Andras Schiff is the musician I would most like to know as a friend. He is quiet, deep and funny. Gentle and self effacing. But he has a personal standard in music that is honorable and admirable. He says the things in this interview that I was saying for much of my life about contests, pop culture, and the abysmal state of classical music in America, where everything has to be staged as some sort of drama or, again, competition. I was late in coming to know him through recordings and concerts. (on video) But now I watch everything I can find of his on RUclips, at least as I have the time. And like Andras, my personal musical hero is JS Bach, though I in no way limit myself to Bach. I love all the great composers. But Bach is the person who has taught me the most about music and life through music. Like Andras, like Henryk Szeryng, like Casals and so many others, I have played Bach each day for much of my life as a spiritual experience. I started as a saxophonist and transcribed the Partitas & Sonatas for solo violin, the Suites for Cello, as well as many other works so that I might get to know them intimately by playing them. Eventually the constant longing I felt to play “real” music, rather than conservatory contest music, led me to switch to the piano later in life. I’ve struggled to catch up with technique, but it has come - thanks most likely to my previous abilities as a concert performer on other instruments. But through it all, Andras has been an inspiration to me. I play Bach differently than he, but his performances are absolutely unmatched in my opinion. He’s the foremost interpreter of Bach in our time. This interview was especially meaningful to me, for I did not know much about his family, and I still don’t, but he at least expressed some of the dynamics at work, such as his pianist mother, the “miracle” of their surviving the holocaust, and his difficulties in the USA. I now practice daily for hours, but I do so on a ranch far, far removed from our US cities. It’s the last place you’d expect to hear Bach or Skryabin emanating from the windows, but this isolation gives me a feeling of kinship with Schiff and other musicians who still take this musical world of ours very seriously. It’s a spiritual life. Music grants us far more than most people would ever imagine. Andras understands that and lives that life. I do the best I can in a harsh environment, but I’d love to meet him some day and have a chance to talk person-to-person about some of our musical inclinations, questions, and what we’ve learned. Thank Musikalisches Opfer for posting this.
You are very welcome!🙏🏻 Thank you for your wonderful testimony! The music of Bach transcends the boundaries of instruments and somehow puts us in communion… none less than the great cellist Pablo Casals used to play each morning a prelude and fuge from the wtc as sort of a ritual🎶
I was only a child in Hungary when I heard the name of already well known musicians on the radio. I am not from a family with musical background and I cannot mention a single thing what has taken me closer to classical music. Maybe, just closer to the feeling of its beauty and respecting all who comtribute to the ever existing world of it until one can speak about humanity. Now, being close to 60 I’m still only on a journey to get closer the the wonders of unparralleled meaning of music. I feel my deepest gratitude that Sir András Schiff helps me to enjoy every scene of that journey. One small remark to the margin: I believe many Hungarian understands his leaving from Hungary. Me too.
Thank you so much, Musikalisches Opfer. Am so filled with emotion that I really don’t know what to say. András Schiff comes from a family of deep integrity, intelligence, knowledge and talent, all of which he seems to have inherited in abundance. His parents and relatives suffered dreadfully in the Holocaust and, although he was born as late as 1953, he will have learnt from them what is truly valuable in life. All this shines from him when he talks so quietly. His work ethic is colossal; his search for knowledge incessant; he is far and away the most complete musician I have ever encountered. And - hearing him play J S Bach has, since 1988, been a series of the greatest privileges of my very long life. Thank you again, Musikalisches Opfer.
You are very welcome! 🙏🏻 Maestro’s ethic is second to none, his research of sound and shape testifies his deep love and devotion to music! As Arie Vardi once said, Hungarian musicians are very disciplined on one hand and a little crazy (😆) on the other!🎶
I loved listening to the thoughts and performances of this gentle and soft spoken musical giant. I chuckled at his dislike of Liszt as a person and thus his music ... and I also agree. His deep love of Bach and Schubert aligns equally well.
I have been a huge fan of Andras Schiff since a little child and I saw him in that very moving documentary about Schubert on TV and managed to record it on VHS. There is something about his integrity and honesty that unmatched and very admirable. One cannot express in words the uniqueness of Andras Schiff and that is his true power. He can play just a single not and make it sound more beautiful than anyone else.
As a music student and pianiist raised in Baja California, Mexico, I was fortunate to have studied with Hungarian pianist Istvan Nadas at San Francisco State University in the late sixties. He was friends with the chair of International Programs for the CA state college system that coordinated student travel studies abroad, US Rep. from Hayward, CA, Tom Lantos. He was also Hungarian and I am certain they helped me assure my accepptance into the study-abroad program in Spain, where I studied for two years in Madrid. I am certain they saw this young mexican kid in the midst of the cultural desert of California/Mexico, and decided to offer me the opportunity to broaden my horizon by accepting me for study in Spain. For that I am truly grateful. This interview with András reminds me of the humanitarian and intelligent manner of the few people I have had contact with from Hungary. I have been studying his videos of Beethoven Sonatas and am impressed of the breath of his knowledge and insights into Beethoven''s thinking, humor and skillful composing. To sum this up... I say "GRACIAS A LA VIDA" and that I love Hungary and Hungarians.
Thank you for sharing, @Musikalisches Opfer. I like so much musicians like Schiff: he doesn't move merely his fingers, he is not an athlete of the keyboard. He has a true knowledge of his instrument and musical history. For him, ,music is ethics. I hope that I will listen to one of Schiff's concerts here in Italy one day. He is such a source of inspiration and this interview confirms it!
I fully agree! His knowledge covers not only the piano repertoire but the arts at 360°! As Horowitz used to say, an artist, to be called so, has to be interested not only in is field but has to be “all rounded”, and Maestro Schiff, for sure is an example!🎶
Thank you very much! I listened to it yesterday and it was mesmerising! I think also Rubinstein once said in an interview that he wanted it to be played on his deathbed🙏🏻🎶
I wonder if Schiff still feels this way about Liszt *as a person* -- Argerich, in a Medici TV interview, said she felt most fond of Liszt as a person. What does she know about him that Schiff doesn't - or vice versa? Wouldn't it be great to see Argerich and Schiff in conversation? Like worlds colliding!
Well, I think his antipathy for Franz Liszt was in part caused by the “Hungarian rhetoric”, I heard in many occasions Maestro Schiff quoting Liszt with enthusiasm… I must say that I also don’t particularly like his music but I really respect his work as a musicologist and pedagogue.
@trevorguy63 : Yes. Immensely irritating interviewer. In a great hurry. She probably had a list of questions to get through, plus the inevitable time limit. And a sharp tone to her voice, ready to argue with a great musician. What a pity.
I get Liszts music can not touch you but to not like the person..... Liszt was the most generous musician : he gave free masterclasses, promoted many musics before his own, even from musicians who didn't like him, made many charity concerts, gave money to promote memorials to great composers (Beethoven statue in Bonn). He could be severe and strict but was not really that bad of a person.
I am sick of the interviewer constantly interrupting Schiff. Good interviewers do not need to do this. I have quit at 04.25 and will not return. Although I am interested in what Schiff said. But that kind of controlling the interviewed is not decent.
I don’t get it. What’s wrong with Liszt? Wagner I understand. It’s foggy. But Liszt? Would there be Ravel and Debussy without Liszt? And Gershwin, and The Beach Boys?
Andras Schiff is the musician I would most like to know as a friend. He is quiet, deep and funny. Gentle and self effacing. But he has a personal standard in music that is honorable and admirable. He says the things in this interview that I was saying for much of my life about contests, pop culture, and the abysmal state of classical music in America, where everything has to be staged as some sort of drama or, again, competition. I was late in coming to know him through recordings and concerts. (on video) But now I watch everything I can find of his on RUclips, at least as I have the time. And like Andras, my personal musical hero is JS Bach, though I in no way limit myself to Bach. I love all the great composers. But Bach is the person who has taught me the most about music and life through music. Like Andras, like Henryk Szeryng, like Casals and so many others, I have played Bach each day for much of my life as a spiritual experience. I started as a saxophonist and transcribed the Partitas & Sonatas for solo violin, the Suites for Cello, as well as many other works so that I might get to know them intimately by playing them. Eventually the constant longing I felt to play “real” music, rather than conservatory contest music, led me to switch to the piano later in life. I’ve struggled to catch up with technique, but it has come - thanks most likely to my previous abilities as a concert performer on other instruments. But through it all, Andras has been an inspiration to me. I play Bach differently than he, but his performances are absolutely unmatched in my opinion. He’s the foremost interpreter of Bach in our time.
This interview was especially meaningful to me, for I did not know much about his family, and I still don’t, but he at least expressed some of the dynamics at work, such as his pianist mother, the “miracle” of their surviving the holocaust, and his difficulties in the USA. I now practice daily for hours, but I do so on a ranch far, far removed from our US cities. It’s the last place you’d expect to hear Bach or Skryabin emanating from the windows, but this isolation gives me a feeling of kinship with Schiff and other musicians who still take this musical world of ours very seriously. It’s a spiritual life. Music grants us far more than most people would ever imagine. Andras understands that and lives that life. I do the best I can in a harsh environment, but I’d love to meet him some day and have a chance to talk person-to-person about some of our musical inclinations, questions, and what we’ve learned. Thank Musikalisches Opfer for posting this.
You are very welcome!🙏🏻 Thank you for your wonderful testimony! The music of Bach transcends the boundaries of instruments and somehow puts us in communion… none less than the great cellist Pablo Casals used to play each morning a prelude and fuge from the wtc as sort of a ritual🎶
I was only a child in Hungary when I heard the name of already well known musicians on the radio. I am not from a family with musical background and I cannot mention a single thing what has taken me closer to classical music. Maybe, just closer to the feeling of its beauty and respecting all who comtribute to the ever existing world of it until one can speak about humanity. Now, being close to 60 I’m still only on a journey to get closer the the wonders of unparralleled meaning of music. I feel my deepest gratitude that Sir András Schiff helps me to enjoy every scene of that journey.
One small remark to the margin: I believe many Hungarian understands his leaving from Hungary. Me too.
Thank you so much, Musikalisches Opfer. Am so filled with emotion that I really don’t know what to say. András Schiff comes from a family of deep integrity, intelligence, knowledge and talent, all of which he seems to have inherited in abundance. His parents and relatives suffered dreadfully in the Holocaust and, although he was born as late as 1953, he will have learnt from them what is truly valuable in life. All this shines from him when he talks so quietly. His work ethic is colossal; his search for knowledge incessant; he is far and away the most complete musician I have ever encountered. And - hearing him play J S Bach has, since 1988, been a series of the greatest privileges of my very long life. Thank you again, Musikalisches Opfer.
You are very welcome! 🙏🏻 Maestro’s ethic is second to none, his research of sound and shape testifies his deep love and devotion to music! As Arie Vardi once said, Hungarian musicians are very disciplined on one hand and a little crazy (😆) on the other!🎶
@@musikalischesopfer 🤗
I loved listening to the thoughts and performances of this gentle and soft spoken musical giant. I chuckled at his dislike of Liszt as a person and thus his music ... and I also agree. His deep love of Bach and Schubert aligns equally well.
I have been a huge fan of Andras Schiff since a little child and I saw him in that very moving documentary about Schubert on TV and managed to record it on VHS.
There is something about his integrity and honesty that unmatched and very admirable. One cannot express in words the uniqueness of Andras Schiff and that is his true power. He can play just a single not and make it sound more beautiful than anyone else.
As a music student and pianiist raised in Baja California, Mexico, I was fortunate to have studied with Hungarian pianist Istvan Nadas at San Francisco State University in the late sixties. He was friends with the chair of International Programs for the CA state college system that coordinated student travel studies abroad, US Rep. from Hayward, CA, Tom Lantos. He was also Hungarian and I am certain they helped me assure my accepptance into the study-abroad program in Spain, where I studied for two years in Madrid. I am certain they saw this young mexican kid in the midst of the cultural desert of California/Mexico, and decided to offer me the opportunity to broaden my horizon by accepting me for study in Spain. For that I am truly grateful.
This interview with András reminds me of the humanitarian and intelligent manner of the few people I have had contact with from Hungary. I have been studying his videos of Beethoven Sonatas and am impressed of the breath of his knowledge and insights into Beethoven''s thinking, humor and skillful composing.
To sum this up... I say "GRACIAS A LA VIDA" and that I love Hungary and Hungarians.
This is wonderful, thank you for sharing your story!🎶🙏🏻
Thank you for sharing, @Musikalisches Opfer. I like so much musicians like Schiff: he doesn't move merely his fingers, he is not an athlete of the keyboard. He has a true knowledge of his instrument and musical history. For him, ,music is ethics. I hope that I will listen to one of Schiff's concerts here in Italy one day. He is such a source of inspiration and this interview confirms it!
I fully agree! His knowledge covers not only the piano repertoire but the arts at 360°! As Horowitz used to say, an artist, to be called so, has to be interested not only in is field but has to be “all rounded”, and Maestro Schiff, for sure is an example!🎶
What a pleasure to listen. Wonderful upload as always. I raced to listen to the Casals and Végh Quartet record and loved it.
Thank you very much! I listened to it yesterday and it was mesmerising! I think also Rubinstein once said in an interview that he wanted it to be played on his deathbed🙏🏻🎶
Thank you! Great musician, great human being.
You are welcome! 🙏🏻
He’s a great pianist and teacher
My favorite human being.
Lovely broadcast
I wonder if Schiff still feels this way about Liszt *as a person* -- Argerich, in a Medici TV interview, said she felt most fond of Liszt as a person. What does she know about him that Schiff doesn't - or vice versa? Wouldn't it be great to see Argerich and Schiff in conversation? Like worlds colliding!
Well, I think his antipathy for Franz Liszt was in part caused by the “Hungarian rhetoric”, I heard in many occasions Maestro Schiff quoting Liszt with enthusiasm… I must say that I also don’t particularly like his music but I really respect his work as a musicologist and pedagogue.
She interrupts him so much, good God. Let the man speak.
@trevorguy63 : Yes. Immensely irritating interviewer. In a great hurry. She probably had a list of questions to get through, plus the inevitable time limit. And a sharp tone to her voice, ready to argue with a great musician. What a pity.
Most humorous pieces of music are for me by J.S. Bach „ das Quotlibet with the Backtrog“ and the „Coffee Cantata „ .
I get Liszts music can not touch you but to not like the person.....
Liszt was the most generous musician : he gave free masterclasses, promoted many musics before his own, even from musicians who didn't like him, made many charity concerts, gave money to promote memorials to great composers (Beethoven statue in Bonn).
He could be severe and strict but was not really that bad of a person.
I do agree with you! Thought not enjoying passionately his music, I truly think he has been one of the greatest musical figure and pedagogue🎶
@@musikalischesopfer Absolutely. Wagner would I have stayed away from : Great composer but not great person.
I am sick of the interviewer constantly interrupting Schiff.
Good interviewers do not need to do this.
I have quit at 04.25 and will not return. Although I am interested in what Schiff said. But that kind of controlling the interviewed is not decent.
I don’t get it. What’s wrong with Liszt? Wagner I understand. It’s foggy. But Liszt? Would there be Ravel and Debussy without Liszt? And Gershwin, and The Beach Boys?
We all have likes and dislikes that others don’t understand. It’s not a big deal. I too do not like Liszt!! 🥴
He has too many awkward consonants at the end of his name.
@@frenchimp it’s just „List“
ᵖʳᵒᵐᵒˢᵐ 💦