“I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous” – one of the many quotes attributed to the late Yogi Berra, master of the malaprop, emperor of the oxymoron, and crown prince of the paradox.
Tune in this morning to enjoy left-handed rarities composed for Paul Wittgenstein, the remarkable Austrian pianist who lost his right arm in the First World War. Yet to come: music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Bortkiewicz, and a work by Paul Hindemith that was locked away in a trunk, unheard, for 80 years.
We’ll also hear Siegfried Rapp, another pianist who was maimed during the war, performing music of Bohuslav Martinu, originally written for Otakar Hollmann, who was shot in the right hand, and a concerto by Ned Rorem composed for Gary Graffman, whose two-handed career was curtailed by focal dystonia.
These pianists who met with misfortune brought us lots of glorious music, commissioned from some of the great composers of their day. It’s all piano music for the left hand until 11 ET on WPRB 103.3 FM and online at wprb.com.