Jorge Bolet and the Gates of Hell

There's a bit of drudgery leafing through masses of newspaper reviews, but it's worth it when you come across a jewel like this.

31 January 1971 (Sunday, 3pm)

Fair Lawn High School, Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110

Liszt: 12 Études d’exécution transcendante, S.139: 7. Eroica, 5. Feux Follets, 9. Ricordanza, 8. Wilde Jagd

Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28

Encores: Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Op.25 No.1 (S.566), Chopin: Waltz in D-flat major, Op.64 No.1 (Minute Waltz)

ForThe Record (Hackensack, NJ) 1.2.1071 David Spengler wrote:

'These gems [Chopin's Preludes] are usually programmed in clusters of three or four, only as part of a pianists, romantic group. It was stumbling on treasure to find them gathered in the concert hall... Bolet achieves a rippling configuration in scale-work and arpeggios that I don't recall from any other pianists, particularly effective in his playing of the F sharp minor Prelude.

'And his presentation of the D minor prelude which closes the book (do you recall it from the old movie, The picture of Dorian Gray?) was a massive gate of hell clanging shut.'

The 1945 film adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, directed by Albert Lewin, prominently features Frédéric Chopin's Prelude No. 24 in D Minor ("The Storm"), often played by the character of Dorian Gray to reflect his dark, deteriorating psyche. (I don't know it)

In this MGM film, Dorian Gray (played by Hurd Hatfield) introduces the haunting Chopin piece to Sibyl Vane (Angela Lansbury).