I had occasion to look again at some reviews of one of my favourite Bolet discs. Volume 6 of the Decca Liszt series came out in August 1985. It had been recorded on 19-22 October 1983 in Kingsway Hall, London, when Jorge set down Liszt's Années de pèlerinage: Venezia e Napoli S162, Les Jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este S163/4, Ballade No.2 in B minor S171 and Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude S173/3. Wolfgang Dömling in Die Welt (10 December) stated that in an expansive piece

Unraveling the Misconceptions: 5 Things They Get Wrong About Jorge Bolet

Very interesting section added, after I found an article by JB in Etude, November 1951. Once you are on your way, artistic abstractions become merged with time schedules and possible emergencies. You can't count on practising. Your pianistic equipment must be in such condition that you can play without practising. The average tour covers about three concerts a week, in different towns, some near each other, some not. You move by train, by bus, by car, by plane. If all goes we

Finally! After hearing about Jorge's home in Spain during 1960s-1980s, I get an address. I've been looking for this since 1983 when JB listed it in an Directory of International Musicians as simply Apartado 5. A chance find among YouTube comments led me to Carlos Johansson. Carlos Johansson has said that 'Jorge Bolet lived in our house in Fuenterrabia, Spain (the Basque country) for many years. This was the Villa Egoki, which my mother rented to him and his partner during

An interview with the Leidsch Dagblad (5 December, 1983) became quite animated. There was a big feature, with Charles van der Leeuw interviewing. 'I played under Eduard van Beinum in Chicago - that man could do the impossible. We played Rachmaninoff third concerto and there was only one rehearsal. The day before he came to me and said he'd like to go through it with me because he'd never conducted the piece before. The performance was as fantastic as one could ever hope to

Well this is a find indeed - how have I missed this! I heard this on the radio in March 1984 (I'd only discovered Jorge Bolet the year before). I taped the programme with very poor FM reception, but could still hear the magic of Bolet's playing at 11m30s. How marvellous to hear it again in excellent sound. 17 November 1983, Elmwood Hall, Queen's University, Belfast, as part of the 21st Arts Festival: Brahms, Intermezzi Op.117 & Sonata No 3 in F minor, Op 5 (the programme al

A gem of a review, but from Bern not Lucerne (as advertised)

Monday 11 April, 1988, Bern Casino Hall, Bern, Switzerland. 'When you heard him play, this guest from overseas, you got the impression...

Early in the new year, Bolet had been on tour in Central America/Caribbean. A passenger manifest shows that he arrived in San Juan,...

Mattheus Smits recalls: 'After finishing my professional music education in Holland, I decided to continue my piano studies with a private teacher. Thanks to his son Erik Ligtelijn, I came in touch with Johan Ligtelijn who taught privately in Amsterdam in his house next to the Concertgebouw. After finishing his pianos tudies in Amsterdam, Johan Ligtelijn had studied with Walter Gieseking in Hanover and later in Wiesbaden. Johan Ligtelijn also studied privately with the Liszt

After leaving music conservatory [in Utrecht], I continued my piano studies in 1972 with the Dutch pianist Mr. Johan Ligtelijn, who had studied with the Liszt student, Frederic Lamond (who taught for some years in Holland) and with Walter Gieseking. Mr. Ligtelijn told me the Marx concerto was the best new concerto Gieseking had laid his hands upon. Gieseking played many new concerti: Pfitzner, Petrassi, Trapp and of course the two works by Marx. (I regret he never played t

I'm not just a fan of Jorge Bolet. Another great interest is Alfred Brendel, who today on 5 January 2025 is celebrating his 94th...

A name you don't hear in Jorge's usual biography! Jorge had begun piano lessons with sister Maria. (He said in an interview in 1943 that he was seven years old at the time.). At age four, he had been attacking the piano keys so enthusiastically that one day he literally broke a hammer. 'After that he was consigned to an imaginary keyboard—specifically, the living room sofa—and his cherished pastime was banging out scales and octaves on a slab of overstuffed mohair, supplyi

What better way to end 2024 - at least in the musical world of Jorge Bolet - than by being reminded (via the words of Donald Manildi in...

A.I. technology is moving on at a rapid pace - I'm amazed at what I'm seeing - and I've produced a series of three new videos with what I...

All Jorge Bolet's recordings for the company from 1977-1990, including Chopin Nocturnes and Berceuse, never before issued, have appeared...

This is very much work-in-progress, but I thought I'd try to gather together all that I know so far about Jorge's performances in South...

On 19 October 1984, in the Filharmonia Narodowa, Warsaw, Jorge Bolet played Liszt. That very evening, Catholic priest and chaplain of Solidarity/Solidarność Jerzy Popiełuszko was murdered by officers of the Security Service. The archives of the Warsaw Philharmonic have this concert down for 19/20 October 1985, but this may an error as Stolica: warszawski tygodnik ilustrowan y, R. 39, 1984 nr 42 [14 X] advertised it on that week of 1984. Although the communists lifted martial

Online Polish newspapers have revealed a few more of their secrets about Bolet's tour in May/June 1961. New cities and dates have been...

Jorge Bolet's recital in Windhoek, South West Africa was actually on 2 February, not 6th, so there is some mixup in his datebook. The Windhoek Advertiser (16.1.76) reported that there was a strong possibility theatre-goes would boycott the recital of the 'Cuban pianist' as they felt strongly about Cuban involvement in Angola 'and seem to resent the fact that a Cuban pianist is going to appear in the Windhoek Theatre. In an interview this morning Dr E Grobbelaar, Director o