newjerseynewsroom.com

BY WARREN BOROSON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Not long ago BBC Music magazine polled 100 contemporary pianists asking them to name the three greatest pianists – pianists they had actually heard. No Liszt, no Chopin, no Beethoven.

The top three turned out to be: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, and Vladimir Horowitz.

The panelists themselves were certainly an impressive bunch, including as they did the likes of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Garrick Ohlsson, Alfred Brendel, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lang Lang, and Helene Grimaud.

The highest-ranked pianist in the poll still living: Martha Argerich.

Surprising omissions: Wilhelm Backhaus, Maurizio Pollini, Evgeny Kissin.

Interesting inclusions: Art Tatum, Keith Garrett, Erroll Garner, Thelonius Monk.

But let’s focus on the top three.

Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Born in Russia, among his mentors was the composer Tchaikovsky.

Rachmaninoff immigrated to the United States during the revolution of 1917, winding up in (naturally) Beverly Hills.

He was immensely gifted. He wrote fine music (including, at age 19, the Prelude in C Sharp Minor, which he sold for $40); he was a skillful orchestra conductor (he turned down an offer to direct the Boston Symphony); and, of course, a splendid pianist. He concentrated on piano playing because that gave him the most regular income. His first records were made for Thomas Edison, who didn’t especially like his playing – and called him a “pounder.” But his records sold well.

His fellow Russian composer Igor Stravinsky called him a six feet six inch tall scowl. He was, in fact, rather scary-looking. Harold Schonberg of the New York Times wrote that “The tall dour unsmiling figure of Sergei Rachmaninoff with its seamed face and head of close-cropped (almost shaved) hair invariably reminded the public of a convict on the loose.”

His piano playing, wrote Schonberg, had “bronze-like sonorities”; and “probably no pianist ever had his sheer finish, his authority his unruffled sheer perfection.”

Rachmaninoff and his superb pianist friend, Josef Hoffman, agreed that their successor was Vladimir Horowitz.

When a music critic, Henry Pleasants, asked Rachmaninoff who the two best pianists in the world were, he replied, “Well, there’s Hoffman.” He thought a little more. “And there’s me.” He wouldn’t say another word.

His rival was Igor Stravinsky, the Russian composer.

Once they were invited to the same dinner.

Wrote Schonberg: “Everyone knew that the two Russians had no use for each other, and, as Rubinstein wrote, ‘The two men had spoken with such disgust of each other’s works that it was inconceivable to imagine them dining together.’ At dinner the conversation was hesitant and stilted. Suddenly the conversation became dangerous. Rachmaninoff taunted Stravinsky with the fact that his two most popular works, Firebird and Petruchka, had never given him a cent of royalties. Stravinsky flushed and became angry. ‘What about your C Sharp Prelude and all those concertos of yours, all published in Russia, eh? You had to play concerts to make a living, uh?’ Rubinstein thought a nasty scene would develop.