Bolet on Cuba and Poland

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 hear. Unfortunately he died a short time afterwards [April 1959].' 

Asked about Minimalism, he says he's not himself heard of Philip Glass or Steve Reich (whose now legendary Music for 18 Musicians was composed in 1976). 

'I remember my homeland as a paradise, why would I want to see it again, now that it has become a hell?'  When the interviewer apologises for asking whether he is exaggerating, Jorge replies: 'Have you ever been in a Communist country? I was in Poland for a month. I met the most wonderful people, they are so wonderful. But in secret, they tell you how they really are, it made my heart bleed.  In Cuba, everyone is just a prisoner and living like a prisoner - that's what I call hell.'

Jorge claims that the tales of massacres under Batista were grossly exaggerated. [Moordpartijen onder Batista, dat ist allemaal schromelijk overdreven ] When questioned about the role of an artist in society, he replied that the artist only has to do what he needs to do to gain a large audience. 'He should not poke his nose into other things. At least that is what I think for myself what I think, and believe has nothing to do with my work.'