"We're looking for someone with comprehensive versatility - someone who has unbelievable technical prowess in the service of the score and can convey a commanding personal response to the score. "We're not looking for the kind of sensational virtuoso that galvanizes an audience so they're so overwhelmed by the rush that nerve endings are practically sliced off," says Aide, the former head of the keyboard division at the University of Toronto's faculty of music. You can see Pogorelich playing Scarlatti here.įine write up that's more revealing about the nature of the Honens International Piano Competition than anything else. People are always after the 'dark power,' like in Star Wars." < Link. That was the price a 22-year-old had to pay to make an awful lot of money. I worked on it myself like a child making a toy. It turns out that he wasn't feeling well and that he will be seeking medical attention during his stay in Denver." LinkĪsked what he thinks today when he hears himself described as "eccentric," "arrogant," and "difficult," the pianist said, "That was my image. Some hefty coughs ensued, which were later explained in the pianist's surprisingly forthcoming remarks.
Pogorelich opened the program so abruptly that an adjustment of the piano bench and music stand followed awkwardly while he continued playing. Sometimes achingly beautiful, sometimes menacingly angry, his music making was utterly absorbing.Plenty of other oddities peppered the evening, as well. The result was a string of musical phrases and artistic exclamations that were rendered with unabashed passion. "While it's vain to presume what goes on in another human psyche, this physical powerhouse of a man - think Yul Brynner - is arguably a troubled, tortured yet deeply sensitive soul. This century's Glenn Gould of a sort? I really wonder. Read the rest of this fascinating interview here.Ĭurrently listening to:Schubert, Impromptu D.935 - 3 in B flat
"If a man from Mars were dropped on the earth and the only Beethoven left was the piano sonatas, he could actually form a pretty complete idea of who Beethoven was. It isn't just a matter of effort, though, but also of absolute time - a live performance takes exactly as long as the piece, whereas a recording of a single sonata might take eight hours of takes, listening, making judgments, and balancing possible choices.Īnd I think he gets it right with this observation: I stretch my own limits, because I take all the experiences I've had with the individual work, with Beethoven and with performing altogether, and I try to distill them. In recording, though, I really put the screws to myself. Ohlsson's recording of the Beethoven sonata cycle is shaping up to be one for the ages. In a recent interview with writer/pianist Joseph Smith, Ohlsson provides an glimpse into this approach to the project:
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