10 Artists I'm Happy To Have Met
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- 10 Artists I’m Happy to Have Met
Antonio de Almeida
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Gil Shaham
Iván Moravec
George Crumb
Zoltan Kocsis
Leonard Slatkin
Christa Ludwig
Marc-André Hamelin
Charles Mackerras
Memories of two encounters always bring a smile to my face. Met Shostakovich's grandson, Dmitri, at Tower Records in 1987. He was very charming and very Russian. When I told him I was the store's "resident Shostakovich nut", he hugged me and signed his autograph "From Russia with Love - D. Shostakovich".
But nothing will top meeting Leonard Bernstein backstage at the Hollywood Bowl in July 1982. After the concert his dressing room door was open and a long line of people was allowed to file through. When I finally saw him Bernstein was straddling a piano bench in a green silk robe and smoking a cigarette through a holder. We chatted about his Beethoven series on PBS and I told him that it "really turned me on to classical music". "How old are you?" Bernstein asked. "17". "Huh", the maestro said with a straight face. "It's about time you got turned on".
Wonderful!
The sequel, of course, will be 10 Artists I Regret To Have Met.
Henze.
Roger Norrington
Teodor Currentzis
Simon Rattle
Christian Thielemann
Rene Jacobs
Marc Minkowski
Valery Gergiev
…
I had the pleasure of meeting LEONARD BERNSTEIN, ISAAC STERN and ARTUR RUBINSTEIN separately after their concerts all for about 15 seconds each. Mr. Rubinstein was up in age and didn't speak, he just smiled. Made a liftime of memories for me. THANKS DAVE !!!!
I met Einojuhani Rautavaara several times. He was the most courteous towards his admirers. During his last few years, he didn't attend concerts much anymore, so after the premieres of new works, I used to send him thank-you letters - to which he actually responded. I even had the honor of attending Rautavaara's funeral. I have also met Penderecki, Boulez, Philip Glass, and Pärt, but I didn't actually get to know them.
I worked at a talent agency in NYC and knew Emmanuel Ax. He's a lovely, gracious, modest gentleman and a fine pianist.
I met him too, after a concert he had given. We talked about the piano quartets of Brahms, I thanked him for the concert and the conversation, but he said: "Thank YOU!"
My most cherished meeting: Klaus Tennstedt after a concert. I got backstage and into his dressing room just wanting an autograph. He signed it and then offered me a cigarette (no thanks) and a bottle of Heineken, which I took. He was friendly and funny. Wanted to know what I thought of his Eroica. What a memory.
How was the Eroica?
Couldn't agree more about Hamelin. Have chatted with him after a couple of his recitals since he's often kind enough to greet the audience, and he's also responsive on Twitter. A fun personality and wicked smart, I'll watch any interview he does.
When I was in college, I was hired to play with the Gary, Indiana Symphony. The soloist that day turned out to be a young Itzhak Perlman. I went backstage after the performance to meet him. We had a really down home conversation. He couldn't have been nicer. About that same time, I encountered Leontyne Price twice - both times following solo recitals she gave. A friend of mine had been recriuted to turn pages for her accompanist, which is how I managed to get back stage. as with Perlman, Ms. Price couldn't have been nicer. I also got to know Leonard Slatkin's mother, Eleanor Aller, when she taught 'cello for a time at my alma mater. She was really nice as well. it's interesting how nice great people can be when one encounters them one on one.
A marvellous video, David, so thanks for sharing it with us. At one time I knew two members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra - one went on to become principal trumpet with the London Philharmonic - and I was also a very good friend of one of New Zealand's finest composers many decades ago.
Elly Ameling was most friendly and approachable, while you could not even get near Kiri te Kanawa.
Back in 2000, I approached conductor Kurt Sanderling in Berlin with a handful of his CDs.
He told me to pick "just one" for him to sign, which was his old Rachmaninov Second Symphony on DG. After signing it, he said, "you chose wisely". At that moment, I felt like Indiana Jones with the old Knight at the site of the Holy Grail.
Kurt Masur, what a lovely and warm man! I met him after a particularly felicitous Philadelphia orchestra concert that he led.
He just wanted to talk music with us warmly putting his arm around me talking about Brahms and telling us about his latest project a new orchestration of mussorgsky's pictures at an exhibition
Was that the Gortchakov orchestration he recorded with the London Philharmonic? I heard him do it with the Gewandhaus Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, and always wondered about its origins.
Of all of these ten, the one I would have most like to have met and chatted with is Mackerras. He also took Sullivan seriously as a great British composer. Without Mackerras, Sullivan's fine Cello Concerto would be lost to us. He had once conducted it with the BBC. It had never been published and was destroyed in the disastrous Chappell fire. Only the solo cello part survived. Mackerras reconstructed it from memory and it was published. It deserves many more outings than it gets.
Some 20 years ago I had a very convivial evening with Fredric Rzewski in the concert venue’s bar after a workshop during which he played and talked about his nano-sonatas. Grumpy at first but loosened up after a couple of beers! I didn’t have one of his own recordings of The People United at the time and had brought Marc-André Hamelin’s with me for him to sign, which he did, with raised eyebrows, muttering yeah yeah. I later had MAH also sign it. And speaking of Hamelin, after a few of the some 70 Hamelin concerts I’ve attended over the years I got the opportunity to talk to him at the bar or in the restaurant. Extremely affable and approachable, with an impish sense of humor, and apart from his colossal pianistic and composer abilities also a walking musical wikipedia.
I had the great privilege of meeting many famous musicians after concerts at the RFH. Generally speaking I found most of them were willing to speak too you quite amiably - you sometimes had to "lay it on with a trowel" with them but even legends like Stokowski, Bernstein Rubinstein, Milstein, Menuhin and many others were quite approachable and pleasant.
My triumph was to get Michelangeli to sign my programme after a recital.
George Szell however put the fear of God into me - he seemed to keep everybody at a distance!!
I acted like a fanboy, meeting Sir Charles Mac after he conducted Meistersinger at the Sydney Opera House in 1988. He was loved here because he never lost his Australian humour, however far he travelled.
I was so happy to meet Kurt Masur when he visited Seattle 14 years ago. I thanked him for his recording of the Dvorak cello concerto with Ma, and I'll never forget his response.
He thought about it for a few moments, registered the memory, then with a twinkle in his eye he said, "Yes yes...that one came off rather well, didn't it?"
I'd be happy to describe my meeting with court Kurt Masur
After a particularly felicitous Philadelphia orchestra concert. What a great guy a lovely man putting his arm around me warmly recognizing that my friends and I we're true music lovers.
He just wanted to talk music mentioning his projects including a new orchestration of the Pictures at an Exhibition with which he was involved
I attended rehearsals and a concert of that same piece with him in Amsterdam, Concertgebouw Orcstra. I worked in a museum as a tour guide, then. I invited him on a private tour, which to my surprise he accepted. So there we were, him, his wife and his assistant, between the Rembrandts and the Vermeers and so on. We spent 1,5 hours there, he was most generous and courteous.
One artist I was happy to have met (and interviewed a couple of times) was Peter Serkin. A charming guy and a pianist's pianist; a really thoughtful interpreter. My faves of his are his Mozart concerti with Alexlander Schneider. As much as I liked his dad's playing, I liked his even better.
I would have loved to meet Christa Ludwig. She seemed so lovely and full of charm and wit. I met Mackerras at a wigmore Hall concert. Sat next to him. Chatted a bit without me knowing he was the great man and hero of mine.
Speaking of meeting people, my very first hearing of Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto was a live performance -- in person -- with Gary Graffman. Boy, did he play that magnificently!!!!! Ever since then, I wished that I could find -- anywhere -- ANY recording of him playing that great work. Alas, record companies apparently decide who records what, and either RCA or Columbia must have decided they had enough recordings of Brahms' 2nd. Jump ahead many years, and I was able to perform (as a violinist in the orchestra) with Leonard Pennario. During the intermission of the concert, I found myself wandering outside the building on the sidewalk, right next to Leonard Pennario. His was my first recording of Rachmaninoff's 1st & 4th Piano Concerti, and I knew him for Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, "I Got Rhythm," etc. I kind of thought of him as a flashy Rachmaninoff, Liszt, "Pops" concert sort of pianist. But, here I was, so I asked him, "What is your favorite work?" He gave it a little thought then said, "I guess it would be Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto." That's when I began to realize, perhaps, what an artist's recorded output happens to be might not give an accurate picture of their actual life as an artist.
I met Jiri Belohlavek in a lift many years ago, in London. I was a member of the chorus that he was conducting and he was really sweet, very modest and gentle. He seemed pleased that I chatted to him and he wasn't at all standoffish. I had met Harnoncourt - in the same lift! - but was too intimidated to speak 😊
I always enjoy when you discuss your encounters with Moravec. I've only had very, very brief chats with a handful of artists while seeking autographs after their concerts -- Hilary Hahn, Helene Grimaud, Maurizio Pollini, Ingrid Fliter, Leon Fleisher, Santiago Rodriguez. I had Pollini sign a CD of his Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 on EMI, and I just remember the biggest smile appearing on his face when he saw it and him saying, "Oh, this is an old one!"
My parents met Henryk Górecki, though my mom didn't know who he was. I have photos of both of them with him, and he autographed my mom's calendar-planner. Two artists that thrilled me the most to meet (though they are on the periphery of 'classical music') were Terry Riley (although he is known more for his experimental/improvisatory ambient music, he can write in traditional form (e.g., his "Salome Dances for Peace," a double album of string quartet music performed by Kronos Quartet) and Harold Budd (ditto re: more ambient, but I enjoyed his album of chamber pieces "She Is a Phantom" performed by Zeitgeist). Both very nice gentlemen, and I kept a brief correspondence with Budd for a bit.
Some of the nicest musicians I met --Jessye Norman---a real sweetheart---Alfredo Kraus--ditto---Victoria de Los Angeles in Sam Goody's in NYC--asked her who her favorite tenors that she appeared/recorded with were---she said Jussi Bjorling and Nicolai Gedda---I walked home on air!! And Garrick Ohlsson---a real gentleman!
A couple of months ago, I met the composer Nico Muhly after a choral concert featuring several Seattle premieres of his works. He was very personable and approachable. He also revealed that a number of his choral works are currently being recorded by the Tallis Scholars this winter.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Christa Ludwig after a recital she had given in a gorgeous little Pavilion set in a stunning floodlit Chinese garden during a Macao Festival around 35 years ago. Some of the audience had the opportunity of meeting the artists on the terrace afterwards. I told her I was delighted she had included Bernstein songs in her programme as he had died only weeks before. She told me that she owed him so much. She had also received a bitter-sweet fax from him two weeks prior to his death. This explained that the prognosis for his illness was not good. Whilst he could still write he wanted to thank her for all the wonderful times they had enjoyed making great music together and sending his fondest love and best wishes. One great artist telling me about another. So moving!
Thank you for sharing that lovely story.
I met Zubin Mehta here in Chennai, India a few years ago when he conducted the Australia World Orchestra in the Figaro overture, a few Mozart arias, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante and Brahms 2. He was polite but distant and who can blame him considering that he has to make polite conversation with fans after every concert? But, it was a lovely experience for me inasmuch as it was his 1983 tour to India that `turned me on' to Western classical music.
What wonderful, delightful memories. Thank you so much for taking the time to share these stories. I gather from some of your videos that you've had to overcome a number of health issues. I genuinely hope that you're doing well these days.
After a wonderful performance of the Ninth by the BSO at Tanglewood, my friend in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus said, "Let's go backstage and meet Ormandy." A bit nonplussed by the nonchalance of this suggestion, and never having done so before, I nevertheless went back there and spoke with him and found him to be avuncular, gracious, and able to put his wellwishers at ease. A very memorable experience.
I enjoyed this video very much, and also everybody's else remarks of meeting other performers. Now I've met them, too. thanks.
After a Moravec's concert I asked him to sign one of his CDs. It was one of his rarer reords (I think it was on the Dorian label), at least it was rare to get where I live. He obviously knew and cared about his recorded legacy because when seeing this CD he looked at me surprisingly and said "Where the hell did you get it?!"
I met the pianist Richard Goode at a party organised by a friend of mine . He struck me as uncommonly down to earth and approachable . In part he talked to me about his experience as an ensemble pianist in Birtwistle’s ‘Silbury Air’ and finding it very tricky. His solo career came later I gather.
Your comment about composers hearing/revising their works is so true. I remember Berlioz writing that for all that his critics would say negatively about his music, they never pointed out things he was not pleased with himself! He revised Romeo and Juliet mostly after hearing it for the first time conducted by someone else. Verdi also once said of the critical reception of one of his operas that there was much stupid criticism and much more stupid praise...
I treasure the memory of meeting Cecilia Bartoli at Carnegie Hall in 2008. It was a one-night only performance; she hadn’t been to the USA in 10 years at the time, and she hasn’t been back to this country since. She was warm and gregarious at a CD signing she held after the concert, giggling when I told her how nervous I was to be in her presence, and signing my CD with a heart. Also, soprano Susan Graham was a sweetheart when I waited alone for her at the backstage door. She looked at the cover of my copy of her Sony recording of Berlioz’s “Les Nuits d’Ete” (which she had just sung with the Houston Symphony) that I was asking her to sign, calling to her friends who were with her: “Hey, this is the album cover I was telling you about. The one that upset my Dad because I was showing too much cleavage.”
Great, thanks. Amazing. Did you ever see or meet Aaron Copland, who seemed to have been very approachable. My brother and I got a letter from Copland in 1979, when we made an amateur short film based on part of his Music For A Great City. We are Danish, and we were surprised and delighted that he took the time to write a very nice letter and mail it to us in Denmark.
No, I never met him unfortunately.
There's is one experience of this kind that comes to mind, and that took place while in a line at Severance Hall in Cleveland to ask Paavo Jarvi to sign an album for me after a concert. An elderly man just in front of me in line identified himself as a double bass in the Orchestra under George Szell, and told Jarvi, quite firmly that he had played the last part of "Night Ride and Sunrise" too loud. "Maestro Szell said 'This much,": holding his thumb and forefinger close together, "and no more.'" I said to myself, "Oh, no," and braced for an unpleasant scene. But Jarvi replied, "You're absolutely right." I'll never forget that. "You're absolutely right." And so was nice to that man. So I'll never, never not like Paavo Jarvi.
I love your channel. This video was just delightful. You brought these people to life. Such fun!
Thanks for sharing this, David. Your wonderful insights and “people” stories like this bring the music to life. I recall interviewing the marvelous violinist Aaron Rosand in the 1980s. He had a sizeable ego and was more than a bit frustrated at his relative lack of commercial success in America. He was beloved in Japan and in many Scandinavian countries, but not so much here in the US. Despite his slightly sour grapes, he was charming, intelligent, highly literate and was a blazing virtuoso to boot. I remember him very fondly.
Lovely video!
I had a cup of tea and a stale digestive biscuit with Peter Pears at the Red House in Aldeburgh once. I'd taken my vocal score of War Requiem with me, but when push came to shove, I was too embarrassed to ask him to sign it... a missed opportunity for sure. That's kind of a pattern, I'm afraid. Thus, I used to pay Olivier Messiaen his expenses whenever he visited the Royal Festival Hall. And I briefly met Arvo Pärt in Sydney when we were singing his _Passio_ -but in both cases, I was too over-awed to have said much that was meaningful. I bumped into Simon Rattle outside the Snape Maltings Concert Hall just last year, and managed the stunning insight that 'I'm here to enjoy your conducting', to which his bemused reply was, 'good, so am I'. Stage fright on my part, you see :)
I was at university with Matthew Taylor, who was funny as all hell, but utterly bonkers with it: happy memories.
...and the really great thing about Crumb's music is that the strange notation tricks serve a completely musical goal; they're not just augenmusik.
In the good ol' 1990's while living in SF Bay Area as a young kid, I met Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, Georg Solti, Leontyne Price, Jerry Hadley, Sam Ramey, Tom Hampson, Charles Mackerras, Claudio Abbado (also his conductor nephew Roberto), Rostropovich, and that underrated Italian opera maestro Nello Santi. Favorite were Rostropovich, Santi and Kiri -- three nicest people and artists!
One time I saw a young boy giving Santi a stick figure drawing of him, to which the portly maestro replied, "Ahh thank you for making me skinny!" 😂😂😂
Another time, I said to Rostropovich, "May I take a picture with you?" and he grabbed me close to him with his giant powerful hand!
What a delightful presentation! If you have any stories, would love to hear more about Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich, quite an approachable and talented couple. Which ten great composers would be highest on your list to meet, based on their reputations for conversation and being approachable.
Fun talk Dave. I'm lucky to have met many famous musicians and singer along the way in my life but there are 2 who I treasure having met who are not so famous. One was Felix Wolfes who ultimately taught at New England Conservatory. Born in Germany in 1892 and left due to unwelcoming politics. He studied with Strauss and Pfitzner and knew Berg and Furtwangler among many others. He is considered by some to be the last of the romantic German Lieder composers. I spent a wonderful evening with him listening to his great stories, strong opinions and wisdom.
The other was Paul Rene Doguereau who was a long time friend. Born in France in 1908, he studied with Marguerite Long, Egon Petri, and Maurice Ravel and who knew among others Stravinsky and Glen Gould and counted among his students Earl Wild.
Irreplaceable was their knowledge and understanding of 19th century music and performance traditions as well as the 20th century. What they taught me had nothing to do with what the historically informed folks think they know.
Both have Wikipedia pages and were unforgettable.
Prieceless insights. Thank you.
This made my week. Can you please indulge us with your 10 greatest concert experiences? Like the Karajan Bruckner 8, Arrau in Beethoven 4?
Dave, I have the same request. Been meaning to ask you for a long time now. Your 10 best concert experiences, please.
Very nice talk.... by the way, I just found out that I'm just 3 weeks older than Gil Shaham. 1971 was an excellent year :)
I met Leonard Slatkin at a pre-concert talk he hosted and chatted informally with attendees afterward. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I stupidly did not get an autograph.
A fascinating talk. You've said how nice it was to meet Robert Craft - when you could understand the long words he used. And having been reading his 'Down a Path of Wonder' I think he'd swallowed a dictionary.
I heard an anecdote about the American composer Gail Kubik, who was once asked what he thought about Stravinsky. His response was, “I like his art, but not his…Craft.”
He put the same impressive vocabulary in Stravinsky's mouth.
Hello Dave, I immensely enjoy your videos. I would like just to add to your memories of I. Moravec:
his main teacher was the daughter of V. Kurz Ilona. She continued in teaching the way (he hated the word "Method")her father did. The main ideas of his "way" was insisting on absolute technical precision and beauty of sound. Hence comes the origin of Moravec´s pianism. As far as Michelangeli´s influence - Moravec attended his master class, which might have added something to his art, but in no way I would call him his student. And he did not study With Walter Gieseking, although he admired him a lot.
Thanks for the details. You don't have to study with someone to be a 'student,' do you? Moravec told me personally that he was a student of Gieseking, although I didn't ask whether he actually worked with him personally or not.
I think an interesting video could be one where you talk about the ten composers, conductors and other musicians from the past who you would've loved to have spoken to. What would you have wanted to ask them and talk about with them?
All true about Leonard Slatkin. His talent for top notch programming was certainly a native, personal gift, but let's not forget the influence of his early association with Walter Susskind, who was also a whiz at putting a season together.
I once took part in a masterclass by Joop Celis, who recorded a substantial amount of York Bowen's piano music on CD. Didn't realise that until 10 years later when I first discovered York Bowen myself (from his 1st viola sonata), and immediately became a fan of his music and of Joop's recordings of his major piano works. Back then my piece of choice was the Chopin G minor Ballade. He wasn't too displeased with my playing but spent most of the 15 minutes or so having me go through some rhythmic errors I made while learning it and pointing out how an analysis of certain parts of the score and only taking any rhythmically free approach at the very end, would have prevented me from making these mistakes.
Did i hear a snippet of a new recording on Tinnitus Classics at 12:28 ? Could it be a concerto for glockenspiel? Sounds familiar but can't remember the composer...😅
My recollection was you met and had dinner with Sir Michael Tippett sometime in the 1980s
Yes, I did. At the Boston premiere of The Mask of Time in around 1984/5.
I think there is a video recording of Kocsis' completion of "Moses und Aaron".
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet made a film adaptation of the opera in 1974, shooting the third act as a spoken segment.
I'm with you on Gil Shaham. Even Charles Mackerras who is absolutely clear and defined in outlook and opinions. There is one on the list that I'd disagree with, not because of any offense, just purely on a point that they put themselves up there with the best, and that didn't tally with my own criteria.
Lovely this list especially.
Dave I would be particularly indebted to you were you to tell me in what specific book
Maestro Leonard slatkin mentions Eugene Ormandy .
I know well of his unqualified admiration for Ormandy specifically recalling an interview of his where he explains the importance and the uniqueness of the Philadelphia sound for once in a cogent and highly Musical manner. Please let me know how I can get ahold of either
I'm sorry but I can't remember which one off the top of my head.
Thanks anyway Dave.
Truly.
These programs you do so well such interesting themes and your commentary how intelligent many many thanks great stuff and great great fun
I loved tower records…..
I attended a concert performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and went backstage to shake hands with Sir Georg Solti and because his hands were insured I was not allowed to shake his hands.
@user-wp4ju4hp5w so what happened did the Screaming Skull refuse - or one of his minders intervene ?
@@marks1417 He just refused to shake hands. I was a fan of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and being a timpanist I was enthralled by Donald Koss and Vic Firth
And who were the worst ten. BTW, the nicest classical artist I met was Van Cliburn.
I had the opportunity to talk a few times and even share a moqueca (a typical fish dish from my region) with the pianist Jean Louis Steuerman. An admirable man. Great stories about his travels in Eastern Europe at the beginning of his career.
Yum! I'm not Brazilian but I love moqueca!
@@Jasper_the_Cat You don't have to be Brazilian (or a cat) to like moqueca. 😂😂😂 In fact, it is an excellent fish-based dish.