Sunday, August 28, 2022

Underrated Classical Musicians: Seymour Bernstein

 This is really extraordinary, a ninety-five year old conservatory piano teacher and former denizen of the concert circuit posting lessons online. I don't have the time for anything long today, but it's really wonderful to have this repository of wisdom here. Look at his list of teachers: Brailowsky, Curzon, Boulanger, and, oh my god, George Enescu, who wasn't even a pianist (though, of course, Enescu is said to have played piano beautifully). This guy is clearly not just another pianist, this a real musician.

Every pianist claims they're some beautiful cinnamon roll of a piano genius because they studied with the student of the student of the student x3 of Liszt and Beethoven. It's the musical equivalent of what we call 'yichus' in Yiddish, and it generally tells you very little about the actual wisdom passed on when the true genius is diluted by 5 generations, or even 1. I took a number of classes from a music teacher at university who studied with Schnabel, Serkin, and Brendel - literally the German triple crown, along with a number of other august teachers whom I will not mention lest I give his identity away, because even twenty years ago, this professor may or may not have been senile.
But to have studied under Enescu is a more impressive CV than nearly any pianist, save perhaps my very favorite two from whom I've learned more about interpretation in less time than any number of stars: Rudolf Firkusny, who studied under Janacek, and Lili Kraus, who studied with Bartok (a lot of conductors did, but not many concert pianists). There is no way to have studied under such pure mediums of music without retaining their most trenchant insights.
I'm in no position to confirm some of the interpretations of composers' markings he passes on here as accurate or not, but some of what he says here is really and truly shocking. I'm quite tempted to argue with his conclusions, but when you get your wisdom directly from Enescu and Boulanger, who am I to dispute it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRLBBJLX-dQ

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