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10. Artur Schnabel (1882-1951)<\/h2>\n10. Artur Schnabel (1882-1951)<\/h2>\nWho was he?<\/strong>\u00a0An Austrian pianist who specialised in core German composers and made the first complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas.<\/p>\n What makes him great?\u00a0<\/strong> \u201cIf I was asked which pianist I loved the most, I\u2019d never be able to answer \u2013 too many possibilities! But if it\u2019s a question of who has inspired me, that\u2019s easy: Artur Schnabel. My first exposure to his recordings of the Beethoven sonatas came in my early teens, and quickly led to an obsession with those works which I expect to last for the rest of my life. I could not understand how he could convey so much meaning \u2013 spirituality, even \u2013 between two notes, or how he managed to produce from this instrument of keys and hammers a sound which was so buoyant, resistant to gravity, alive. Those two aims \u2013 to make a sound that lives, and to find music not only in the notes, but around them \u2013 are still primary for me, nearly two decades later.<\/p>\n When I went to study with Leon Fleisher, I was touched to hear him speak of Schnabel, his own teacher, with the same kind of awe. Fleisher\u2019s own ideas about music are compelling, and he is matchlessly eloquent in expressing them, but it was often that he would simply tell us what Schnabel had told him about this piece or that, in a tone of voice which suggested that there was no greater authority. I like to think I may have learned something through this lineage, and each and every day I try to bring to my music something of the devotion, understanding and, above all, love, which emanates from every note the man played.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Artur Schnabel perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0A German pianist who focused on the greats of German music and played concerts well into his eighties.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>Rhythmic inventiveness and a talent for bringing out the lyricism, charm and spontaneity in music, particularly in intimate pieces or passages.<\/p>\n \u201cI first heard Kempff live in Paris when I was about 13 years old and then I bought some Beethoven and Brahms recordings of his. He did not have the greatest pianistic technique, but he was very special. He created some sublime, divine musical moments that transported us towards the heavens. I am sure he would have been just as successful in concert today, because the most important factor for a musician is to have a very special personality, and he had that characteristic.<\/p>\n “He has also influenced what I do at the piano by getting me to put myself in a second state, a spiritual state, before playing. There are so many recordings of his that I treasure, as Kempff excels in Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and Bach. But, in particular, I would name theKlavierst\u00fccke<\/em>\u00a0of Brahms, the Beethoven middle sonatas and Concertos Nos 2 & 4, the Bach transcriptions, and the Schubert\u00a0Klavierst\u00fccke<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Wilhelm Kempff perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who is he?\u00a0<\/strong>An Austrian pianist and teacher now based in London, who has recorded four complete sets of the Beethoven sonatas.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>Rigorous adherence to the score without ever sounding dry or academic, and a knack for finding unexpected moments of humour, particularly in Classical repertoire.<\/p>\n \u201cI had lessons with Alfred Brendel in the 1990s, and he has been a great inspiration. He would talk about music and I would think, \u201cYeah, that really makes sense\u201d. And then he would sit down and demonstrate things, and that\u2019s when the light bulb really went off. The first time I met him was when I was 20 at the Guildhall School of Music. I remember feeling very nervous and intimidated. Seeing the silhouette of the glasses and the hair coming through the hall, I remember thinking, \u2018Oh my god, it\u2019s him!\u2019 I played a Haydn sonata for him and it was clear from the very start that he was interested only in the music. That\u2019s all that matters. You may feel worried about yourself but that\u2019s not the important thing because he\u2019s not the least bit worried about anything but what you\u2019re playing. That tallied with the impression I\u2019d had of him before I met him, from his concerts and recordings \u2013 that of an incredibly serious-minded musician. It was a great inspiration and privilege to work with him over those years.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch\u00a0\u00a0Alfred Brendel perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0A highly eccentric Canadian pianist who, after a stellar concert career, shunned the stage at the age of 31 to focus on recordings and experimental projects.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>\u00a0A prodigious ability to sculpt the multiple lines of polyphonic music, such as Bach\u2019s, with unsurpassed clarity. And a seeming incapacity for technical error.<\/p>\n \u201cI first heard Gould play rather late, since in my youth at the Paris Conservatory he was completely unknown. None of my colleagues or teachers ever mentioned his name \u2013 until in 1966 I met Bruno Monsaingeon, who revealed Gould to me and the French audience through his marvellous documentaries. It is hard to say what makes Gould\u2019s playing so special, since everything in his playing is special. One can mention the touch, the phrasing, the articulation\u2026 But most important is the conception, the architecture, the personal and \u2018creative\u2019 approach\u00a0to every single piece he plays. He is a creator, much more than an interpreter: each time you hear a piece played by Gould, you discover the piece for the first time. I always refer to his line: \u2018If you are not convinced you can play a piece in a completely new and unique way, don\u2019t play it.\u2019 It\u2019s an extreme affirmation, but so full of truth! A case in point is his two recordings of the\u00a0Goldberg Variations<\/em>, an example of Gould\u2019s genius in even being able to \u2018re-create\u2019 himself. They are both masterpieces, and his legacy for all musicians of the world. I am always blown away when pianists dare play (or even touch) this piece after Gould. Are they totally unconscious or utterly pretentious?<\/p>\n In Bach he is completely unmatched. In fact, I am unable to hear, accept or conceive any other interpretation of Bach than his. I\u2019d like to say he has been an influence on me, but no one is deranged enough to try and imitate Gould\u2019s playing! Still, I remember when I recorded for French TV the complete First Book of Bach\u2019s\u00a0Well-Tempered Clavier.<\/em>\u00a0It was a project conceived for him by Monsaingeon, but Gould died before he could film it\u2026 And I was the one chosen to \u2018replace\u2019 him. Can you imagine\u00a0the pressure?<\/p>\n “I think the legacy of Gould for any artist is \u2018the freedom of creation\u2019 towards any composer, but at the same time respecting the logic of the music and the spirit of the composer \u2013\u00a0a very challenging equation!\u201d<\/p>\n Watch Glenn Gould perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?\u00a0<\/strong>A French pianist and professor at the Conservatoire de Paris.\u00a0He was called a \u201cpoet of the piano\u201d for his mastery of the lyrical works of Chopin, Schumann and Debussy, producing landmark recordings, and meticulous editions, of their music.<\/p>\n What makes him great?\u00a0<\/strong>A highly personal, subjective style that favours intuition and feeling over precise technique, resulting in performances of lush, transcendent musicality.<\/p>\n \u201cCortot is sometimes remembered as the pianist who played lots of wrong notes. This is unfair \u2013\u00a0not just because he had a dazzling finger technique, but because he never allowed striving for accuracy to distract him from the bigger picture. His mistakes can sometimes be heard even in the first notes of pieces, but I find these fallible moments endearing: the pianist is consumed by spiritual inspiration and oblivious of the physical risks involved. Cortot was a great virtuoso, conscious of the power to excite and thrill that Romantic piano music has, but you never feel manipulated in his musical company. You feel that even his most extravagant interpretative choices come from complete inner honesty; he is not sitting in a spotlight forcing you to look at him, but rather holding a torch, leading you forward to enlightenment.<\/p>\n “I never tire of hearing his recordings, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann from the 1920s and \u201930s. His combination of utter interpretative freedom (sometimes with a touch of eccentricity) and penetrating insight into the composer\u2019s wishes is unique, in my view. There are artists who delight listeners with their wild and daring individuality, and there are others who uncover the written score for us with insight and reverence \u2013 but there are few who can do both. Cortot had a vision which saw beyond the academic or the theatrical to some wider horizon of creativity from whence the composers themselves might well have drawn inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Alfred Cortot perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0An Odessa-born pianist who moved to Moscow in 1935, becoming, along with Richter, the leading Soviet pianist of his day. He and violinist David Oistrakh were among the first Soviet musicians allowed to concertise in the West.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>\u00a0His \u201cgolden\u201d sound \u2013\u00a0an ability to execute the most taxing passages without compromising his burnished tone or depth of feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cGilels has this mixture of fantastic tone quality and an ability to make everything seem simple when you listen to him. Even when he plays a simple Bach prelude, or the Bach-Siloti Prelude in B minor, you think it\u2019s simple to play, but then you buy the music and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my god, this is impossible!\u2019<\/p>\n “I first heard Gilels when I was eight or nine \u2013 his recording of the Brahms Second Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic. I wasn\u2019t aware it was Gilels \u2013\u00a0or even a Brahms concerto \u2013\u00a0just one of my dad\u2019s huge collection of cassette tapes. But it was my favourite music, and still today I think it\u2019s one of the most beautiful recordings ever made of a piano concerto. The quality of tone and line, the inspiration and the beauty of the sound \u2013 everything is so perfect. It\u2019s actually quite intimidating when you have to play the concerto yourself. He plays the first movement so slowly, and you think, OK, I\u2019m going to do the same \u2013 which is a big mistake because he\u2019s Gilels and you\u2019re not. You need that golden sound Gilels possessed \u2013\u00a0more than anyone in history \u2013\u00a0as well as a clear idea of the structure and direction; and for this you need a lifetime of experience. Also, if I compare my hand to his, his was probably twice as heavy as mine. It\u2019s like Oistrakh on the violin, there\u2019s that question of flesh, pure matter creating the sound. If you have extremely thin hands, the quality of tone will probably be clearer than Gilels\u2019.<\/p>\n “So I don\u2019t try to imitate an artist like him, but I try to keep in my head the grandeur of what he does. It\u2019s something I always try to find, not artificially, but perhaps just to feel. So he\u2019s a model for me in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Emil Gilels perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0A Polish pianist who left Europe after WWI, settling in the US.<\/p>\n What makes him great?\u00a0<\/strong>His interpretations of the music of Chopin, to which he brought a glowing tone and endless variety of phrasing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was studying at the Chopin National Academy in Warsaw, our class sometimes met Professor Drzewiecki\u2019s illustrious friends, one of whom was Arthur Rubinstein. He played for us and some students had the privilege of playing for him. Everybody in the class knew his recordings, as they were the classical Chopin interpretations that Drzewiecki had taught us. Grace, poise and thorough research were the hallmarks of his art, one that showed mastery but also enormous modesty and, contrary to what some \u2018authorities\u2019 had to say, a flawless technique.<\/p>\n “Rubinstein\u2019s critics, and there were many, tended to forget how thorough he was in researching the repertoire he played. Where others posed and only pretended they had researched their subject, Rubinstein\u2019s performances reeked of integrity.<\/p>\n “The earliest of Rubinstein\u2019s three complete Mazurka recordings provided a high point for us in our study of Chopin, although for me it was his performances of the Nocturnes that provided the key to all other Chopin. I remain eternally grateful to Rubinstein for his recordings and “Rubinstein was not blessed with the sheer virtuosity of Rachmaninov or Horowitz, but he developed a mastery of\u00a0legato cantabile\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0tempo rubato\u00a0<\/em>second to none. This is evident in such miraculous pre-war \u2018live\u2019 performances as his historic recording of the Chopin Piano Concertos with Sir John Barbirolli, although his performances of the same with Witold Rowicki were even more beautiful \u2013 completely unforgettable.<\/p>\n “I will never forget his kindness and generosity to our class, and his charm, modesty and scrupulous research. Although I remain a student all my life and continue to listen to his many wonderful recordings, I consider myself fortunate to share such rich experiences with my own students.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Arthur Rubinstein perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0A Russian pianist of German descent who became the USSR\u2019s pre-eminent musician.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>\u00a0Rock- \u201cI heard Richter play many times in England, France and America and what I loved about him was that he was able to make the piano sound not like a piano \u2013 it sounded like an orchestra or sometimes like a choir. Also, anything he did at the instrument always seemed totally right. It didn\u2019t seem like his ideas; it seemed like the only way to do it. Every artist should aim, if they\u2019re serious, to remove themselves from the equation and go to the heart or the essence of the music. Very few artists can do that, but for Richter it was totally natural.<\/p>\n “He was also a very serious musician: after concerts he\u2019d often decide he needed to practise, and would go home and practise for another two hours. He also insisted that each recital program contain at least one new piece. So his repertoire was vast. I don\u2019t think his studio recordings were that successful: they didn\u2019t really represent him. It\u2019s the live recordings which are amazing. Everyone talks about the Sofia recital from 1958 where he plays Liszt\u2019s\u00a0Feux Follets\u00a0<\/em>and Mussorgsky\u2019s\u00a0Pictures at an Exhibition<\/em>. Still, his recordings of the Beethoven sonatas are also second-to-none, not to mention the Russian repertoire \u2013 the little pieces of Tchaikovsky \u2013\u00a0and Prokofiev, who wrote his Seventh Sonata for him.<\/p>\n “When I was at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1984 he sent messages to me through others saying how fantastic he thought I was, which was very sweet. I wish I\u2019d had a chance to get to know him better.<\/p>\n “I will always look up to Richter. A performing artist mustn\u2019t copy, but you can be inspired by the essence of what someone stood for, and that\u2019s what I do with him. I know very deep inside myself I\u2019m trying to grasp what Richter had, which is an amazing, fiery, burning intensity of passion for music \u2013\u00a0that\u2019s what came across when he played. He was absolutely obsessed, and possessed, by music.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to Sviatoslav Richter perform here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who was he?<\/strong>\u00a0A Russian-born pianist who left for the West at age 21, where he was described as a \u201ctornado unleashed from the steppes\u201d. Most famous for his performances of Romantic piano repertoire and, surprisingly, Scarlatti, he returned to Russia for a triumphant farewell recital in 1986.<\/p>\n What makes him great?<\/strong>\u00a0Sparkling virtuosity and extraordinary use of tone colour, combined with a talent for thrilling his audience, creating \u201cHorowitz combined high-class pianism with a unique taste in music and interpretation. What made him unique was his ability to chisel his feelings and moods out of the structures and harmonic material of the score. I think I first heard Horowitz when I was 14. I was just astonished by his tone and the variety of colours he could produce. And he always played as his hand was built, never betraying his taste and his view of music. He was always himself, and everything he touched became his own. His playing is never mediocre, it either works or it doesn\u2019t. But if it does work, it\u2019s simply god-like \u2013 incomparable with anything you\u2019ve ever heard.<\/p>\n “In a way, Horowitz is the product of a time that produced so many great pianists. I believe the way of thinking and our life has changed since then. Now musicians can go on the Internet and hear almost every recording of any piece; back then they were forced to think for themselves. Small things were given greater importance because it wasn\u2019t possible to go anywhere instantly. It was not necessarily about who can play the fastest or any other competitive aspect, it was more about the music. There are still a few musicians that are like Horowitz and those old greats, and that\u2019s the school we ought to come back to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nA commitment to plumbing the intellectual and spiritual depths of \u00a0a work, while eschewing displays of technical bravura.<\/p>\nJonathan Biss on Schnabel’s living sound<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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9.\u00a0Wilhelm Kempff<\/h2>\nCyprien Katsaris on Kempff in concert<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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8.\u00a0Alfred Brendel (b1931)<\/h2>\nPaul Lewis on studying with Brendel<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n
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7.\u00a0Glenn Gould (1932-1982)<\/h2>\nPascal Rog\u00e9 on Gould the recreator<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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6.\u00a0Alfred Cortot (1877-1962)<\/h2>\nStephen Hough on Cortot’s individuality<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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5.\u00a0Emil\u00a0Gilels (1916-1985)<\/h2>\nC\u00e9dric Tiberghien on the grandeur of Gilels<\/strong><\/h2>\n
4.\u00a0Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)<\/h2>\n
Roger Woodward on sharing the legacy of Rubinstein<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nwhat he had to say about them.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i.haymarket.net.au\/Utils\/ImageResizer.ashx?n=http%3a%2f%2fi.haymarket.net.au%2fNews%2fRICHTER_Sviatoslav.jpg&h=270&w=320&c=0\")
3.\u00a0Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997)<\/h2>\n
\nsolid technique combined with an astonishing variety of sound.<\/p>\nBarry Douglas on the intensity of Richter<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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2.\u00a0Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989)<\/h2>\n
\na furore at his live recitals.<\/p>\nIngolf Wunder on the godlike gifts of Horowitz<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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1. Sergei\u00a0Rachmaninov (1873-1943)<\/h2>\n