( 7:03 PM ) The Rat
ISAAC STERN'S GREAT LEAP FORWARD REVERBERATES IN CHINA. My piano teacher was friends with Stern, and I recall meeting him on one occasion in the mid-to-late '80s, though I don't think he played for us that day.
But Stern and Golub noticed something peculiar about the sessions. Younger students who were 8, 9, 10 or 11 were impressive. But those older than 17 lacked something. What, the Americans asked, happened in between?
The answer came from Tan Shuzhen, then 72 and the deputy director of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who said that during the decade-long Cultural Revolution China had tried to wipe out traces of Western influence. Music schools closed, teachers of Western music were harshly criticized, beaten and even jailed. And the playing of Western music was outlawed.
Conditions were so psychologically brutal, Mr. Tan said, that 17 instructors at the Shanghai Conservatory committed suicide...
# Posted by The Rat @ 7:03 PM
( 6:00 PM ) The Rat
Leningrad audiences went wild at the Horowitz concerts, and he was the talk of the town. A fan club of young girls was on hand at every concert to cheer their hero on and follow him in the streets. At his last concert, it was reported, they went backstage, surrounded him and started snipping at his tail coat with scissors. Horowitz was furious but could not withstand the onslaught. The girls emerged triumphantly with black cotton-swatch memorabilia of their beloved. —Horowitz: His Life and Music
# Posted by The Rat @ 6:00 PM
( 6:26 PM ) The Rat
So in 1920 the Horowitz concert career started. Within a few years he would be a presence, the greatest presence among the new pianists. [...] Audiences were going to experience a new kind of sound, a sound unique in its color, sensuousness, and subtlety. (Many years later William Kapell said, 'If people understood what Horowitz's tone meant, he would be banned from the keyboard.') —Horowitz: His Life and Music
# Posted by The Rat @ 6:26 PM
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