Happy birthday, Gary Graffman

[John F]

He's 90!

Piano Stars Gather for a Legend’s 90th
By Michael Cooper
Oct. 15, 2018

It was his 90th birthday party on Sunday evening, and the pianist Gary Graffman was holding court. Lang Lang, a former student and current superstar, bounded into Mr. Graffman’s apartment across from Carnegie Hall with a present. “No, don’t get up,” Mr. Lang protested as Mr. Graffman rose. “I want to show you that I can get up!” Mr. Graffman said with a laugh, putting down his mango-flavored vodka.

A few minutes later, the pianist Leon Fleisher arrived. “Somebody older than I am!” Mr. Graffman exclaimed, greeting Mr. Fleisher, his senior by a few months. Many decades ago, the two were in the same generation of musicians, a group once jocularly called OYAPs: Outstanding Young American Pianists. When they sat down to catch up on a sofa in the living room, Emanuel Ax — yet another piano star — couldn’t resist snapping a photo.

It was one of those only-in-New-York nights, gathering enough musicians to headline several galas in celebration of a beloved figure in the classical music world. To get a sense of what all the fuss was about, here is a look back at highlights of Mr. Graffman’s storied career.

It was a huge break for an unknown teenager: playing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. Mr. Graffman landed the gig by winning a competition — and later lamented his youthful ignorance of rehearsal etiquette. “I thought that if I heard something not quite to my liking, I could just stop playing and say, ‘A little faster, please, Mr. Ormandy,’” he recalled in his 1981 memoir, “I Really Should Be Practicing.” Such irreverence, he learned, was “the equivalent of farting in a cathedral.”

Mr. Graffman studied with some of the great pianists of the 20th century: At 7, he became a pupil of Isabelle Vengerova at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and was later taught by Rudolf Serkin at the Marlboro Music Festival, then by Vladimir Horowitz in informal sessions that began after 8 p.m. and could last until 2 a.m.

The two piano masters took very different approaches. Serkin would often describe piano pieces in terms of other instruments: “In Marlboro the talk was mainly about a left-hand passage representing, say, a cello rather than a bassoon,” Mr. Graffman later wrote, “while a certain right-hand melody might bring to mind the quality of a viola.” “But Horowitz,” he wrote, “was more concerned with trying to make the piano sound like a human voice, and continually analyzed how a great singer would phrase a certain passage.”

His career exploded in the 1950s. Mr. Graffman started playing roughly 100 concerts a year, and pulled off the rare feat of recording with each of what were then known as the “Big Five” orchestras — those of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia. But he soon made even bigger news by not playing. Mr. Graffman pulled out of a concert he was contracted to play in 1964 in Jackson, Miss., after members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee wrote to tell him that the hall was segregated and that two black students had been arrested after trying to attend an earlier performance there by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London.

“This is the first time that a distinguished concert artist has joined other entertainment personalities in boycotting Mississippi’s capital since last year’s racial demonstrations,” an article in The New York Times said. His move dismayed his managers — who tried to talk him out of it, and struggled to find a replacement — but the boycott was soon taken up by other classical musicians. The great Swedish dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson later canceled her appearance in Jackson.Image

It was a pianist’s worst nightmare: By 1979, the ring and little fingers of Mr. Graffman’s right hand had grown so weak that he could no longer play as he used to. His career, as he had known it, was over. He had just made his last recording with two hands, and it was a hit: He played the “Rhapsody in Blue” solo on the soundtrack album for Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” (although, as he admitted decades later, he is not heard in the actual film because a snowstorm kept him from the original recording session.)

After consulting many doctors, and helping spur new interest in music medicine, Mr. Graffman started a remarkable second act. He began performing repertoire for the left hand only — playing many pieces written for Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I — and returned to Curtis, now as a teacher.Things came full circle in 1986, when, 50 years after he had first arrived as a 7-year-old, Mr. Graffman took over Curtis, first as artistic director and then as president. He led the school for two decades.

His students there included two of the biggest piano stars of the 21st century: Mr. Lang and Yuja Wang. At the party, Mr. Lang recalled how Mr. Graffman had put him at ease when he first went to Curtis, at the age of 14, for his audition: by speaking to him in Mandarin. “Gary is one of — not one of, he is the most generous person, most generous mentor that I ever had,” Mr. Lang said. “He really shared endless love to me, and to all his students.”

Ms. Wang was on tour in South America, but sent birthday wishes on WeChat, the Chinese messaging app, and a photo of herself by an ornate silvery carriage. Mr. Graffman wrote back: “If you’re coming here in that carriage, I’m afraid you will be a little late.”

After dinner, the room hushed, and suddenly there was an explosion of sound from one of the two grand pianos in the living room: Mr. Lang was playing “Happy Birthday to You” as only a star pianist can, with Romantic bombast and a dizzying cadenza.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/arts ... -lang.html

[maestrob]

I grew up with Graffman's Prokofiev I & III with Szell/Cleveland, and his Tchaikovsky II & III w/Ormandy, which were the first recordings of these works, recently finally issued on CD. Graffman is a hero of mine for sticking with his career even when losing the use of his right hand. Congratulations to him on his 90th birthday, a milestone indeed!

[Lance]

WHAT a birthday party that must have been. I wish I was a fly on the wall (they could not swat!). Graffman, always revered as one of America's great pianists. Pianophiles would do well to acquire his 24-CD collection on Sony Classical [46239], which combines all his early RCA recordings along with his Columbias. Of those at the Graffman party, one who I have prepared pianos for in the past was Leon Fleisher, a true gentleman and incredible pianist. The last time I saw him was at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont this past summer. He is as sharp as ever, still traveling and giving master classes, though he said to me was playing "some." My kind of birthday party! I would have liked to have heard Lang Lang's playing of Happy Birthday, especially his cadenza.

[Rach3]

I still fondly recall hearing Graffman live at my College in 1970 or 1971 ( there would have been an audience of not more than 300-400 ) . Very generous program:

2 Scarlatti Sonatas
Beethoven " Appassionata" Sonata
Liszt B minor Sonata
Intermission
Ravel, Gaspard
A Scriabin Prelude ( I believe Op.22, # 1 )
Balakirev , " Islamey "

3 encores, I believe " Widmung"
and the Chopin 3rd Waltz, finally for sure Chopin Etude Op.25, # 12.

[John F]

Generous and taxing!

[Lance]

I did a quick check on a recording of the Liszt sonata w/Graffman; I don't believe one ever came forth, nor the Balakirev Islamey. And I would love to hear what he did with the Schumann/Liszt Widmung. As John F noted, this is quite an astonishing program, especially with the Appassionata. Highly demanding program.

I still fondly recall hearing Graffman live at my College in 1970 or 1971 ( there would have been an audience of not more than 300-400 ) . Very generous program:

2 Scarlatti Sonatas
Beethoven " Appassionata" Sonata
Liszt B minor Sonata
Intermission
Ravel, Gaspard
A Scriabin Prelude ( I believe Op.22, # 1 )
Balakirev , " Islamey "

3 encores, I believe " Widmung"
and the Chopin 3rd Waltz, finally for sure Chopin Etude Op.25, # 12.