Some artists, like the fantastic music-comedy duo Igudesman and Joo, have even found a way to satirize this stereotype. “I have not big hands, not terribly small, not quite average, and my fingers since birth are built in such a way I can hardly play. “I’ve never relied on anyone in my life”: Covid-19 and the new Universal Credit claimants, The Crown has been accused of inaccuracy – not least by those who were there, What David Bowie's 2000 Glastonbury set reveals about modern England. We’ll Be Impressed if You Can Guess the Composers of These Works! All fields are required. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to the. She presents The Film Programme on BBC Radio 4. This article first appeared in the 10 December 2012 issue of the New Statesman, Greece: a warning for Britain? Physical attributes should never deter someone from learning the piano, as concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy, who was born without his right hand, will testify. He has lived in Switzerland since 1978. Look at the likes of Alicia de Larocha, Emil Gilels, Maria Joao Pires whose hands are/were on the small size. Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (Russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor.He is originally from Russia and has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972. “Some people never understand anything they are playing – not a thing! By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies. For many, hand size, apparently, did matter. You’ll have to equate again, I fear. – and are still terribly famous. She writes a column on radio for the New Statesman. O’Leary, exquisitely, didn’t push. .”. This did not sound like a currying-favourishly deliberate debunking of the heroic mystique of the Russian maestro. None of it was unkindly meant. Antonia Quirke is an author and journalist. Explore the genre of lullabies and berceuses from Chamayou’s latest album! I need to practice quite a lot – still – simply to play certain passages that for other players are easy to do.”. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I think he means size of discography which none of those fine pianists can quite match. I won’t give any names . He is definitely sniffing.) It sounded like the truth, and if you stop reading this and instead watch Ashkenazy attack Chopin’s Prelude No 24 on YouTube you can believe his claims. Is there promise in a global plastics pact. Do you equate large hand spans with being a good classical pianist? O’Leary is an intriguing interviewer, giving an evocative, almost fan-girl introduction that implies she could talk for hours on the subject and then taking herself out of the picture almost entirely, saying so little that she you can actually hear her interlocutor in the act of sitting forward and filling the silence. Or was it? Trying to Stay Busy: An Interview With Peter Breiner, A reflection on his four decades in the recording business. Here's why. Had he not been a pianist, says Ashkenazy, he would have played football, or been a mathematician. Perahia's teacher at Curtis, the Polish pianist Mieczyslaw Horszowski had very small hands as well--I once spotted him walking in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia years back, and his hands were tiny (as was … ", Pivotal force behind the development of musique concrete, Let us define the meaning of being "a pianist", School Music Teachers: Mischief, Mayhem and Magic. Vladimir Ashkenazy. Your email address will not be published. This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. Unbelievable”). A short interview with the 75-year-old Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy (who quit the USSR for England, then Iceland, in 1963) took place in a hotel room at Heathrow, after recording a Rachmaninoff trio that had required a full six months’ practice (4 December, 9.30am). He gives a whoop of merriment. or Perahia's Schumann Symphonic Etudes? He appears to be endlessly sucking a gobstopper in front of his teeth while playing as though distracting himself from a ruthless pain (and possibly a guinea-piggish odour rising from the Steinbeck mingling not entirely unpleasingly with the wood polish. You should). “I don’t know,” he sighed towards the end, of some of his rivals. We need to transform the plastics economy. Lugansky – Rachmaninov / Prelude in D minor Op 23/3, Explore amateurs’ jealous possessiveness about the music they are learning, Learn to notice the signal to set the music aside, Finding similar values between democracy and music, On “Cancel culture” and equality of Classical music, "He taught me a lot about Chinese history and culture. Scholars, philosophers and fictional characters have something to say about music! Plenty of world-class pianists have small hands, including Alicia de Larroccha and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and yet they seem to be able to cope with the most physically demanding works in the repertoire. “My hands are not terribly good for pianoplaying,” confessed Ashkenazy, to which O’Leary rightly responded with a laugh. Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, he explained to the interviewer Olivia O’Leary, were relatively easy to play (“no technical problems”) unlike Beethoven (“much worse”) and the impossible Rachmaninoff (“you name it. Debunking the heroic mystic of the Russian maestro pianist. In my book, music teachers are the heroes. One to One BBC Radio 4 A short interview with the 75-year-old Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy (who quit the USSR for England, then Iceland, in 1963) took place in a hotel room at Heathrow, after recording a Rachmaninoff trio that had required a full six months’ practice (4 December, 9.30am).