanks. I also turned pages for him when he recorded some Messiaen (Vingt Regards, I think), and when they sent me into the studio, he was so keen to find me a chair that he stood up too quickly from the piano, wheeled round, and promptly fell flat on his face. I remember the producer being worried that he might have hurt his hands, but he was OK, and just carried on.

Stephen Bishop-Kowhatshisname once observed, "have fun with your musical toy," as I walked on stage at the South Bank to play Stravinsky's Etude pour Pianola. That gets "nul points", as they say in the Eurovision Song Contest.

A very dear friend of mine, now eighty, and also a former Decca engineer, had Clifford Curzon round to dinner, and gave him baked beans on toast. He also picked him up at Vienna airport for some recording session or other, and as they drove through the red light district, Curzon asked, "So tell me, Jack, what exactly do these women do for half-a-crown?"

I'd be interested to know of any modern pianists with that sort of twinkle.

[steinwaybaby]

does John Tesh count?  i met him.

[robo1001]

I just had lessons with Peter Donohoe if that counts?!

[pianistimo]

question (changing the subject slightlY):

is it impolite to get into details of the music with the performer?  like asking 'why did you do this or that?'  or, to ask questions like 'who is your favorite composer?'  how can you get a real 'session' with one of these people?  a master class?  i want to know when barry douglas is coming to usa (esp. pennsylvania).  i want to meet him.  and, to hear his compositions as well as repertoire.

i worked with james johnson (not the jazz pianist) in fairbanks, alaska for a year.  does that count.  he's made quite a name for himself, hasn't he?  played a prokofiev piano concerto and he played the secondo part.  he had really nice handwriting. 

and, i worked with jean-paul billaud at university of alaska, anchorage.  he is a very good teacher/performer and is listed as a steinway artist.  his wife louise teaches in virginia.  also, another very good student of his was beverly holt.  she, imo, played the best chopin i've ever heard.  jean-paul had worked with cortot.  he had a picture of him on one studio wall, and poems of goethe and nietchze on the other.  picasso right ahead of the piano.  i love teachers who put artwork behind the piano so you can look at something once in awhile (instead of white walls).  the picasso looked real - but i never asked about it. 

also, in calif. i worked for a few months with earle voorhies who was one of a last generation of julliard profs.  he was stern and serious at first - but when i joined mtna and introduced myself one year as secretary, he was very kind and encouraging.  i think that these teacher/performers have a genius about them - but are generally quite humble and help students SO much. 

[ce nedra]

I've chatted to Olga Kern, Spencer Myer.. had dinner with Jean Dubé a few times. Had lessons from Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, and Tamas Ungar. Havent gone so far as to meet someone like Ashkenazy though 

[ramseytheii]

I've chatted to Olga Kern, Spencer Myer.. had dinner with Jean Dubé a few times. Had lessons from Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, and Tamas Ungar. Havent gone so far as to meet someone like Ashkenazy though 

Oh that reminds me of a funny story about Olga Kern.  I didn't include it already because the thread said it was about great pianists.      

I went to hear the finals, the concerto competition, of the Van Cliburn the year she shared the gold medal with Ioudenitch (was it 2001?)  She played a bland Mozart, and Fort Worth Society was whispering about her coming onto play the Rachmaninoff 3rd without the jacket she wore for the mozart.  Oh, how dramatic.  *YAWN!*

Anyways, at the after party, I was at a round table with her, and she was just getting plastered.  A representative from Steinway & Sons came up to offer a few gifts, and ingratiate the company to her, probably they would ask her to be a Steinway artist.  He gave her a nice Steinway silk hankerchief which she promptly wrapped about her head like a babushka and made some weird Baba Yaga face.  The Steinway fellow was not amused.  Later she attempted to dance with the ancient Claudio Frank, but she was so toasted drunk, her dress started slipping off from one shoulder (thank the heavens it stayed on), and she actually slipped and tumbled face first onto the ground, at Claudio Frank's surprised feet.  What an embarassment!  But good for a few laughs.

Van Cliburn gave an amazing speech at the medals ceremony.  He wanted to give a collective shout of appreciation to a couple that had apparently donated a significant sum to the competition, the Frenches, who were sitting in his box at the center of the back of the theatre.  He pointed them out, and raised his fist to start a hip-hip-hooray.  I felt along with the entire audience at Bass Hall the irresistible charisma of Van Cliburn, and I swear to you we all rose as one entity and shouted hip-hip-hooray along with him, as if we were some mindless automatons and someone pushed the congratulations button.  Except it was much more fun.

later he showed up at the party, 2 hours after it started, with an enormous entourage of 15 or 20 people.  He spoke to a few of the Society, signed a couple autographs, and was out the door!

Walter Ramsey

[ce nedra]

My dear, if I won the Van Cliburn competition, I would also get toasted drunk.

[quasimodo]

Here is another picture.

I randomly thought that only asians would wear white socks with those kind of sandals  ...

[arbisley]

I've met Arkady Volodos's father, of the same name, and talked to him about what I want to do with a musical career, as in piano, singing, do I want to at all? etc.

My mum also conducted with some of his singing students as soloists.

[sjskb]

ok, this will sound like a joke...

I attended mikhail pletnev's concert with CBSO in 2002. So at the end, I waited near the performers' entrance for him to autograph my CD. While waiting for him, I was thinking of what to say to him (i.e. congratulate him for a fine performance, etc).

When he finally emerged, I suddenly lost my words. In my haste, i mumbled..."well done"...as if i was his piano teacher!

needless to say, i felt very embarrassed....

He remained his calm look, completely ignoring what has happened.. signed my CD without a second thought and walked off... without saying a word.

which leads me to this question: does pletnev understand english?? It looks as if he does not.

anyway, hope this is entertaining. 

[arbisley]

The way to handle that is to pretend that you meet this type of personality every day, and say something like "I love such and such composer", indirect compliment on what the artist played or something similar. Just be NATURAL would be the expression, but of course, that's easier to say than do.

It is quite funny to hear of the fumbles of inexperience of others and compare them to oneself!

[allthumbs]

Check out my previous post on Eubie Blake.


https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,12302.msg131701.html#msg131701

As a sidebar, Eubie was interviewed in 1983 on his 96th birthday, he uttered the memorable quote, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."



Cheers

allthumbs

[sharon_f]

I met Rudolph Serkin many years ago.

[pianowolfi]

I met Rudolph Serkin many years ago.

Oh really? He played with my grandfather once! I've heard him in Basel shortly before he died. Diabelli Variations. Amazing!

[pianolist]

Along with Vladimir Horowitz, Serkin was one of the very last pianists to record Welte-Mignon piano rolls!

[viking]

Taken after a live performance of the Busoni Concerto in Winnipeg. 
 

[lostinidlewonder]

I've met a few musical titans, Roger Woodward (studied with him and attended master classes of his), Ashkenazy (attended master classes), David Helfgott (probably the most interesting and unique sounding pianist, with moments of ultimate brilliance in his playing and moments of confused despair, I've met, he did concerts in Mandurah West Australia where his youngest sister, who I've also sat at the piano with, lives and teaches piano and which is also my hometown).

Met many lesser known pianists by attending their concerts and then sneaking backstage or crashing the after concert VIP party to meet them ahaha. Thats the thing when you go to concert halls where the management knows you, they will often let you meet the famous people that come through ehhee. Thats not to say that I've taken the opportunity to meet people in places where no one knows me I am the type of person that would jump on stage just to hug the performer 

[pianistimo]

so many people have met international artists.  viking, i see you got hamelin in a corner.  maybe that's the secret. 

[viking]

I think the big thing is to not be afraid.  They are all wonderful people and depend on their good publicity in order to sell their CD's.  Thats something I like about Hamelin.  Later that night I ran into him at the bar... He's a great guy.

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

You ran into him at the bar? I am sure that he wasn't most pleased with you just ramming into him.

[debussy symbolism]

Oh I see, it's because you are a viking.

[cloches_de_geneve]

Brendel was a guest at a dinner at my parents' house about 15 years ago. This happened through my piano teacher who used to be one of Brendel's students. I remember that we talked about Michelangeli. Obviously, as a good professional, he was reluctant to be explicit, but indirect hints combined with facial expressions were informative enough.

[willmillar27]

After attending the 'Music For Life' concert - starring Evgeny Kissin playing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto at the Royal Albert Hall, I said to my friend "Would you mind if I went to the stage door?"

She duely complied. The lady on the stage door said "If you wait there, he'll probably be out soon. I waited....waited...waited. Eventually I said to her "I'm going to have to leave soon to get a train back to the Isle of Wight" - which I did!!

She said "Come on"
I said "Where?"

She led me to his dressing room and said "there he is"

And there he was. I walked up to him and said "a good choice in playing Heroic Polonaise as an encore - very fitting I thought"! He smiled.

So I got his autograph and ran to Waterloo station with my friend. We missed the train and waited until 4am for the next one. I can safely say that I was extremely tired going straight from the ferry to school at 8am. I think I was very grouchy that day!

[viking]

Oh I see, it's because you are a viking.

priceless....

[dnephi]

Hamelin would kill with the sheer power of shaking his hands.

[debussy symbolism]

It's great that you met a great pianist.

[yooniefied]

I snuck backstage and met Santiago Rodriegez many years ago, after he played Rach #3.
Do any of you know him? I guess he isn't considered a "great" pianist, but...to mini-me, any one who can play like that sure was!

He immediately knew I was a pianist (which made me happy, of course.  ) and was very kind and encouraging towards me. He had heat packs on his tiny little hands before he went out for the second act...I can't imagine!

[ramseytheii]

Brendel was a guest at a dinner at my parents' house about 15 years ago. This happened through my piano teacher who used to be one of Brendel's students. I remember that we talked about Michelangeli. Obviously, as a good professional, he was reluctant to be explicit, but indirect hints combined with facial expressions were informative enough.

I also met Brendel not long ago at a reading of his poetry in a gallery in Munich.  His poetry is very funny, and there was a small but enthusiastic crowd, and a long reception.  After chatting with him and another fellow for a few minutes, I waved at a friend aross the room, and swiped the waiters plate of wine glasses right off his arm onto the floor.  I dont think Brendel noticed.  This was very embarassing, and I spent the rest of the evening hidden in the back room!

Walter Ramsey

[Motrax]

I snuck backstage and met Santiago Rodriegez many years ago, after he played Rach #3.
Do any of you know him? I guess he isn't considered a "great" pianist, but...to mini-me, any one who can play like that sure was!

He immediately knew I was a pianist (which made me happy, of course.  ) and was very kind and encouraging towards me. He had heat packs on his tiny little hands before he went out for the second act...I can't imagine!

Rodriguez teaches here (University of Maryland), so I run into him frequently. Although he's not my teacher, I requested a lesson with him and he was happy to oblige.

He is definitely one of the most unknown talents in the piano world. His Rachmaninoff concerti certainly rival any of "the best," and his Chopin is possibly the best I've ever heard. He's a great teacher, too; very inspiring, and very helpful with musical direction. Since he's such a good pianist, he also has LOTS of great fingering advice and other little technique tricks.

[lani]

My daughter and I met Yundi Li after one of his concerts in a private reception. So incredibly generous with his time with young kids and patrons-very patient answering their questions and posing for photos and autographs.  Don't know how they have the stamina to play concerts and then meet all their fans afterwards.  Youth in on his side for sure!  Will never forget his graciousness. 

[burstroman]

This dates me, but I once gave Dame Myra Hess a discreet kiss on the cheek.  She was unique.

[minor9th]

I met Lazar Berman after a recital in San Francisco in the 80's. He had ferocious b.o., but he played like a god!

[nick]

I met Pascal Roge at his own Saint Saens piano concerto in G minor (I think it was that one) and afterwards he sat 2 rows behind me during intermission. After the usual presentries, I asked him if he ever "pushed" for speed, to be able to play that well, clear and fast. He replied "never, only right before a performance when I have to, all practice is slow to build strenghth and control". I was surprised and asked again in a different way, but the response was the same. Of course I couldn't wait to spend hours and hours practicing much more slowly, only to find after months that my speed went down instead of up. He is French and we Americans, so maybe he intentionally misled, or a number of other possiblities. Anyway, incredible pianist with very little movement and very musically played and speed to spare.

Nick

[tompilk]

i want to meet hamelin so badly! viking you're so lucky! I'd be too embarassed at asking him for a photo!
I've met Noriko Ogawa and Barry Douglas...
Tom

[nick]

 I would be interested if anyone would put down any tips of the great pianists.

Nick

[pianistimo]

those are trade secrets and guarded with much care until they get really old and write them down in an autobiography.  all the pianist/teachers i've met are just glommed onto the piano in every waking moment, spare moment, rabid moment.  they are extensions of their piano walking around.  they all seem to read ferociously, too.  everything about piano.  extensive libraries.  music stacks.  perhaps they need less sleep than the average person?  memory techniques in most of these people, from my perspective, had a lot to do with the way their parents taught them as children.  they probably treated them as little adults and tried to jam information into their heads at astonishing rates.  so by the time they are 8-10, they are able to take large amounts of information and process it.  not sure exactly how this is accomplished.  perhaps taking an incredible amount of time with the child and going through the idea of 'processes.'  similar to philosophy/logic.  seems that only a rare few amount of children want to sit and listen and talk.  most want to run around and play.  but, i suppose if the parents worked it out right - they could do both.  but, as i see it - you have to have a sort of 'plan' established from birth.  i think the bach family did.  and, mozart's.  and rachmaninovs.  there was a musicality of the family from the very beginning.  they just grew up with knowledge of music and instruments.

in reading about rachmaninov's childhood - it was pleasant during summer - but the school year?  up at 6am and right to the studies.  what children do this today.  i am really curious.  maybe china.  japan?  try this on an american child.  we're too spoiled.  also, the idea of discipline is mute - but perhaps there is a way to transition from ages 2-3 to 5-6 years of age.  if a child learns a lot of discipline early - they are more likely to listen.  and, yet - we want them to have a childhood, too.  it is a fine line.  not to be too harsh or too lenient.  maybe seeing what they can tolerate and later enjoy?

[pianistimo]

i'd be really curious to hear an explaination of the 'plans' of the parents of concert artists.  i think the plan was already established at birth, somehow, that music would be an important part of their education.  when i had children - the first one was an experiment.  the second one i planned almost everything.  today, she is highly disciplined.  the other is more 'artistic temperament.'  the second has less affixation to 'feelings' - and gets her work done even if she isn't feeling well.  the first - has to feel well to accomplish things.  but, very romantic in terms of understanding precisely his feelings.   (as in romantic era)  just as chopin and bach were at opposite ends of a sort of artistic spectrum.  one says 'aggghhh.  i'm sick.  i can't work today.'  the other doesn't notice they're sick until they die.

[tompilk]

i dont think hamelin practises too much... i just think he's smart and efficient at practise...
Tom