What's the story of Pogorelich marrying his piano teacher?

[thalberg]

I just read about this.  It seems so wrong.... and what was the age difference? 

[counterpoint]

Perhaps he couldn't pay the lessons? 

And it was clear, that he will not marry anyone else...

[daniloperusina]

I don't remember, something like 20years. They met when he was still a student at the Moscow conservatoire. He was at some reception, saw a piano and sat down to play something. She came up and gave him some remark that apparently struck him hard. He asked her to teach him. I think he's said that this changed everything, that he went from being mediocre to exceptional (his words!). Then they married, and he lost the Chopin competition and got world-famous. Has anyone seen the competition on youtube? Really interesting! She died about ten years ago, and a bit later he disappeared for several years during some sort of mental collapse (he sold his Steinway and signed into some 'resting' home). He's back now, but seems to perform even more sporadically than before. And shaved all his hair off!
Has anyone heard him in concert lately? His last recording is the Chopin Sherzi, released in '97, right?

Interesting personality...

[sevencircles]

I have been trying to find his official site but it seems like there is none.

He performs live every ones in a while and yes he can still play really well, technically too.

[furtwaengler]

I did hear a report of a bald headed Pogorelich playing Beethoven's op. 111 in Chicago stating it was a juvenile effort, musically and technically atrocious, and an offense to the piece. I was not present and have not heard any recording to confirm or deny the assertions myself, but hasn't Pogorelich always been an odd and provocative artist? I guess that can be good and bad.   

[quasimodo]

I just read about this.  It seems so wrong.... and what was the age difference? 

Why wrong?

[prongated]

I did hear a report of a bald headed Pogorelich playing Beethoven's op. 111 in Chicago stating it was a juvenile effort, musically and technically atrocious, and an offense to the piece. I was not present and have not heard any recording to confirm or deny the assertions myself, but hasn't Pogorelich always been an odd and provocative artist? I guess that can be good and bad.

...hahaha well I suppose op. 111 in 37 minutes is provocative...

Only rec of him I've heard is Chopin's op. 44...bash bash and missed quite a few notes. The radio broadcaster also mentioned a(nother?) review that criticised his playing as "incoherent" and "out of style", among many other negative things...

Why wrong?

...hmmm maybe because in the professional teaching world it is wrong for a teacher to marry a student? In any case, it's not the first...Bartok's wife was his piano pupil of at least 10 years age difference, on top of my head.

[sevencircles]

Going to a concert with Pogo is always a big surprise it can be the worst or the best concert you even been to.

Sometimes he plays terrible sometimes amazing (these days more then ever)

[minor9th]

Here's a review from his 2004 San Francisco recital. I was there and largely agree with the comments:

https://www.bronsonpianostudio.com/reviews/102404r2.htm

[sevencircles]

Does he have an official website by the way?

Any reviews of his latest liveperformances?

[daro]

I couldn't find any reviews in the local papers, but last November, I attended the final performance of his recent US tour, which also happened to be the very first piano recital ever held in the brand-new $200 million Segerstrom Hall in Orange County, California.

The hall was only slightly dimmed, and he came out and greeted the audience with a huge smile. He started with 2 Chopin nocturnes (one of which had not been on the program), and followed with 3 sonatas, the Chopin 3rd, Scriabin 4th, and Rachmaninoff 2nd. While I wouldn't call his interpretations conventional, with their emphasis on bass lines and inner voices, there was none of the introspective experimentation and exaggerated tempi that have been causing some of his critics to suffer apoplectic fits. If anything, he tended to play the works a tad faster than one might expect, and as noted above, he did have a tendency to overpedal.

He was coughing quite a bit in the early going, more or less in counterpoint to similar noises from the audience, and it was interesting watching him find strategic places in the music to lift a hand so he could cover his mouth. At the end of the 2nd piece, he turned to the audience and said, "Unfortunately, I have a cold, but I can tell that some of you do too, so we're even."

There was no encore (I was hoping he'd do Islamey again), but all in all, he played with a mixture of tremendous passion, and extraordinary thoughtfulness, leaving little doubt that here was a great artist at the top of his form.


yd