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Tag: Leon Fleisher

Leon Fleisher at 92 A Brahms Birthday Tribute

Happy birthday, Leon Fleisher, a great artist and a lovely person, here playing a selection from Brahms’ First Piano Concerto – at the behest of Yo-Yo Ma, no less (follow the link below). Fleisher’s recordings of the Brahms concertos, set down with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, over half a century earlier, remain benchmarks.

Focal dystonia curtailed Fleisher’s career as a pianist not long after. But like a plant trimmed back that soon develops fresh tendrils, he then flourished as a conductor, as a champion of the left-hand piano repertoire (there’s much more to it than Ravel’s famous concerto), and especially as a teacher. He has taught at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, among other places, and held master classes, since 1959.

Thanks in part to Botox injections in his right hand, Fleisher has been able to return to performing two-handed repertoire, to some extent, and has continued to make critically acclaimed recordings. And yes, he also still performs recitals.

Speaking with me in 2014, he expressed gratitude that things developed as they did. If he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Many happy returns, Leon Fleisher, 92 years-old today!

Impromptu performance of a passage from Brahms:

Fleisher, the young lion:

In 2014, in Brahms’ left-hand arrangement of the Bach Chaconne:

July 23, 2020
Pianist Poizat on The Classical Network Today

When you tune in to The Classical Network this afternoon at 4:00 EST, you’ll be able to enjoy a conversation with François-Xavier Poizat, pianist. Poizat will perform a recital of works by Liszt and Ravel at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. We’ll also hear selections from his new album, “PianOrchestra 2,” on the ARS Produktion label.

Then I hope you’ll stick around, as we’ll celebrate the birthdays today of composers Jean-Baptiste Lully and Ferdinand Ries (a Beethoven pupil); pianist, composer, and one time director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein; guitarist Celin Romero (of Los Romeros fame); and Spanish polymath and movie star José Iturbi.

At 6:00, it will be a special “Music from Marlboro,” as musicians from the famed chamber music retreat band together under legendary artists Leon Fleisher and Pablo Casals for performances of orchestral works by Hindemith and Beethoven.

There will be much versatility in evidence, between 4 and 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

November 28, 2018
Marlboro Festival: Hindemith & Beethoven Unleashed

A chamber music festival takes a break from chamber music this week, as musicians from Marlboro band together under two legendary artists.

Paul Hindemith was evidently feeling his oats when he launched into his series of Kammermusiken, 20th century analogues to the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, only with a little more vinegar. Hindemith was about 26 when he wrote his exuberant Kammermusik No. 1 in 1922, the piece sounding like a post-modern mash-up of “Petrushka,” the Rondo-Burleske from Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, and hot jazz. Watch out for that siren! The performance, from 2016, will feature an ensemble of 12 Marlboro musicians under the direction of a figure better known as a pianist, Leon Fleisher.

Then Pablo Casals will preside over a makeshift orchestra at the 1969 Marlboro Music Festival for a spiritually potent performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Casals’ loving, humanistic interpretations of the orchestral works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and of course Bach form a remarkable capstone to an enviable career. The legendary cellist was affiliated with Marlboro for the last 13 years of his life, from 1960 to 1973.

Wagner characterized Beethoven’s Seventh as “the apotheosis of the dance,” but not even he could have foreseen Hindemith’s foxtrot. We’ll be dancing up a storm on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

November 28, 2018
Leon Fleisher A Living Legend at 90

The appellation “Living Legend” has been perhaps too widely applied; but at the age of 90, pianist Leon Fleisher really is one. A former child prodigy, his is a direct line to Beethoven. He studied with Artur Schnabel, who studied with Theodor Leschetizky, who studied with Carl Czerny, who studied with the Master himself.

When he performed with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux at the age of 16, Monteux called him “the pianistic find of the century.” Fleisher landed a recording contract with Columbia Records and began laying down benchmark recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Grieg and Rachmaninoff with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Then everything changed.

Fleisher was diagnosed with focal dystonia in 1964. He gradually lost control of his right hand, and his career as a concert pianist was in jeopardy. His struggle with the affliction led to a period of soul-searching, and it forced him to diversify. He realized, as Schnabel had espoused, that music is music, regardless of the medium.

Fleisher began channeling his energy into teaching and conducting. He has been a venerable presence at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Fortunately, the left-hand piano repertoire is extensive, and Fleisher himself has added considerably to it, through commissioned works from contemporary composers or gifts from friends. His album, “All the Things You Are,” released a few years ago on Bridge Records, Inc., documents some of these. The album became a surprise hit, with The New Yorker’s Alex Ross lauding it as “one of his finest hours on record.”

Fleisher is an extraordinary artist and individual. Not only has he fought hard to regain control of his right hand – and done so, thanks to experimental treatments with, of all things, Botox – he is quite possibly the most gracious and generous interview subject I’ve ever encountered.

In honor of his milestone birthday, I’ve posted an unedited conversation we had four years ago for my radio program, “The Lost Chord.” In the version I whittled down for broadcast, selections were interspersed with performances from “All the Things You Are.” I realize there is a lot of extraneous material in the raw audio, but it’s all here for you to skim as you please:

Then I hope you’ll join me this afternoon for an assortment of Fleisher’s recordings, which will be among the featured offerings from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PLEASE NOTE: Bill McGlaughlin will also be saluting Fleisher on “Exploring Music,” all this week at 7 p.m. I have glanced through the playlists; repertoire will not be duplicated.

Happy birthday, Leon Fleisher!

July 23, 2018
William Kapell: America’s Lost Piano Genius

Was William Kapell America’s greatest pianist? I realize that discounts a lot of our native talent, but if Leon Fleisher thinks so, then that’s good enough for me.

Kapell was killed in a plane crash in 1953 at the age of 31. Until then, his light burned very brightly indeed. In 1944, he was signed to an exclusive contract with RCA Victor. All of his recordings were pre-stereo and many were issued on 78s, but reencountering a number of these 70 years later confirms that the interpretations still sing, including some stunning Rachmaninoff and a classic account of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto.

Even so, by 1960, all of Kapell’s commercial recordings had gone out of print. With few exceptions – there was an LP reissue of some Beethoven and Prokofiev in the early ‘70s – Kapell’s reputation was kept alive mostly through bootlegs and unlicensed live recordings. In 1998, RCA finally did the right thing and reissued all of Kapell’s authorized recordings, making them accessible to a whole new generation of music lovers.

Sadly, for all the enjoyment these still give, the brilliance of Kapell’s recorded legacy inevitably causes one to wonder what might have been. 31 is awfully soon to have lost one so talented.

How good was he? Well, for one thing, he learned Richard Strauss’ “Burleske” in a week – by the command of Fritz Reiner, no less. You can find the complete story and listen to the live performance, not otherwise available, here:

Publish or Perish?

Join me this afternoon, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, for plenty more Strauss on his birthday, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: William Kapell with Leonard Bernstein in 1947, around the time he received Reiner’s order to perform Strauss

June 11, 2018

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