Biggest Jerk Pianist

[thalberg]

Which famous pianist do you think was the biggest jerk in real life?

(I'll vote perhaps Gould because he was arrogant and weird and sued Steinway for one of their employees tapping him on the shoulder.)

[daniloperusina]

Pogorelich for his first visit to the Steinway basement NY, entering, not even looking at their chief concert technician Franz Moor, and dropping his jacket on the floor, meaning 'pick it up..servant'

[opus10no2]

[mikey6]

Kissin seems like an arrogant prig, but dunno, could be........because......he can't..........talk.......at a .....normal......rate......

[invictious]

(I'll vote perhaps Gould because he was arrogant and weird and sued Steinway for one of their employees tapping him on the shoulder.)

He WHAT? Tell me about it

'lawl' at opus

[ramseytheii]

Who is this?  I think this picture is intended for people with dirty-sock fetish.  Such a thing exists!  A lot of male pop stars are trained to interact with the media in such a way that suggests neither hetero- nor homo-sexualism; that way they attract the most people as fans.  I think this picture is going a bit too far in trying to attract new fans amongst foot fetishists...?

Walter Ramsey

[thalberg]

He WHAT? Tell me about it

'lawl' at opus

Well, I've heard two versions of the story.  One is that a Steinway employee shook his hand.  The other is that the Steinway employee patted him on the shoulder.  It's in Franz Mohr's book ,"My Life With The Great Pianists."  Anyway, it was just a litttle pat--couldn't hurt a fly.  Gould claimed the employee had 'hurt' him, and sued, and WON, for something like $300,000 dollars (this was more than thirty years ago).  Steinway was mad at him.

Because they were mad at him, they didn't rebuild his piano properly years later, and he was devastated and played Yamahas for the end of his life.  I don't know why he chose Yamahas--I hate them.  Why not Bluthners or Steingrabers or Bechsteins or Masons?  So many better choices.

[thalberg]

Another funny one about Gould.

Barbra Streisand loved Gould, and he was a fan of hers.  Once she walked in on one of his recording sessions--Beethoven Emperor with Stokowski I think--and said she just wanted to say hi.  The two had never met.  He just stared at her in silence.  She finally said "I'm Barbra Streisand."  And he just said, "I know."

Hmph.....no wonder he never dated.

[daniloperusina]

And one more:

Gould was filming with Menuhin. They were supposed to play Shoenberg, and have 'impromptu discussions' about the piece while they were rehearsing. Only thing was that Gould was neuroticly obsessed about being in control, so he had made an exact script, including Menuhin's answers. Menuhin, tounge-in-cheek, decided to pull a prank and during the filming made a completely different answer, whereupon Gould's face make the most horrible twists of panic.

[jabbz]

Remember, Gould probably had autism or anyothersuch variant. This is even more probably considering the extent of the man genius. I personally don't much like DaWhale, or Lang Lang, but thats just me.

[ramseytheii]

Remember, Gould probably had autism or anyothersuch variant. This is even more probably considering the extent of the man genius. I personally don't much like DaWhale, or Lang Lang, but thats just me.

I can't ever see the description of jerk fitting a person who donated his entire estate, including decades of royalties, to the Humane Society.  Over-sensitive perhaps, in regards to the Steinway lawsuit.  And isn't Lang Lang one of the most friendly pianists?

I haven't yet met a famous pianist, who if they seem unpleasant, only puts on an outer shell of curmudgeondom, because they are approached by so many insipid people.

Walter Ramsey

[jabbz]

I imagine Lang Lang is probably very friendly, but I think musically he's a jerk. Amazing fingers however!

Gould was definitely over sensitive, but as you said, very generous.

[etudes]

I imagine Lang Lang is probably very friendly, but I think musically he's a jerk. Amazing fingers however!

Gould was definitely over sensitive, but as you said, very generous.

da DONGAH is very friendly....I can tell that,met him at several occasions and he was always friendly  even he was tired like pigs after prokofiev 3rd concerto

[jacobwynn]

Leonard Bernstein

A really horrible arrogant insulting (pardon-my-french).

[jakev2.0]

Gould was obsessive about his health. He apparently injured his spine as a child, and his parents were protective of him. The whole thing about him having Asperger's is completely  unproven/unprovable. Gould was a good soul.

[soliloquy]

Who is this?  I think this picture is intended for people with dirty-sock fetish.  Such a thing exists!  A lot of male pop stars are trained to interact with the media in such a way that suggests neither hetero- nor homo-sexualism; that way they attract the most people as fans.  I think this picture is going a bit too far in trying to attract new fans amongst foot fetishists...?

Walter Ramsey

It's mei-ting sun, and yes he's a douche.  Gotta look at Leslie Howard and Cyprien Katsaris for biggest *** pianists.

[houseofblackleaves]

lol.

I just saw Mei-Ting live at a music festival in Minneapolis not too long ago.  You can HEAR the arrogance in his playing!  It's SO GREAT.

Regardless, I think that being a ego-maniac is better than being a stiff-ego-maniac that spends his/her time enslaving government officials, conspiring against Aflak and prowling the streets eating children.

XD

[gerry]

lol.

Regardless, I think that being a ego-maniac is better than being a stiff-ego-maniac that spends his/her time enslaving government officials, conspiring against Aflak and prowling the streets eating children.

XD

 

[jakev2.0]

Keith Jarrett is a very unpleasant human being.

[pmz310]

I say Vladimir Horowitz haha

[communist]

mark f**sman

[mattgreenecomposer]

Ive heard Yefim Bronfman is a real douche, but man that guy can play!

[quasimodo]

I've heard Andras Schiff was a total ass...
He's also the pianist I dislike the most in Bach.

[learner of liszt]

Richard Kastle. End of story.

[healdie]

[quote author=thalberg link=topic=26169.msg298614#msg298614 date=1185659422

(I'll vote perhaps Gould because he was arrogant and weird and sued Steinway for one of their employees tapping him on the shoulder.)
[/quote]

I have Aspergers Syndrome and i am often considered by those around me to be selfish, arrogant and wierd and cannot abide poeple touching me it makes me physically angry, i was considered strange as a child when at nursery i would not let my mother hug me and when she did i would scream
i still won't

so if Gould di have Aspergers this could be a result of that

[lc604]

Well, I've heard two versions of the story.  One is that a Steinway employee shook his hand.  The other is that the Steinway employee patted him on the shoulder.  It's in Franz Mohr's book ,"My Life With The Great Pianists."  Anyway, it was just a litttle pat--couldn't hurt a fly.  Gould claimed the employee had 'hurt' him, and sued, and WON, for something like $300,000 dollars (this was more than thirty years ago).  Steinway was mad at him.

Because they were mad at him, they didn't rebuild his piano properly years later, and he was devastated and played Yamahas for the end of his life.  I don't know why he chose Yamahas--I hate them.  Why not Bluthners or Steingrabers or Bechsteins or Masons?  So many better choices.

Well despite what happened at Steinway, Gould's last piano which is a Yamaha Grand is still in working order at the lobby of Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto if anybody is interested in seeing it in person.

[communist]

Which famous pianist do you think was the biggest jerk in real life?

(I'll vote perhaps Gould because he was arrogant and weird and sued Steinway for one of their employees tapping him on the shoulder.)

He was arrogant? please explain, and what does it matter if he was 'weird'? does that justify him being a jerk?

My vote goes to Vladimir Feltsman, he is a great pianist but he is incredibly condescending.

[m19834]

mark f**sman

Oh ?

Vladimir Feltsman (...) he is incredibly condescending.

How so ?


*pulls up a chair, sits at the table with a bottle of warm vodka and drinks to the bottom ... *  

[communist]

Oh ?

That was just an immature joke.

How so ?


*pulls up a chair, sits at the table with a bottle of warm vodka and drinks to the bottom ... * 

Whenever he gives a masterclass and he is demonstrating a section, he plays through 3 minutes of the piece with no need of doing so. he also tries to act cool, I saw him perform live and after he finished a piece he made a hand motion as if he was wiping sweat of his head.

Great pianist though.

[m19834]

That was just an immature joke.

Does it mean that the joke will soon mature and perhaps become funny ?

Whenever he gives a masterclass and he is demonstrating a section, he plays through 3 minutes of the piece with no need of doing so. he also tries to act cool, I saw him perform live and after he finished a piece he made a hand motion as if he was wiping sweat of his head.

Great pianist though.

Wow, yeah.  I wonder (ibbi) what he was thinking (skimbandanko) ?  Pianists do strange things, don't they ?  For example, I found it a bit silly for the man, a man, to play the Scriabin Etude for the LH whilst holding a glass of wine in the right ... playing for a group of ladies, of course.  And, also strangely, occasionally one hides beneath a veil ... I suppose I understand that one.  Do you think you would ever wish to hide, communist ?

[communist]

Does it mean that the joke will soon mature and perhaps become funny ?

I was probably 'obliterated' (drunk) when I said that.

Do you think you would ever wish to hide, communist ?

?

[m19834]

I was probably 'obliterated' (drunk) when I said that.

Me, too.

Should I know this guy ?  I don't recognize him  :-.

[pianowolfi]

Oh ?

How so ?


*pulls up a chair, sits at the table with a bottle of warm vodka and drinks to the bottom ... *  

*same here, but with vodka on ice*


Argh I hate this thread 

[gyzzzmo]

Gould wins for me. He also gets my 'most overrated pianist' award.

[pianowolfi]

Argh I hate this thread  

Gould wins for me. He also gets my 'most overrated pianist' award.

Q.E.D.  

[weissenberg2]

Q.E.D.  

??

[pianowolfi]

??

Quod erat demonstrandum=which was to be demonstrated.

[weissenberg2]

Why exactly are people calling Gould a jerk?


Lugansky seems like a douche bag.

[antichrist]

Gould for his Chopin-Bach Sonata no.3

[samjohnson]

Gould for his Chopin-Bach Sonata no.3

I know!  The way he plays that, it seems as though he is trying to insult and degrade the music, as if to say "see, it's not really that good!"

[john11inc]

Katsaris, Aimard, Jarrett, Richter.


Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

[samjohnson]

Katsaris, Aimard, Jarrett, Richter.


Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

Given what I know about the parties involved, perhaps she would be more justified making the same remark about you.

[retrouvailles]

Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

Wow, interesting. How did you meet her? She isn't a pianist, btw. She's a vocalist.

[tea cup]

Katsaris, Aimard, Jarrett, Richter.


Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

Why Richter? He seems terribly nice, judging from the "notebooks and conversations" and the documentary.

[gep]

Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

Considering the bits I've seen from you or any of your incarnations insofar as I have found out to be you too (it's a bit hard to follow up on the "kicked out once more, got back on another name",  even if I desired to do so), I'd say she must be a very placid person to just threaten to call merely the police.... To be called a cunt by someone like you must be coinsidered a compliment to her personality...

[gyzzzmo]

Katsaris, Aimard, Jarrett, Richter.


Also, randomly, Hamelin's now ex-wife, Jodi Applebaum.  I got in a confrontation with her to the extent that, by the end of it, she was threatening to call the police.  She's a serious cunt.

I dont know about her ofcourse, but seeing your way of replying and behaviour, she might actually have had a good reason to call the police.

[john11inc]

Wow, interesting. How did you meet her? She isn't a pianist, btw. She's a vocalist.

This was a couple years ago.  Another section of Roslavets' Sonata No. 6 had been discovered at that time and I informed Hamelin via e-mail, and he told me he really wanted to see it.  Although suddenly when I tried to respond the e-mail I had been talking to him before was now sending back "mailer daemon", so I called him up at his Philadelphia residence, and she answered the phone.  She kept asking me a bunch of weird questions about how I knew him, why I wanted to talk to him, all this sorta stuff, so I was like, "w/e, just give me your fax number."  She refused, being some paranoid pregnant dog, so I tried to call back later, hoping he would answer the phone, but it was her again, and she threw a psycho fit for calling them back, telling me to never call again and if I did she'd call the police and all this garbage D:  It was pretty funny; Ryan was on the line at the time.

[gep]

At least I'm happy that another bit of Roslavets has been found, both he and Mossolov suffered greatly under the Socialshit Realism disaster. If one compares the later works of either with their earlier ones one can only get sad, even when those later works aren't bad. Compare Roslavets' Violin Concerti with his early Chamber Symphony, or Mosolov's Symphony in E with his early Piano Sonatas or Piano Trio's.
That said, a piece like Mosolov's Turkmenian Nights (apparently an "ethnic" piece trying to please the power that were) in the right hands can be an exhillarating experience, as I recently found out to my pleasure.

[furtwaengler]

Wow. Being famous must be great! You have no privacy, and people who have no experience with you make definitive statements on your character...It's a dream! 

[john11inc]

Wow. Being famous must be great! You have no privacy, and people who have no experience with you make definitive statements on your character...It's a dream! 

I have experience with everyone I listed except Richter, and Richter is pretty much widely acknowledged as a douche.