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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Date Coason Citealaton (DMA “Typo requoey Page: eyo “Thursday. March 26,2009, NEWYORK NY dozer) Nawspazor (0) br A CULTURAL CONVERSATION | With Murray Perahia The Pianist’s Passions: Constant, Recent and Renewed By Davi Menvztsraim —_terioasy dsappecred from the were repertory but waich he plays ‘Berkeley, Cali with both apdary precision and johear the panist urray supple virtuosity Perakiainrectalistocome “I love how with the fewest rniune with ane of musics notes, Brahms has the greatest igh pests So audiences typi- effect Mt. Persia sald over cally savor his legendary con- reaMfast the moming afer his fentration and nassalable Zellerbach performance. "Ey {echrique in husheé form— ery note speaks to him ikea fvanting bin a agree of te World [find ths fassnating Re Spect ot allways. afforded gardless ofthe fashion, he sil other, equally famous, artists. goes bach tothe verties of hr. ‘Cextanly that was the ease mony and counterpoint and last week at Zellerbach Wall finds a. deep expressiveness, here, when Mic Perabiabeganan Which Means alot to me" ‘Amerian tor that contin tues in Kalarazoo, Mich, right and Boston om Sunday Defore concluding at New York's Avery Fisher Hall on ‘Tuesday. The appearances snark the pianists triumph lover arecurring finger pr Ternthat ast spring seated ‘tour with the Academy of ‘St Martin in the Fels ‘Mr, Pera, age 6 is shar- ing the spotlight with no one this time save Bach, Beethover, ‘Brahms and toast, composers especially dea to im. "Mozart has lone been ess ated ith his pianists recor Ings of the complete piano eon- certs have been much prized Since their debut in the 1980s, Brains s another ali rend, and ‘MePrahiaconeues alive con= certsonthe present tour witatie ‘composer’ demanding "Handel ‘aritions”aworkthat has mys ‘love how with the fewest notes, Brahms has the This comment brings us to Bach, a more recent passion Raving boon taught to regard ‘the composer's keyoourd warks asthe provinee of harpsichord {sts Mi Perahin wos loaf perform them publicly. But an specially bad flare-up of that ighe-humb allment in the ‘cry 3990s caused him t seek ‘out Bach's musie es therapy Ie he convaleseed. “mhemusieIneededto study atthat imme was Bach” Mz Pra hiasai, “mina quite sureway, Teas source of spiritual re greatest effect. Bvery note speaks to him like a world? lease that needed: 0) boeauselt asa difieat pe fuse ach sustains one. And 1 ‘when got better, fee wanted tw share that ith the publi Butt wasa challenge for me to said, “and thought should play ‘them I'snot just ascholaste a ity. studied the sketches. 1s 4 great privilege co study the ‘way Beethoven thought, andthe Sketches give youn insight He yan bbe findaway‘oplayBachoathept- thought in very long stretches. anothatwasconvineing When! All four movements of the ‘asgrowingupinthelss0sand ‘Funeral Mare Sonata, for ox 19605, people didn play Bsch fon the plano. And If It was played of the piano, there was Somethingof dle machine about it "There was slo the danger ‘ha youould makelt Homantic and spoil the counterpoia” "He solved the problem in ‘time, but noe unl afer he spent 1s years learning the Ierpsichord as a way af bet terunderstanding how te p- anoshould relay such scores ‘The rsuls ean be heard on his recordings of he ~Cold bore Varatons”"hesixne Tish sultes and theo ofthe six Partita (the other tee wil Derecorded next month), aswell as the complete keyboard con erns sllof whieh he peysith Dronoineced musiealty anda t ossamer touch ‘Whats new is Mr, Peraha’s return to Beethoven His atest {CD of four sonatas is his fst Beethoven dise in nearly 15 years. He desribes tas an ou Srowtofhisworkeiting anew faition ofthe 22 sonata forthe ‘German music publisher Heal, "The sonatas on the record are the ones Tmt editing,” he nip, were an insprstion that ‘enmeat one morment. But Tink inal the sonatas be saw the ‘whole picture. 1s the sane in Beethoven as with Mozart, mu ‘se came ina flash though i took longer in Beethovers case, find it var harder t0 get that ‘ash worked out” Me Perak, who was born in the Brom but bas lived in Lan donsince the mid-870s, credits Several great' musiclans~in eluding Pablo Casals and the ‘Murray Perahia (Chenery Auditorium, ‘Kalamazoo, Mich. Tonighe et pm. Information about other vemes ‘ar wwwsmurrayperaha.cam ‘Engish pianist Ciftord Curzon— ‘with helping him become the artist he Is today. But there is Special affection, even ave, re- Served for Viadiir Horow, ‘with wtions Mi, Pera studied Inthe mid to late 19808, “Horowitz broughtto methe seerets ofthe plan,” Mi Pera bia sn. “He introduced me to ‘colors and took me ta level of playing 1 would never have known otherwise, The ground: Account 4020¥0 (2381) Page 1 of2 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Thurs. Moreh 26, 2009 dozer) Nawspazor( br work of our relationship is something T've quoted many times, He said, Ifyou want to be ‘more than a virtuoso, then first bea virtuoso,’ So he introduced me to the virtuoso repertoire— Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Franck and others, including certain pieces of Chopin. He helped me enjoy the piano and get more ‘ut of it through expression.” One thing Mr. Perahia seems not to have absorbed from Horowitz is the latter's legend- ary stage fright. Though he ac- knowledges that nerves are “a very hard aspect of the profes sion,” they do not keep him from performing. “Te doesn’t paralyze me, like it does some colleagues,” he said. “It probably has to do with afear that you might failinsome significant way. But t'snot some- thing T've spent a lot of time thinking about, beeause you just hhave todo it. find the really in- tense nerves go after about five 10 minutes, and after a while, one can really quite relax." ‘Audiences may find the word “relax” an odd choice, for Mr. Perahia doesn’t exactly ex- ude easualness on stage, In- deed, he Is so focused on the taskat hand that audiences may wonder if he is even aware of their presence. Yet Mr. Perahia insists that he cherisheshispublie—indeed, that they are vital to his music ‘making. “It'snot just something you can do in your studio," he sald. “Communication is a very strong part of art. And to get it, ‘one needs to playit, toliveit. So 1 do enjoy performing, though its difficult and takes @ lot out cof you. But its a great luxury to play the musie you love.” ‘Mr. Mormelstein writes for the Journal on classical music ‘and film. Account 4020V6 (2381) Page 2 of2

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