Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Mieczyslaw Horszowski

Marlboro Music Festival Broadcasts

Since 1951, Marlboro Music has been a mecca for musicians and chamber music-lovers. The Classical Network is pleased to announce the debut of its newest broadcast concert series, “Music from Marlboro,” featuring performances from the Marlboro archive, beginning Wednesday evening at 6:00.

The Marlboro Music School and Festival brings together the world’s most acclaimed artists and exceptional young talent in the foothills of rural, southern Vermont, for seven weeks of relaxed, inspired and joyful music-making. Concerts of the Marlboro Festival can be enjoyed over five weekends, between mid-July and mid-August. This year’s festival will be held from July 15 to August 13, on the campus of Marlboro College (a separate institution). More information about Marlboro Music may be found at marlboromusic.org.

The Classical Network has been granted privileged access to the Marlboro archives, which contain many, many performances never before heard beyond the confines of the festival, all of them featuring chamber music luminaries and stars of tomorrow.

The series will commence with “Three Marches for Piano Four Hands,” by Beethoven, with an 87 year-old Mieczyslaw Horszowski and an 18 year-old Cecile Licad; the “Divertimento for 13 Solo Instruments,” by Marlboro co-founder Adolf Busch; and Carl Reinecke’s Octet for Winds in B-flat major, Op. 216. Future weeks will bring performances by Marlboro legends Rudolf Serkin, Marcel Moyse, Alexander Schneider and Pablo Casals, along with fascinating glimpses of rising stars and top musicians of tomorrow.

I hope you’ll join me Wednesdays at 6 p.m. EDT for “Music from Marlboro,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: Horszowski and Licad, teacher and pupil, share the stage at Marlboro

July 12, 2017
St Francis Liszt and a Piano Prodigy

Perhaps you’re observing the holy day of Yom Kippur today (in which case you’re probably not on the computer), but if saints are your thing, you‘d be hard pressed to find one more beloved than St. Francis of Assisi – unless you’ve misplaced your car keys, in which case St. Anthony is your man. Today is the Feast Day of St. Francis, so be sure to take a moment to kiss your pet.

Here’s Franz Liszt’s “St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds,” as performed by Mieczyslaw Horszowski:

In his later years, Horszowski was a venerated piano pedagogue at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Although he was never a musical celebrity, I feel sheepish admitting that in my callow youth, at the time I saw him perform in the 1980s, I was unfamiliar with his estimable reputation among musicians. I did a double-take when I deduced his age from a program note. He was well into his 90s, but played with a hypnotic fluency that belied his years.

Sometime later, I was very much looking forward to his 100th birthday recital – scheduled to take place at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square, I seem to recall – but unfortunately he had to cancel due to ill health. Horszowski died in 1993, one month shy of his 101st birthday. Surely, Horszowski had one of the longest careers of any performer. He was already playing in public in 1901!

He was a pupil of Leschetizky, who was a pupil of Czerny, who was a pupil of Beethoven. Here’s his obituary in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/24/obituaries/mieczyslaw-horszowski-is-dead-pianist-100-mastered-the-greats.html

He didn’t marry until the age of 89 (perhaps the secret to his longevity?).

All of his recordings are cherishable, but I have a special soft spot for three albums he recorded for Nonesuch records late in life, especially his Chopin, which is some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. His “Kinderszenen” is also excellent, and his Mozart. Okay, everything this man touched turned to gold.

Here he is at 95, playing Chopin in Tokyo:

PHOTO: Break the fast with St. Francis

October 4, 2014

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS