Ivan Moravec: Ivan Moravec plays Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms CD Track Listing

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Ivan Moravec Ivan Moravec plays Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms (1995)
"It's impossible to describe the extraordinary pianistic gifts of this artist without a string of superlatives," wrote Susan Kagan in a review of Ivan Moravec plays Chopin (VAIA 1039) for Fanfare magazine. American Record Guide described Ivan Moravec: French Keyboard Masterpieces (VAIA 1043-2) as offering "some of the most beautiful piano playing you will ever hear," and Time magazine ranks him "among the foremost pianists of the day." Yet despite the praise accorded him by the press and public alike, Czech pianist Ivan Moravec has remained apart from the personality-driven mainstream of the contemporary classical music scene.\n\nBorn in Prague in 1930, Moravec began his studies at age seven. "One thing I see with children," says Moravec, "is that the proof of talent is interest. Nobody had to push me to practice; this is what I wanted to do." He went on to work with Enna Gruenfeld at the Prague Conservatory and at age sixteen made his performing debut in a Prague radio concert. Among the high points of the early part of his career was the period he spent in Italy studying with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. "I spent perhaps three 40-minute sessions with him at the piano," Moravec recalls, "though of course we spent much more time drinking wine together. . . . The level of his playing.., was simply sublime. Unbelievable. His teaching was very personal, very precise. He knew exactly what he wanted to hear."\n\nIn the fast-paced world of today's music scene, Moravec's development of his own individuality is the result of a very thorough approach to music-making. He lives with repertoire for a long time, and his practicing consists of constant concentrated listening and constant readjustment to make his hands produce the sound his ear wants to hear. As Moravec himself says, "My ideal of a piece - it is so beautiful, it takes so long to grasp it." This unshakable musical integrity affected his relationship with George Szell, under whose direction the pianist made his American debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1964. The conductor was categorically opposed to Moravec's romantic interpretation of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. "Szell was bitter," Moravec recalls, "because he was used to having his own way and he felt humiliated by me in front of musicians whom he regarded as his employees. He treated the orchestra - as well as myself - in a manner that no musician would swallow today."\n\nPerhaps the single most important element of Moravec's musical character (and this extends to his personal demeanor as well) is its lack of pretension or affectation. Anthony Tommasini of the Boston Globe has noted that "Moravec 's music-making is refreshingly free of point-making. He has no agenda other than to execute the music with honesty and respect....[While] some pianists are great in such idiomatic ways that imitating them is impossible and inadvisable, . . Moravec's pianism is a model of how things are supposed to be done."\n\nA true "musician s musician," Moravec has established his reputation not through "hype" or gimmickry, but by pursuing his musical values to the fullest.\n\nVAI Audio, 158 Linwood Plaza, Suite 301, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 USA Phone: (201) 944-0099. Fax: (201) 947-8850\n YEAR: 1995
This classical cd contains 11 tracks and runs 66min 49sec.
Freedb: b60fa70b

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