Richard Sauer
2005-09-07 17:57:50 UTC
From IP Sept/Oct 2005:
Lory Wallfisch tells Charles Timbrell about her teacher, Florica Muzicescu:
"Muzicescu had many other pupils in addition to Dinu Lipatti, although he
was of course, the most famous. He was older than I and he had already gone
to Paris to continue his studies with Alfred Cortot. Another extraordinary
talent was Mindru Katz, who had a tone like pure honey. Unfortunately, he
died in his fifties, but he left some very fine recordings, especially of
Bach, Chopin and Prokofiev. In Chopin's Etude in C sharp minior op. 10 no.
4 he managed almost impossible expression at a really fast tempo. He was
also a fantastic teacher- according to Jeremy Menuhin, the best he ever had.
Also there was Corneliu Gheorghiu, who was a formidable player in his youth.
And another of her star pupils was Maria Fotino, who I remember played a
remarkable Brahms concerto with Enescu conducting. Radu Lupu also studied
with her, and Julien Msafia, Dan Grigore, Ari Gutmann...the list could go on
and on.."
"I would say that the most important thing she taught us was to seek an
almost unattainable degree of perfection. "You're getting better" was one of
her very highest compliments. Once I remember hearing Annie Fischer play
the Schumann Concerto with the Bucharest Philharmonic. I thought it was
superlative, and when I mentioned this at my lesson the next day she said,
"Well, yes. But her pianissimos were very superficial." She was very
demanding about tone production. She stressed that your maximum sound
should never be harsh and that your pianissimo must not be superficial."
"She always stressed the importance of obtaining a singing tone quality,
pointing out that Romanian was the only language in which you "sing the
piano" rather than "play the piano", as in French, German or Italian."
Katz I know, but Fotino,Gheorghiu, Msafia, Grigore, and Gutmann I've never
heard of....
Lory Wallfisch tells Charles Timbrell about her teacher, Florica Muzicescu:
"Muzicescu had many other pupils in addition to Dinu Lipatti, although he
was of course, the most famous. He was older than I and he had already gone
to Paris to continue his studies with Alfred Cortot. Another extraordinary
talent was Mindru Katz, who had a tone like pure honey. Unfortunately, he
died in his fifties, but he left some very fine recordings, especially of
Bach, Chopin and Prokofiev. In Chopin's Etude in C sharp minior op. 10 no.
4 he managed almost impossible expression at a really fast tempo. He was
also a fantastic teacher- according to Jeremy Menuhin, the best he ever had.
Also there was Corneliu Gheorghiu, who was a formidable player in his youth.
And another of her star pupils was Maria Fotino, who I remember played a
remarkable Brahms concerto with Enescu conducting. Radu Lupu also studied
with her, and Julien Msafia, Dan Grigore, Ari Gutmann...the list could go on
and on.."
"I would say that the most important thing she taught us was to seek an
almost unattainable degree of perfection. "You're getting better" was one of
her very highest compliments. Once I remember hearing Annie Fischer play
the Schumann Concerto with the Bucharest Philharmonic. I thought it was
superlative, and when I mentioned this at my lesson the next day she said,
"Well, yes. But her pianissimos were very superficial." She was very
demanding about tone production. She stressed that your maximum sound
should never be harsh and that your pianissimo must not be superficial."
"She always stressed the importance of obtaining a singing tone quality,
pointing out that Romanian was the only language in which you "sing the
piano" rather than "play the piano", as in French, German or Italian."
Katz I know, but Fotino,Gheorghiu, Msafia, Grigore, and Gutmann I've never
heard of....
