[Magdalen] 60 Years Ago Today

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Reminds me of Virgil Fox, a great showman, but even more astounding
organist. Every time I've listened to him, the music has incredible drive
and passion, and his talking is just filled with the utter joy of getting
to do what he loved.  He was so ecstatic that his concerts were attracting
a lot of young people.

The kids could tell that all of his mannerisms were hopelessly conventional
and stodgy, but they genuinely didn't care, because the obvious passion he
had for the music sucked them right in.  No telling how many young folks
got their intro into Bach through Virgil, God be good to him.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sat, Apr 14, 2018 at 1:15 PM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> At Michigan State, our piano faculty was headed by the excellent Ralph
> Votapek, who won the first Van Cliburn competition.
>
> His level of performance was of course noticeably far above anyone else
> among the faculty and the best students. At his standing-room-only free
> recitals, he'd stride briskly across the stage, bow with a slight smile,
> and no sooner had his rear end landed on the bench than he would launch
> into a breathtaking performance from memory. This was not someone needing
> to achieve a master's recital or prove himself; it was someone living in
> the music in a way none of us could fully imagine. And he had no need to
> act superior about it...he was just doing what he does.
>
> I don't think I ever heard stories of temperamental behavior in his studio.
> What one heard from his studio was constant music. He just seemed like this
> furnace of music, constantly generating it. (I'm sure he spoke sometimes,
> and I'm told he's a great guy, but I prefer to think of him as just always
> playing the piano).
>
> http://www.ralphvotapek.com/selections.html
>
> The first selection, the Ginastera, was typical of something he'd start a
> recital with.
>
> On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 6:39 AM, Christopher Hart <cervus51 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > In the midst of the Cold War <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War>,
> > American pianist *Van Cliburn <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cliburn
> >*
> > won
> > the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition
> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Tchaikovsky_Competition> in
> > Moscow.
> >
> > ​I got to see him perform once with the Philadelphia Orchestra at a
> summer
> > concert. I think lost count of how many ​encores he did.
> > --
> >
> > Christopher Hart
> >
> > List Mail Address: cervus51 at gmail.com
> > Personal Mail: cervus at veritasliberat.net
> > Twitter: @cervus51
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>