Extraordinary. Dr. George Horner, Terezin and Auschwitz survivor, performing music he played at at the Terezin concentration camp seven decades earlier. Only this time, he’s at Symphony Hall in Boston, joined by no less a figure than Yo-Yo Ma. The 90-year old Horner says quite simply: “Without music, I wouldn’t be here.” Thanks to the Terezin Music Foundation for posting this video.
Passion, devotion, and a wealth of invention…at Easter time I am drawn to the remarkable set of the 15 “Mystery” (sometimes called “Rosary”) sonatas by the 17th-century composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. It’s a collection of 15 short sonatas chronicling key moments in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, organized into five “Joyful Mysteries,” five “Sorrowful Mysteries” and five “Glorious Mysteries.” And I find the final Passacaglia to be some combination of all three.
Which makes it all the cooler that uber-cool violinist Johnny Gandelsman (of Brooklyn Rider and Silk Road Ensemble fame) included this ancient marvel in his solo recital debut in NYC…at Le Poisson Rouge (“serving art and alcohol”). Go, Johnny Go! And if you’re hooked, you can read more about the intricacies of Biber’s sonatas here.
16 pianists playing a single Chopin Polonaise, with even a few clams thrown in. A tour-de-force of editing, and a remarkable seven-minute-and-nineteen-second tutorial on, oh, I don’t know…technique, style, fingering, cinematography, lighting, dress, culture…. Enjoy!
And a second consecutive day of referencing Liberace, too!
PS – for another mashup involving this Polonaise, check out the 24 pieces crammed into two minutes that chronicles Chopin’s affinity for his favorite key signature.
Rummaging around in the proverbial shoebox of old photos from an old Euro vacation, i ran across a Throwback Thursday-worthy shot of me tickling the ivories on Antonín Dvořák’s own ivory-colored piano.
Did Dvorak actually own this gilded white grand?
The photo was taken at the Dvorak Museum in a leafy section of Prague, in a restored Baroque mansion called – and, no, I’m not making this up – “Villa Amerika” – appropriate for the composer who became so famous in the New World, I suppose! I recall it was in a different location when I visited there in the late ’90s, but today, the white piano now gets pride of place in a small concert hall on the second floor, perched below an ornate frescoed ceiling.
But it got me to wondering about the Museum and more still about its Liberace-esque gilded white grand. Did Dvorak really live there? Did he actually play that instrument? And what kind of a piano was it, exactly?
Villa Amerika – the Dvorak Museum in Prague
The White Piano at home
The answers: 1) No, Dvorak actually lived in a small place not far away, on Zitna street. But the Museum holds a lot of his various artifacts, including his viola.
2) Doubtful. Since I visited, the Museum has subsequently acquired Dvorak’s actual piano, a beautiful mahogany 1879 Bösendorfer, built in Vienna.
3) The piano, it turns out, is a Petrof, the storied family-owned Czech manufacturer run by a fifth-generation descendent of founder Antonin Petrof, born just two years before Dvorak. And therein lies a tale!
It turns out that the company went into business in 1864 in the central Czech town of Hradec Králové, about two hours east of Prague, after young Antonin returned from an apprenticeship in Vienna and persuaded his father to turn their cabinet-making business into a piano factory. And the apogee of success happened for both “Tonys” at about the same time: Just as Dvorak was returning from “Amerika” and about to take up the directorship of the Prague Conservatory, Antonín Petrof is appointed by the Emperor as the court piano-builder for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
But after that the story becomes a tale of booms, busts, war, and then the advent of the Iron Curtain. In 1948, the Petrof factory was nationalized, and became a state-run factory of a profoundly diminished reputation until the Petrof family got their company back in 1993. And if you do the math, that means that the Petrof company is 150 years old this year!
Read more about the Petrof Piano Saga here: “an amazing story of courage, determination, and a family’s extraordinary commitment to exemplary piano building tradition...and check out this video visit to the Petrof Piano factory below, replete with the roll call (with a few hilarious misspellings) of Petrof piano artists,including Ray Charles (who even had one in his home), Count Basie, Bill Evans, Mal Waldron, Lynne Arriale, Richard Clayderman (!), and Jacques Loussier.
Ray Charles’ favorite piano brand?
Further research reveals that the Petrof pianos have long been the house-supplied instruments in the storied Rudolfinum in Prague, where their rather heavy action and even regulation was preferred by such luminaries as Rudolf Firkusny, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, and Ivan Moravec. (One of Moravec’s great recordings: a 1963 disc of pieces by Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven, was recorded on a Petrof.)
Then there’s the Petrof on display in the glittering concert hall in Prague Castle. Check out this video of violinist Josef Suk and pianist Jan Panenka playing Dvorak, natch:
But I was still curious to hear what that gilded white Petrof in the Dvorak museum sounded like. So, after a lot of interet scouring, I did come up with a grainy video containing Dvorak Romance for violin and piano, Op. 11, as well as Chopin’s Ballade No. 3. Incomplete performances, sadly, but complete enough to reveal that Dvorak’s white Petrov looks far better than it sounds…
….with a fond look back to one of our highlights of 2013, hosting the Tokyo String Quartet for their final concert in Boston – a joint presentation with the Celebrity Series of Boston within the Friendly Confines of our Fraser Performance Studio. The full story (and concert) is here.
If his last name were not Bach, J.S.’s eldest son might have a bigger reputation today. Over the years my admiration for his body of work HS only grown – a proud upholder of the old man’s tradition and legacy, yet his works are fresh, funny, stormy, and at times breathtakingly innovative. Might have to post a few of my favorites to demonstrate. But for today, enough to tip our hats to the shade of “The Great Bach”
Here’s the official “CPE Bach 300” website
Nice to see 29-year old Courtney Lewis of the terrific Boston chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble get an appointment as the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Seeing the Belfast-born Courtney in action – in our WGBH Fraser Performance Studio, in live concerts, and in interviews – I’m convinced he’s a great talent, and a genuine Good Guy to boot. It seems the NY Phil Music Director Alan Gilbert
Bravo, Courtney, and good luck in New York! You can read the entire press release here.
And click here to hear Courtney lead the band in their season-opening live broadcast concert from October 2012.
How’s this for a love Song of The Day?
Time to mark the birthday of the “astonishing” Polish-American piano virtuoso Leopold Godowsky, (b. Feb. 13, 1870), author of some of the most famously difficult keyboard music in creation. Such as his utterly fascinating (and somewhat bizarre) arrangements/remixes of Chopin’s Etudes. And nobody in the world can pull them off quite like Marc-Andre Hamelin….enjoy, and be amazed!
…..the world heard the premiere of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” I had the pleasure of sitting in an audience to hear the remarkable Gilmore Keyboard artist (and Berklee alum) Kirill Gerstein play the original 1924 version for jazz band with an all-star casts of Berklee students, alums, and faculty. Yes, that’s the amazing Israeli artist Anat Cohen playing the opening clarinet lick…
Quote of the day from Gershwin: “True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.”
Roedeo Productions 
You must be logged in to post a comment.