"Jorge had in mind to play Godowsky's Johann Strauss Künstlerleben  at his forthcoming 75th birthday tour as grande finale.  Jorge played this piece on several occasions for me telling me: this is a work in progress, no! a lot of work in progress! He had played a lot of Godowsky for me when I was staying with him in Bloomington. We went to Butler University where he kept his scores and could use his Baldwin SD 10 (in his apartment he had a small grand which he never touched). While I turned pages he played the Passacaglia , most parts of the Java suite, Künstlerleben , Fledermaus  and parts from Triakontameron . All the time I was thinking  why I am turning pages ? He knows the music!  Unfortunately, his 75th birthday tour never happened." [Mattheus Smits] Jorge learned this piece and played it to Leopold Godowsky in New York City in the early 1930s, while still at Curtis. The performance record is sparse. On Thursday, 3 August 1939 in the Anfiteatro, Havana, in a concert the initiative for which came from the municipal mayor Dr Antonio Beruff Mendieta (1901-1952), who devoted much time to cultural and educational matters, he programmed it - this being one of only two references I've found thus far (the other being 26 March 1940 at Curtis). Jorge also mentions the piece in an interview with David Dubal, when he says that David Saperton was probably quite pleased that he [Bolet] - perhaps unlike other students - could handle Godowsky's music.

Mattheus Smits has sent me this memory of the recording sessions on 3/4 October 1977. Jorge and Tex had serious doubts about signing this contract due to bad experiences with recording companies in the past (RCA and VOX). We owe it to Peter Wadland that the contract was signed. For the scores of the music, Peter could find the Études in a library, but for the Waltzes Jorge had to send him his copies. Also Jorge's choice of the Bechstein was not an easy task for Peter Wadland and his crew. I remember arriving very early in Kingsway Hall (Jorge and Tex where not there yet) and finding them playing on the Bechstein, loud and soft and banging, and constantly moving microphones. As always, Jorge and Tex showed up on time.The crew were completely surprised to see Jorge and Tex properly dressed in three-piece suits and ties! (They themselves were dressed in jeans and sneakers.) After the normal welcome protocol, Jorge was asked to play something so that adjustments could be made for recording settings. In a split second Jorge dashed into an overwhelming Chopin/Godowsky No.1! A moment I will never forget. To set all the recording levels and microphones took much time. The crew really had difficulties with the Bechstein which was of course different from the Steinway which they regularly used, and for which they knew the sound parameters. Jorge was asked to play at all kinds of volumes and tempi . For lunch we went to an nearby Dutch pancake restaurant (this has nothing to do with my nationality). Only after lunch were the first 'takes' made. As it became clear that Peter Wadland was sometimes getting lost in some scores of the études (he was used to a different kind of music), Jorge asked me to stay with him in the recording room to help him out. The recording was interrupted many times by important people coming in. The photographer, Bryce Morrison, Alastair Londonderry [9th Marquess of Londonderry], Jeremy Nicolas, colleagues of the crew etc. When the recording days were over, Jorge and Tex presented to all crew members an exclusive pen set and Peter Wadland presented me with a copy of the Chopin/Godowsky waltzes, which were the copies he got from Jorge, but now filled with all his markings for takes and take numbers. A treasure in my library!

A newspaper amusingly reported a few of the pianist's pet hates: playing strange pianos, especially upright pianos in high schools, non-mixing bathroom taps (faucets), Rossini, peanut butter, mint in any form including toothpaste, Berlioz.  The High Point Enterprise, North Carolina, 24 February 1954 Full disclosure: I like both Rossini and Berlioz. Mattheus Smits, a friend of JB, has told me: "Jorge knew the translation of 'onions' in many languages. When ordering meals in Germany, he always said 'ohne Zwiebel'!"

First Hand Records is issuing a 3 CD set of Jorge Bolet's Ambassador Auditorium Recitals (Pasadena) 1981 and 1986 in autumn 2026, and for the cover they've chosen a photograph spotted on this website: Wilhelm Fröling's photo of JB in Paris (1988), kindly provided by Mathias Donderer with the agreement of the photographers family. Due for release 3 July 2026 In the Los Angeles Times (13 November 1981), Daniel Cariaga reviewed the first recital. Jorge Bolet reminded us once again that old-fashioned, many-faceted pianistic virtuosity is a life's work as well as an apparently vanishing art. Also, that he is one of the handful of elder keyboard statesmen still practising that art. The programme offered all the authority one has come to expect from a Bolet performance, the total integrated with impeccable taste, sovereign technique and poetic insight. Here were massive sonorities, flying fingers, purling trills, velvet tone and, rarest of all, genuine, bona-fide , honest-to-God legato octaves - all in the service of musical communication. The Mendelssohn sonata had lucidity as well as the deepest kind of suavity; Schumann's Fantasy accumulated power and intensity with no loss of tone-quality, intimacy or tension. The five Liszt transcriptions found Bolet unraveling abundant intricacies while spinning long-breathed songs; his way with the "Mephisto" Waltz seemed bigger than life because he commands a dynamic palette wider and more faceted than other pianists; part of this is resource, but imagination and intellect are involved, too.

JORGE BOLET – The Ambassador Auditorium Recitals, Pasadena, California, USA, 1981 and 1986 (3CD) This is the first release of Bolet’s two recitals recorded at the Ambassador Auditorium, California. Transferred and remastered in high resolution. Due out in autumn 2026 LINK 1 NOVEMBER 1981 Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847) 1–3. Fantasia in F sharp minor, Op. 28, ‘Sonate éccossaise’ (1833) Robert SCHUMANN (1810–1856) 4–6. Fantasy in C major, Op. 17 (1838) interval Franz LISZT (1811–1886) Schubert Song Transcriptions 7. 12 Lieder, S558: No. 2. Auf dem Wasser zu singen (1838) 8. 6 Müllerlieder, S565: No. 2. Der Müller und der Bach (1846) 9. Winterreise, S561: No. 7. Der Lindenbaum (1839) 10. Schwanengesang, S560: No. 3. Aufenthalt (1839) 11. 12 Lieder, S558: No. 4: Erlkönig (1838) CD2 LISZT 1. Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S514, ‘Mephisto Waltz No. 1’ (1861) Encores: Frédéric CHOPIN (1810–1849) 2. Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15, No. 2 (1832) Abram CHASINS (1903–1987) Preludes, Book 3, Op. 12 (1928) 3. No. 2 in E flat Minor 4. No. 3 in B flat Minor Moritz MOSZKOWSKI (1854–1925) 5. La Jongleuse, Op. 52, No. 4 (pub. 1894) CHOPIN 6. Nocturne No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 9 (1832) 3 DECEMBER 1986 Edvard GRIEG (1843–1907) 7. Ballade in G minor, Op. 24 (1876) Johannes BRAHMS (1833–1897) 8–11. 4 Ballades, Op. 10 (1854) CD3 LISZT 1. Ballade No. 2 in B minor, S171 (1853) Interval CHOPIN 4 Ballades 2. Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 (1835) 3. Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38 (1839) 4. Ballade No. 3 in A flat Major, Op. 47 (1841) 5. Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52 (1843) Encores: Georges BIZET (1838–1875) L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1 (1872) 6. III. Adagietto (arr. 1927, Leopold GODOWSKY, 1870–1938) CHOPIN Etudes, Op. 25 (1837) 7. No. 1 in A flat major, ‘Harp Study’ 8. No. 2 in F minor 24 bit, 96kHz high resolution transfers by Kabir Hermon from open reel tapes 24 bit, 96kHz high resolution remastering by John Croft (Chiaro Audio) Booklet notes by Jonathan Summers Recordings released with approval from the estate of Jorge Bolet

Another very fine photo provided by Mathias Donderer: Paris, 1988 The photographer was Wilhelm Fröling.

10 January 1950 Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 New Orleans Symphony & Massimo Freccia Jorge Bolet's first public performance of the concerto, in an interview with the Times-Picayune  (10.1.1950). He had heard it a few years ago, played by Abbey Simon and had rushed out to buy the score but found to his dismay that it was out of print. Simon had photostats of it form The New York Public Library, obtained at considerable expense.  But then Jorge found out in 1948 that it had been republished.  Orchestral scores were quite scarce, but one arrived from London a month ago.  Maestro Freccia's score is annotated in Russian and the players are reading from hand copies.

Jorge Bolet with Mrs Mary Louise Curtis Bok and David Saperton ( Diario de la Marina , 28 December 1934) The Chattanooga Daily Times (14.10.1938) reported that Mrs Bok has said that all she has done and put into the Curtis Institute is justified in this one student.

Hercules Late November 1966 Herkulessaal, Munich Chopin, Ballades; Liszt Sonata, Mephisto Waltz (& encores) Although already 53 years old, Jorge Bolet has only been heard here once before, stepping in for a colleague in an orchestral concert. Now he appeared in the Herkulessaal in his own piano recital, tall, powerful, with a graying mustache. First impression: A gentleman, a caballero. Second: Also a nobleman of pianism. He plays the four Chopin Ballades. Every note that now emerges from the Bechstein, every touch, every pedal stroke, all degrees of an infinitely variable dynamic scale, every slightest tempo change, the crystal-clear, meticulously human and deeply felt technique that rivals the infallibility of a pianola – all this is the result of an extraordinary high culture of pianism. When one thinks of Bolet's Chopin, one doesn't picture the shivering, coughing composer, threatened by hemorrhages. Jorge Bolet's portrayal of the Ballades is a single, grand, masculine, serious, and mature act of passion. His playing pulsates with emotion and often arouses (and excites) to the point of rapture, yet it is always a genuine, measured, and masterfully controlled Chopin rendition, possessing the most sensitive understanding and delicacy even for the sometimes effeminate melodies of the great Polish composer. Bolet understands how to let the basses growl softly like dangerous beasts after the sumptuous lyricism. Then, at the respective shifts from the legendary tone to the harshly ballad-like, he pounces like a puma with lightning-fast swipes at the presto agitato, resulting in the most gripping outbursts of unyielding force and grandly pathetic intensity. This consistently convincing Chopin playing, despite its highly personal character, is virtually unparalleled. The second part was dedicated to Franz Liszt. I thought the great rhapsodist Liszt would have a hard time competing with the elegant Chopin. But I was wrong. With Liszt's rarely heard only sonata, which surpasses all of this titan's other piano works, Bolet conveyed a sense of the immense heights of Liszt's piano artistry. When he literally conjured the thunderous bundles of octaves from his sleeve and, with the incomprehensible skill of a magician, made all the bewildering and enchanting piano subtleties first conceived by Liszt sound, one might have thought that a god Shiva with a multitude of arms and hands must be at work. But it was always only this one, perfectly courteous and modestly smiling, unassuming gentleman in a tailcoat, who accomplished all this and more. For now, following Liszt's monstrous work, came the ultimate in pianistic bravura: the "Mephisto Waltz." This satanic keyboard dance unleashed such a storm of applause that Bolet had to play a whole third part of Liszt's eccentricities. He played songs! Songs whose purely pianistic rendering Liszt had once helped the song masters achieve great popularity: Schubert's "Wohin?" and "Ständchen," Schumann's "Widmung," and Chopin's "Mädchens Wunsch." This dolcissimo of song lyricism, adapted to the cantabile possibilities of the pianoforte, performed by Bolet with a wonderfully singing touch, has put many a disastrous song performance far in the shade. Anyone who still speaks of the misappropriation of song literature hasn't heard Bolet. And believe it or not: he also added the enormous Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 with friendly serenity/ composure. Edmund Nick, Süddeutsches Zeitung , 1 December 1966

Wilmington Press Journal, 20 March 1948, reporting on the New York City scene

I recently found a review of volume 1 of the Liszt series for Decca in a Uruguayan paper which I have added below Opinar  (1 July 1982) reports of a concert in Montevideo, Uruguay  (Saturday 12 June, in the Teatro Solís) with Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchewsky (born 1934) and the Sodre Symphony Orchestra, the national orchestra. 'The great Cuban-American pianist was at the second concert conducted by Karabtchevsky. He belongs to that category of pianists who continue the tradition of brilliant virtuosity. For this reason, he is considered a Liszt specialist, although in reality he is a first-class interpreter of different musical languages ​​and styles. He performed Concerto No. 2 and the Hungarian Fantasia for piano and orchestra, both Liszt compositions. Two unhappy works by the Hungarian, empty, repetitive, uninspired—except for some rich passages—but technically dazzling. Only Bolet's great skill allows one to listen to these works with any interest.'  Stravinsky' Rite of Spring  was the other work, and the reviewer was delighted with the conductor's handling of the orchestra in a work that had pervasively seemed 'impossible for our orchestra. Let him come back!' ​ Karabtchevsky has recorded the complete symphonies of Heitor Villa-Lobos with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp).  No other notice of Jorge playing with him (so far). ​...................................... In a review of volume 1 of the new Liszt series (issued in Britain in March 1983), the Uruguayan journal La Democracia  (28 November 1986) wrote: 'Jorge Bolet.  Few play Liszt like him.  This Cuban pianist, a naturalised American citizen, who must be nearing seventy-six years old, was discovered by Uruguayans practically in this decade (starting with his performance with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre in 1982 of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1). ​ [ In actual fact, Jorge had played first in Uruguay on 10 July 1979 at the Teatro Solís, Montevideo, and possibly again in May 1980 .] ​ Although originally released in 1982, this first [volume]... processed and distributed by Sondor appears in Uruguay on the centenary (1986) the death of the brilliant composer. From that live experience - plus all the known phonographic recordings - there is the conviction that Bolet plays Liszt as few do or have ever done.  His control of the sound planes ( los planos sonores ) is admirable, as are his delicacy and refinement. Bolet does not flaunt virtuosity, preferring musicality. This is evident in the firmness of the touch, the timbral richness, the constant emphasis on structure in pieces like Mephisto  or Funérailles .  Although somewhat belatedly, he must be recognised as one of the best pianists of our time.'

I'm a bit late to this as the article was published in November/December 2014 in International Piano . However... Jeremy Nicholas, who wrote a biography of Godowsky, recalls Jorge Bolet. Here's an extract. Though it would be presumptuous of me to describe him as a friend, I got to know him quite well in the late 1970s. Thereafter, he would invariably phone to tell me when he was in the country and I made sure I saw him after all his UK recitals. One memorable evening, I think it was after a Q&A session at the Wigmore Hall [1982], Jorge, his producer Peter Wadland and a few other mutual friends came back to my flat for dinner - and an impromptu recital. We were all hoping Jorge would play, of course, and one should never ever press an artist to do so on a social occasion. Nevertheless... I slyly asked if he knew Godowsky’s recording of Grieg’s Ballade. No, he didn’t. We began to talk about the work. Innocently, I said that actually I had a score. We gathered round my piano - and off he went. Having talked and played his way through most of the Ballade, he embarked on a whole string of pieces, from Cuban Dances (‘I haven’t played these since I was a student’) to Liszt’s Reminiscences de Don Juan (‘What do you think of my ending? I’ve rewritten it slightly to be more effective.’). The poor little Chappell boudoir grand I had at the time took a pounding that night. The recital only stopped after Harry and Ross, the couple in the flat beneath me, yelled up the stairs, ‘Stop that bloody racket! We want to get some sleep!’, to be answered by me shouting back, ‘Are you crazy? ... It was two o’clock in the morning. I first met Bolet in 1977. I’d had the idea of putting together a book of conversations with great pianists and was also gathering material for my biography on Leopold Godowsky. When I heard that Bolet was coming to London to give a recital and to make a recording of Godowsky’s music [4-5 October 1977, Kingsway Hall], I was determined to meet the man. He had, after all, known Godowsky himself, and studied with his son-in-law David Saperton and his close friend Josef Hofmann. Decca (in the form of the much-missed Peter Wadland) was kind enough to let me attend the Godowsky sessions in London’s Kingsway Hall, where Bolet recorded nine of the Chopin-Godowsky Studies and six Chopin-Godowsky Waltzes - all without the score. Bolet agreed to an interview the following day. We met at the Westbury Hotel, New Bond Street, where he was staying. My notes say it was 5 October 1977. This, with apologies for my then inexperienced interviewing technique, is a transcript of our conversation. Have you recovered from the recording session? Godowsky certainly makes you work hard, doesn’t he? You know, the Chopin-Godowsky Studies are so difficult to play. It’s not just the notes, though you have to be 100 per cent accurate in recording - one sour note and the whole piece goes. It’s capturing the spirit behind them. They must be light and fluffy. Two days was not really enough time. I should have preferred seven. The Chopin Ballades I can play in two days. These pieces need longer so I can go away at the end of the day and practise the next one!