{"id":2076,"date":"2021-08-13T11:42:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T15:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2021-08-13T11:42:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T15:42:38","slug":"toradzes-piano-stories-take-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2021\/08\/toradzes-piano-stories-take-two.html","title":{"rendered":"Toradze&#8217;s Piano Stories &#8212; Take Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QPyphbBp7uU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My recent posting of Behrouz Jamali&#8217;s extraordinary film about Alexander Toradze produced a couple of  comments so extraordinary that I&#8217;m re-posting them here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The first is from David Bondy, an attorney who was once in artists&#8217; management:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I too have been mesmerized by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LuHZomyZ-hA\">Toradze\u2019s recording of the Prokofiev 2<\/a><\/strong>. The first movement unfolds like no one else\u2019s. Others who tackle this work grab it as though it will slip through their hands if they give it any room to breathe. Toradze suspends time at the start, which requires absolute concentration and confidence that the listener will stick with him. I remember the first time I heard the recording. It was as though it were a different piece but so much more nourishing than the typical interpretation \u2014 thought-provoking and deeply felt. It has become hard to hear this work otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I agree with you about authenticity. Anyone who argues that an interpretation must reflect that of the composer\u2019s wishes (assuming we could ever know them) must explain why we need further performances of Rachmaninoff\u2019s concerti when we have his extraordinary recordings of them. If we play them anyway, is it \u201cauthentic\u201d to copy precisely what Rachmaninoff did? And if you don\u2019t copy what he did, are you playing authentically? When you consider the problem, you realize how ridiculous it quickly becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, Ella and Oscar. What a wonderful story. I hope Mr. Toradze knows that there are Americans \u2014 at least a few \u2014 who revere these great artists as much as he does. I understand they mean something different to him than they can to me, growing up here where they were part of my cultural inheritance. But life would be dramatically less rich without their work, as it would be without Mr. Toradze\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>And here&#8217;s the second comment, from the pianist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2021\/07\/art-tatum-and-the-black-virtuoso-tradition.html\">Steven Mayer:<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have encountered Alexander Toradze at several key moments in my own career, including at the 1977 Van Cliburn Competition (Toradze didn\u2019t win, but the controversy he created did for him what Martha Argerich and not winning did for Ivo Pogorelich in 1980 in Warsaw), his debut with the L.A. Phil in Ravel\u2019s G Major Concerto (I was a prof at UCLA then, and just happened by the symphony that evening), and a fun recital at which both of us played as part of Ilana Vared\u2019s Rutgers Summerfest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behrouz Jamali\u2019s brilliant documentary captures the essence of Toradze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lili Kraus once compared Toradze\u2019s talent to the force created by the splitting of an atom. I would add that, 44 years later, a certain poise, perspective and wisdom place Toradze uniquely on a perch, seemingly without peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch how skillfully Horowitz leads Toradze into intimate reminiscence &#8212; of touring the States with his personal K.G.B. agent by his side, refusing to play the next gig because Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson would be missed in a live concert, and so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And listen to Toradze as he plays Prokofiev &#8212; before it\u2019s placed in the next space capsule for extra-terrestrial interception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My recent posting of Behrouz Jamali&#8217;s extraordinary film about Alexander Toradze produced a couple of comments so extraordinary that I&#8217;m re-posting them here. The first is from David Bondy, an attorney who was once in artists&#8217; management: I too have been mesmerized by Toradze\u2019s recording of the Prokofiev 2. The first movement unfolds like no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-xu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions\/2079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}