For many years, I had assumed JB had played only Fledermaus (of Godowsky's three paraphrases) but I recently came across details of one performance of one of the other two. On Thursday, 3 August 1939 in the Anfiteatro, Havana, his programme included Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Strauss II/Godowsky, Künstlerleben ("An Artist's Life" Op.316). This is the only reference I've found thus far to a performance by Jorge of this piece (one his teacher David Saperton recorded and which was also a speciality of Earl Wild and Rian de Waal) The details are in a Havana newspaper, Diario de la Marina, 2.8.1939 Jorge played for Godowsky a few times in New York during 1933/34 and apparently his piano scores contain markings by the composer. In an interview with Le Monde Diplomatique, August 1986, Jorge states: 'I never heard Godowsky play; he had had a heart attack ("un infarctus") [- in actual fact, a stroke in 1930 while recording Chopin's E major scherzo in London] - and no longer played the piano. He was not a pianist for the big halls, he was - if you like - an artist of the salon. There are salons where the women are elegant and where hands are kissed. It is of such ladies that we must think when we play Godowsky, not of dancers wearing après-ski boots.' (Mais il y a des salons où les femmes sont élégantes et où l’on pratique le baise-main. C'est à ces femmes-là qu'il faut penser quand on joue Godowski. Pas à des danseuses chaussées d'après-skis.)
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For many years, I had assumed JB had played only Fledermaus (of Godowsky's three paraphrases) but I recently came across details of one performance of one of the other two. On Thursday, 3 August 1939 in the Anfiteatro, Havana, his programme included Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Strauss II/Godowsky, Künstlerleben ("An Artist's Life" Op.316). This is the only reference I've found thus far to a performance by Jorge of this piece (one his teacher David Saperton recorded and which was also a speciality of Earl Wild and Rian de Waal) The details are in a Havana newspaper, Diario de la Marina, 2.8.1939
Jorge played for Godowsky a few times in New York during 1933/34 and apparently his piano scores contain markings by the composer. In an interview with Le Monde Diplomatique, August 1986, Jorge states: 'I never heard Godowsky play; he had had a heart attack ("un infarctus") [- in actual fact, a stroke in 1930 while recording Chopin's E major scherzo in London] - and no longer played the piano. He was not a pianist for the big halls, he was - if you like - an artist of the salon. There are salons where the women are elegant and where hands are kissed. It is of such ladies that we must think when we play Godowsky, not of dancers wearing après-ski boots.' (Mais il y a des salons où les femmes sont élégantes et où l’on pratique le baise-main. C'est à ces femmes-là qu'il faut penser quand on joue Godowski. Pas à des danseuses chaussées d'après-skis.)
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting!