Moiseiwitsch on Rachmaninoff
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- My favorite musician, the great pianist, Benno Moiseiwitsch, reminisces about his old friend, Sergei Rachmaninoff, on a radio broadcast from the 1950s hosted by Abram Chasins, a U.S. composer, pianist, author, and radio executive.
Here is a recording of Moiseiwitsch playing the B minor Prelude mentioned in the interview: • Moiseiwitsch plays Rac...
Here Is a compilation of five Rachmaninoff preludes played by Moiseiwitsch: • Rachmaninov - 5 Prelud...
Here is the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream that was mentioned (from about 11:00 on): • Benno Moiseiwitsch pla...
Moiseiwitsch playing two of Abram Chasins' piano compositions:
"Flirtation in a Chinese Garden" • Benno Moiseiwitsch pla...
"Rush Hour in Hong Kong" • Chasins Rush hour in H...
Fabulous interview. Fascinating first hand insights into Rachmaninoff and some deep thoughts on practice. My first concert I attended as a child was Moseiwitsch playing the Rhapsody.
Benno was my Fathers Cousin, & that is why I got to meeting him. I can't remember whether or not it was his daughter who wrote his biography, my memory fails me now that I'm 75 years old I'm afraid, I seem to recall her name being Tania & she worked in the production of Opera! The Biography is a good insight to his character, he was apparently a habitual gambler, I was pleased to be able to hear his voice on this radio broadcast. At his funeral I sat in front of Yvonne Mitchel the actress, & next to a violinist called Max Jaffa, they were somehow related to Benno.None of this tells you about his musicianship I'm sorry to say!
+operafanatic1 Wonderful. Thank you. I once exchanged emails with Benno Moiseiwitsch, the nephew, who is a professor of physics in Northern Ireland. He recalled his father playing two-piano pieces with his uncle-namesake when he was a boy. Benno the physicist is a professor at Queens University in Belfast.
Tanya was Benno Moiseiwitsch's daughter, and although not a musician, she was considered one of the top set- and costume-designers in England and Canada. She did theatre and opera sets. One production that was seen by many was the for-television _King Lear_ starring Lawrence Olivier in his late years; Tanya did the costumes.
Tanya was the child of Benno's marriage to Australian violinist Daisy Kennedy. They divorced and she married a poet, John Drinkwater. Daisy's cousin was a cellist, and HER grandson is the well-known violinist Nigel Kennedy.
I think the biography was by another cousin of yours--I forget. I have not read it.
Benno was great friends with Dame Myra Hess, a great pianist, who had organized the famous lunchtime concerts in London during the war. My father was a young soldier at the time, and attended as many of Benno Moiseiwitsch's performances as possible.
He was also good friends with the great pianist Solomon. There are some delightful photos of the two of them playing cards. There is a poignancy to those photographs. Solomon had a stroke when quite young and that ended his career. Though posed casually, Solomon's right hand is slack and all his action in the photos is with his left hand.
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I met Benno Moiseiwitsch on several occassions, the last time in his Dressing Room after having performed a Rachmaninoff Concerto (Albert Hall, London ) I also attended his funeral in St John's Wood London during the early 60's. He was not only a real virtuoso, but a great raconteur, with a wonderful wit!
+operafanatic1 Thank you for your comment. I envy your meeting with him. It would be a great pleasure to me to read any more memories of him that you might share.
Thank you for putting this here, what a gem. Appreciate the pictures going with the dialogue as well. Just discovered this pianist (Benno) from a friend and he is remarkable.
Thank you for sharing this gem. Greetings from Brazil.
Moiseiwitch's daughter, Tanya designed the wonderful Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario. I was lucky to be coming up at the time she created magnificent costumes which I saw in some of the very exciting Shakespeare productions.
What a wonderful little interview. It wasn't until I read the description that I realized the interviewer was the husband of one of my teachers, Constance Keene... what a time to be alive as a pianist back then!
Thank you Christopher, for all the interesting information! You mention Tanya working on a Set for a Lawrence Olivier production, as my sister acted with Sir Lawrence & Vivian Leigh in a Terence Rattigan play (The Sleeping Prince) which was written for the Queens Coronation, I also had the chance to meet him!
Absolute gem! thank you!
For anyone interested in really great, artistic, sensitive and technically brilliant playing, Benno Moiseiwitsch is your man. He is little known today, a great shame, and ranks with Horowitz, Rubinstein and Richter. A VERY great pianist who can be heard on many CDs readily available. Don't miss him!
My introduction to classical music, nearly 70 years ago, was a 78 RPM recording of Moiseiwitsch playing the Beethoven PC No.5 (the Emperor). That recording is available somewhere on YT now. I've heard Barenboim, Rubinstein, Kempff and others, but brilliant as they are, none seem to quite match BM, especially in the slow movement. All that proves, I guess, that impressions formed in our earliest years last a lifetime
His Schumann is really wonderful, Carneval for example. Builds to a wonderful climax.
Thank you for uploading this!
You are welcome. I hope you enjoyed this treasure of piano history. I love this opportunity to hear Moiseiwitsch speak, and to recall, with such fondness, his old friend, and their remarkable artistic relationship.
Hi Christopher, Benno was my late mother's uncle, the biography to which you refer, was written by my mother's brother Maurice Moiseiwitsch, who authored many books. I do have a copy of it...the family rumours were that was some artistic license taken....but it's a good read and I presume mostly true!
Wonderful! It is moving to me to hear from his close relatives. Thank you for commenting.
exactly! facinating is the word for this dialog!! impressive The ruturn that never come, but the most important thing
I would like to read his biography to see what he thought about his famous teacher Leschitizky.
Many , many thx for this upload! Really fascinating... I greatly admire many of Moiseiwitsch's renderings. As regards Rachmaninoff's music I do love his rendering of the Prelude in B minor (he tells a funny story about the meeting with Rachmaninoff the first time he (M) played the piece in New York...) and the extraordinary performance of Rachmaninoff's arrangement of the Midsummer Night's Dream. Perhaps I prefer his to Rachmaninoff's!... Shared in Google+
My Great Uncle Benno!!!
Great and insightful interview!
Wonderful
I heard this broadcast and not long afterward, heard him play - both with orchestra and in recital. I thought his approach was a little like Rubinstein, that is, not overdoing anything. He had the "means" (technique) to do whatever he wished. The music came first, for him. A truly great artist.
I don't think Abram Chasins should have addressed Moiseiwitsch by his first name. The pianist deserves more respect than that in a public interview.
Perhaps they were old time friends
@@andream.464 Yep, interviewer even mentions it at the onset, "friend & bridge partner"
When Abram Chasins did a radio interview with Horowitz, he addressed him as Volodya on the air. Chasins knew all the great pianists socially.