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Tag: April Fool’s Day

Funny Men Play Serious Rachmaninoff

As April Fool’s Day and Rachmaninoff’s birthday elide, here are two funny men in recordings that take the composer rather seriously.

Oscar Levant rode his neuroses and mordant wit to fame as a popular panelist on radio and television, the disheveled, chain-smoking second banana in motion pictures, and author of books with titles such as “A Smattering of Ignorance,” “The Memoirs of an Amnesiac,” and “The Unimportance of Being Oscar.” But he was also one of the most respected champions of the music of George Gershwin, a composer who studied with Arnold Schoenberg, and a serious pianist who performed and recorded the standard concerto repertoire with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Here, Oscar plays it straight, with Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G major, Op. 32, No. 5.

The pianist Victor Borge also displayed a genius for comedic improv, early in his career segueing from standard concert recitals to his signature cocktails of music and humor. His Broadway hit, “Comedy in Music,” entered the Guinness Book for the longest run of a one-person show (849 performances, from 1953 to 1956). In the 1960s, Borge was one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world.

Like Levant, he had his personal demons, but their source would appear to have been circumstantial rather than psychological. He attained early popularity in Scandinavia (Borge was born in Denmark), but as his extensive touring took him all over Europe, a Jew getting laughs with anti-Nazi jokes didn’t exactly endear him to Adolf Hitler. When German forces occupied Denmark, Borge hopped a U.S. Army transport out of Finland – though he would return, not long after, disguised as a sailor, to visit his dying mother.

He arrived in the United States in 1940, with 20 dollars in his pocket and no understanding of English. But he was a fast learner, and he taught himself the language by going to American movies.

Here, all jokes aside, Borge plays Rachmaninoff’s arrangement of Fritz Kreisler’s “Liebesleid” (“Love’s Sorrow”).

Kreisler was one of the world’s great violinists. A famous anecdote relates that he and Rachmaninoff were giving a concert in New York. In the middle of a performance, Kreisler suffered a memory lapse, and as he noodled around on his violin, trying to find his way back, he inched closer to his pianist and whispered, “Where are we?” To which Rachmaninoff replied, “Carnegie Hall.”

Rachmaninoff gets the last laugh on April Fool’s Day, as he performs Kreisler’s “Liebesfreud” (“Love’s Joy”).

April 1, 2025
Rachmaninoff Busoni April Fools’ Birthday

Depending on where you look, Igor Stravinsky described Sergei Rachmaninoff as either “six-foot-two of Russian gloom” or “a six-and-a-half-foot scowl.” Perhaps both. It’s true, you won’t find very many photos of Rachmaninoff smiling. But just to prove that he was not entirely without a sense of humor, I share with you the following anecdote:

Rachmaninoff was a favorite recital partner of violinist Fritz Kreisler. Once, in the middle of a concert in New York, Kreisler suffered a memory lapse. As he noodled heroically on his violin, trying to appear nonchalant while attempting to grope his way back, he subtly inched closer to his pianist.

“Where are we?” he whispered.

Rachmaninoff replied, “Carnegie Hall.”

On this April Fool’s Day – which also happens to be Rachmaninoff’s birthday – the two friends are reunited, in spirit, in Rachmaninoff’s transcription of Kreisler’s “Liebesfreud,” or “Love’s Joy.”

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of another of the great pianist-composers, Ferruccio Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto Busoni. With a name like that, clearly his parents had great expectations!

While Ferruccio Busoni could bust his knuckles with the best of them, and weave a web of counterpoint so dense it would have made Max Reger sweat, here’s something a little lighter, in keeping with the spirit of April Fool’s – the “Lustspielouverture,” or “Comedy Overture.”

Also, a fantasy on themes from Mozart’s elevated farce, “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Happy birthday to the Rach (born 1873) and Ferruccio (born 1866) – making fools of aspiring pianists for the better part of 150 years.

PHOTO: Sergei Rachmaninoff, grim reaper

April 1, 2021
Rachmaninoff’s Humor Love & April Fools

Depending on where you look, Igor Stravinsky described Sergei Rachmaninoff as either “six foot two of Russian gloom” or “a six and a half foot scowl” (perhaps both). It’s true, you won’t find very many photos of Rachmaninoff smiling, but just to prove that he was not entirely without a sense of humor, I share with you the following anecdote:

Rachmaninoff and his friend, the violinist Fritz Kreisler, were in the middle of a joint recital, when all of a sudden Kreisler got lost and began to noodle. Rachmaninoff would have noticed immediately, of course, and the two improvised brilliantly as the violinist searched for a way back. Hoping to save face, Kreisler inched over to his pianist and whispered, “Where are we?” To which Rachmaninoff replied, “Carnegie Hall.”

On this April Fool’s Day – which also happens to be Rachmaninoff’s birthday – the two friends will be reunited in Rachmaninoff’s transcription of Kreisler’s “Liebesfreud,” or “Love’s Joy.”

More in keeping with our impression of the dour pianist-composer, Rachmaninoff was crushed by the failure of his First Symphony (the responsibility for which may lay at the feet of its conductor, Alexander Glazunov, who is said to have been drunk at the work’s premiere). So devastated was the 23 year-old Rachmaninoff that he found himself unable to compose and sought psychiatric help. His physician, Nikolai Dahl, who was also an amateur violist, was able to restore his confidence after months of hypnotherapy, and Rachmaninoff returned to the concert stage in blazing triumph with his Piano Concerto No. 2.

In gratitude, Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl, but there is another story behind the work, and it is a tender one. Rachmaninoff had fallen in love with Natalia Satina, a fellow pianist, who would later become his wife. Already in hot water with his piano teacher, Nikolai Sverev, who berated him for diverting time from his practice in order to compose, Rachmaninoff now endured the additional stress of making his relationship with Satina public, much to the dismay of his family and the Russian Orthodox Church.

You see, Satina was Rachmaninoff’s first cousin. Any kind of union between the two would have been forbidden. However, Rachmaninoff was able to obtain a special dispensation from the Tsar, and the couple bypassed the Church by marrying at a military barracks. By all accounts the union was a happy one, and the Rachmaninoffs raised two healthy daughters.

The marriage took place only after the concerto’s successful premiere. So “Brief Encounter” is not the only love story to be able to claim it as a soundtrack. Love makes fools of us all.

What are the odds? Today is also the anniversary of the birth of another one of the great pianists, Ferruccio Busoni. We’ll keep it light with Busoni’s “Lustspielouverture,” or “Comedy Overture,” as well as his fantasy on themes from Mozart’s elevated farce, “The Marriage of Figaro.”

The rest of the afternoon will be devoted to April’s fools and salutations to the month. We’ll be none the wiser, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 1, 2019

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