Jorge Bolet, a natural pianist

John Crouch, a former Indiana student of JB for 3 years, was interviewed in 1979 (what follows is a mixture of his own words and those of the journalist):

'Bolet is a natural pianist, like a natural athlete.  At the peak of what could be called his first career, his manager was scheduling him for 100-120 performances a year, which is one almost every three days. Then, in his mid-50s, Bolet decided to start winding down his performing career and in 1968, accepted a teaching position at Bloomington.  Next came a revival in Romantic music. Well, he was soon back on the road with a hectic schedule - careers don't necessarily go like this. He would bop back into town after a string of concerts and give us marathon lessons... he was in and out all the time but he expected us to know our stuff because he knew his.

[In referring to Liszt's Totentanz with Boulez (1971) - Andre Watts was ill, and Jorge agreed to substitute at the last minute but he did not know the music]

24 hours later, he had the thing memorised. He played it for his students. It was something it would've taken us six months to learn. It just shows how well the man works under pressure. He has an instant recall of the music he plays, he seems to be able to bring a piece back into his fingers once he's learned it.'

The Morning Press, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (22 September 1979)