Jorge as Liszt Judge, 1960
Ivan Davis
18-20, 25 April 1960
Franz Liszt Sesquicentennial Piano Competition, Town Hall, New York
$500 and a Town Hall recital constituted the prize, contributed by William Goetz, producer of the film Song Without Words.
Jorge Bolet is one the of the judges (according to Piano Guild Notes May-June 1960, Vol 10/1), along with Egon Petri, Byron Janis, Moura Lympany, Dmitri Mitropoulos, composer Howard Hanson, and Abram Chasins.
'Mr. Davis had given a stunning performance of two works by the contest’s name sake: the “Funerailles” and the Hungarian Rhapsody No 6, as well as three sonatas by Scarlatti and Schumann's Variations on the name “ABEGG.” The other two finalists were Jacob Maxim and George Katz.'
The contestants were guest honour at a special reception and given by Mrs. Robert F. Wagner Gracie Mansion, the official reside of the Mayor of New York, on Thursday, April 21st.
The winner was Ivan Davis (1932-2018). The day after winning the April 1960 competition, Davis received a surprise phone call from Vladimir Horowitz, subsequently becoming one of his few select students at his New York City townhouse on 14 East 94th Street on the Upper East Side.
On 21 October 1959, Davis had made his New York debut in recital at Town Hall, after which Harold Schonberg wrote in The New York Times, "This was an unusually exciting debut and it left no doubt that an important new American pianist has arrived on the scene." In the 1957 Busoni Competition in Bolzano, 1957, he had taken second prize with Jerome Lowenthal; Martha Argerich won.
See Glenn Plaskin's biography of Horowitz for a then account of piano sessions at 9:45pm every week (without a fee), 305ff.
I've always loved Ivan Davis' recording (15-17 January 1975, Kingsway Hall, London) of The Banjo, fantasie grotesque by Gottschalk: steely control, precision, and scintilating accuracy.
With sixty concerts planned for his first cross-country tour and a CBS Records con- tract, Davis intrigued Horowitz because of his successes and the rumors of a Horowitzian technique. A meeting was arranged, and after dinner Horowitz asked Davis to play. "I understand you play the Sixth Rhap- sody of Liszt," Horowitz said. "I hear you have good octaves."
Davis was shocked: "Oh my God, I thought to myself. It's like taking coals to Newcastle!" But after he played, the young man was touched by Horowitz's gentle response: "Well, Ivan] I'm not playing much myself anymore. You already have a personality, you're already a pianist, but sometimes I think you do things you don't hear yourself. I'd like to be big ears for you."
For the next year and a half, Davis dropped by Horowitz's home on the average of once a week at 9:45 P.M. "I was never a student per se, be- cause I was already established, but he gave me suggestions about the repertoire I was playing in concerts, and we discussed my experience at Columbia Records since he himself was about to begin recording there. Also, I'm an opera buff, and we listened to Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko and other Russian operas." Horowitz also played for Davis his collection of private recordings of many of his Carnegie Hall recitals in the late 1940's and 1950's and told him that he was both proud and ashamed of one re- corded performance of the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. "It was the fastest damn thing you can imagine," recalled Davis] "Horowitz was just like a mischievous little kid-Hee, hee, listen what I do here, very bad taste, but isn't it fun?' And it really was marvelous." Curious about the hands that had managed such a feat, Davis observed them carefully. "Al- though not king-size, Horowitz's hands were extraordinary looking. The fifth fingers were surrounded by the most incredible mass of white muscle."
In their evenings together, Davis much preferred Horowitz's demon- strations to any attempted explanations. He later stated that if there was a secret to Horowitz's brilliant technique, he never found it. "One time, when we were playing octaves," said Davis] "Horowitz said to me, 'You know, you've got a good wrist, most people don't. Want me to show you how I play my octaves?' And I thought, 'Here it is, the secret that all the world's been waiting for.' And Horowitz said, 'I practise slow, high from the wrist and in different rhythms.' Of course, everybody practises that was so I didn't learn one thing!"
Elsewhere:
'When I went to London, I was subtly ordered to bring back his favourite fragrance- Stephanotis by Floris. I remember when I recorded Schumann's Carnaval, Volodya refused to hear it, declaring that it was the only work of Schumann's that he didn't like. However, he did perform it one season (during a bad medical period) and the tapes from Philadelphia and Tokyo sound like late Cortot on cocaine.'
[Stephanotis by Floris is a floral fragrance for women. Stephanotis was launched in 1786. Top note is Orange Blossom; middle notes are Stephanotis, Jasmine, Carnation, Lily-of-the-Valley and Coriander; base notes are Powdery Notes, Sandalwood and Musk.]
Ivan Davis was born in Electra, Texas, a small town on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, in 1932. In the obituary of the Miami Herald, it is stated:
'Soon after, Horowitz, nearing 60, asked Davis to take him to one of New York’s hot lounges. They wound up chatting on a bench outside O’Henry’s, but when a group of young music fans recognised Davis, and asked for his autograph, the older master was a bit dismayed.
Davis believed this outing nudged Horowitz to resume his career, which the master did in 1962 with a series of acclaimed releases on Columbia Records and a return to the Carnegie Hall stage in 1965. The performances revived Horowitz’s career.'
In 1966, Davis was hired by the University of Miami to teach piano, which he did until his retirement in 2008. He died after a stroke in 2018, at the age of 86.
Ivan Davis shared the historic multi-piano gala stage alongside Bolet, Alicia de Larrocha, Gunnar Johansen, and Raymond Lewenthal for the International Piano Library benefits concert in October 1970 at Hunter College.
It is noted in Musical America (May 1960) that he plays the Baldwin piano anf that he is under the personal management of [Arthur] Judson, O'Neill and Judd of Columbia Artists. 'Davis will play with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Revlon Show, CBS-TV, on Thursday, May 26th, 10:00 to 11:00 PM.'
In a blog entry, Ondina writes (September 2020):
'Ivan Davis was my neighbor for many years. His home studio was directly across my bedroom. He would play very late into the night. While in law school, I would open my bedroom windows to hear him play after a long day of miserable studying. and let him lull me to sleep. An added bonus was the aroma of bread baking from Holsum Bakeries just 2 or 3 miles away. I still remember the day he moved in, seeing the piano being rolled in, not yet aware what lay in store, totally unaware it was Ivan’s gorgeous piano. Those are memories I will always cherish. How fortunate he was my neighbor and that we have recordings so that we can continue to enjoy his gift.'
American heiress Gladys Vanderbilt (Grófné/Countess László Széchenyi, 1886-1965) was on the committee. She ws the wife of Count László Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (1879 – 1938) Count László's father, Count Imre Széchenyi, was a diplomat and a composer who was personal friends with Franz Liszt.
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