Unique lecture with Garrick Ohlsson; “Why Chopin? and Other Questions”
At University of California, Berkely, The Townsend Center’s Forum on the Humanities and the Public World presents eminent artists, political leaders, writers, and scholars, each representing a unique discipline, viewpoint, and medium. The series brings the humanities into dialogue with the critical issues at play in the public sphere. The Townsend Center at UC Berkeley has a long and distinguished tradition of humanistic scholarship, open dialogue, and pioneering innovation in the humanities. It is in this spirit that the Forum on the Humanities and the Public World presents leading figures from the academic and public worlds in settings designed for scholars and for the public at large.
On May 10th, 2010, the winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson gave a lecture there entitled; “Why Chopin? and Other Questions”.
In this conversation lecture Garrick Ohlsson discusses issues such as Chopin’s relationship to the piano (3.00), Chopin and period instruments (10.28), the “pianistic” Chopin (14.55), the Nocturnes (30.22) and performs the Nocturne in D-flat major Op. 27/2 (54.33).
In the final section he answers questions from the audience:
– On emotional contents, tempo and let go (1.01.12)
– Chopin and other composers (1.04.25)
– Chopin’s relation to opera and singing (1.08.00)
Garrick Ohlsson is regarded as one of the world’s leading performers of the music of Frédéric Chopin. He is also noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. A prolific recording artist, Mr Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, Bridge, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc and Virgin Classics labels. His undertaking of the complete Beethoven sonatas for Bridge Records resulted in a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (vol. 3 in the series). His sixteen-disc set of the complete works of Chopin, originally recorded for Arabesque, was re-released by Hyperion.
The Art of Chopin, trailer from the 2010 film
Five minutes excerpt from the film
Hear Ohlsson’s complete Chopin recordings on Hyperion label
Garrick Ohlsson entries in The New York Times
Comments
This is a fabulous site. Thanks for all the hard work that has gone into it. The content is rich. I’ll be back for much exploring.
I am so appreciative of the opportunity to hear Mr. Ohlsson talk at length, and perform. I heard him live for the first time in 1978 in Concord, CA. at an outdoor amphitheater. He played Rachmaninoff Concerto 1 .
And I thank PianoStreet for bringing this to my attention!
I heard Mr.Ohlsson playing Liszt! What can he say about the relationship whit Chopin?
I really couldn’t continue listening to this discussion after Mr. Ohlsson’s comment that before Steinway’s overstrung instruments, pianos were “either soft and sweet or loud and ugly… and Steinway was the first to succeed in getting a beautiful sound”.
Yes, historical pianos before Steinway are “soft and sweet”, if one plays them softly, and can certainly sound “loud and ugly” if banged upon. The real instruments (as opposed to modern replicas) have a full range of tone colors over their dynamic spectrum. (The earlier 19th-century grands were intended for smaller venues where their fortissimo didn’t have to be as loud to reach the back row, so their whole spectrum is at a lower volume level.)
One of the most musically useful characteristics of many parallel-strung pianos is their ability to produce a sweet sound at the pianissimo range, turning to a bright, declamatory tone at fortissimo. This makes it far easier to “bring out a melody” as opposed to a piano that produces only a “beautiful sound”, where one has to struggle to get any contrast among contrapuntal voices. Our own 1866 Steinway is a lovely-sounding piano – everyone agrees on that. But after playing period music on some of our early 19th-century pianos (or even on parallel-strung pianos later than our Steinway) pianists usually have no more inclination to play the Steinway, which is too much like an actress with only a pretty face. Sometimes “ugly” (used judiciously like a strong spice) is musically more useful!
If Mr. Ohlsson has played earlier pianos that sounded loud and ugly all the time, either they have been poorly restored with the wrong kinds of strings and hammers (and, wow! what an ugly sound those make!), or he has used too heavy a touch, which I doubt, given his technical skill.
Intellectual people think they are authorities and know it alls. I think the composers they are taking about would have been bored with these technical people. Play the music on these pianos and compare the sound.
Dan –
I’m so glad you agree; bottom line is the sound! People forget, “instrument” means “tool”. A musical instrument is a tool for making music, and it’s important to have the right tool for the job.
Once you hear and play the music on the kind of piano the composer was using, appropriately restored so it sounds as it was designed to, you will never think of the music the same way again!
I would be interested in Mr. Ohlsson’s opinions on Scriabin’s piano productions. Other than Chopin and Scarlatti, I can think of only Scriabin and Rachmaninoff as primarily devoted to keyboard artistry. Scriabin died very prematurely when he was on the cusp of presenting to the world the “Mysterium” based on his mystic chord and his attempts on synchronizing his music with certain philosophical ideas and a grandiose plan on using choirs, bells, incense and projected colors (synesthesia) at a site in India where quasi-religious experiences could occur.