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It is not my intention to write a biography of Jorge Bolet, but I thought I would have a go at one chapter on his early years (1914-1927), especially as the material is rather scattered on this website, and confusing, too. This has enabled me to make connections with things I know now about his later life when I see what I have written on the page. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. UPDATE! When I say the material is rather scattered and confusing, I mean exactly that. I spotted that I claimed Jorge's father died in 1935 - yet he was apparently alive and well in 1944, during an interview with Jorge about him, becoming an American citizen. I may have mistranslated the Spanish (I haven't seen the article again since 2009, and the "Antonio" might refer to Jorge's eldest brother, not his father, but anyway, beware.... Update - The Japan Years 1946, 1976, 1988:

26 April 1961 (postponed from 17th) Teatro Fortuny, Reus, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain Liszt recital (for Associació de Concerts de Reus, 150th anniversary of Liszt) (Birthplace of the legendary architect Antoni Gaudí) 'Due to the performer's illness, the concert that pianist Jorge Bolet was scheduled to give last week [17 April] for the Concert Association at the Teatro Fortuny was postponed; the recital will now take place next Wednesday, the 26th.' Reus Semanario de la Ciudad, 22/4/1961. ​ As we left the Fortuny Theatre on Wednesday night—or, to be precise, in the early minutes of Thursday—after hearing the virtuoso pianist, a fantastic image began to take shape in our minds until it was vividly, concretely, and clearly imprinted there. It struck us—for fantasy and madness are first cousins—that in the theatre’s upper gallery we had seen a man dressed in nineteenth-century fashion, applauding enthusiastically at the end of every piece, and that this man was none other than Franz Liszt. Naturally, after a necessary rest, reason prevailed and the dream vanished; yet there remained with us the certainty that, had the immeasurable Hungarian pianist been able to attend the concert in body and spirit, he would not have hesitated to shake Jorge Bolet’s hand—and who knows if, stepping down from the lofty pedestal upon which his triumphs as a prodigy had placed him, he might not have embraced the Cuban concert pianist after publicly acknowledging that his own titanic spirit lived on in him. (...) The simple truth is that while Liszt was a powerful, overwhelming pianist—capable of unleashing torrents of notes at the command of his extraordinary fingers, and possessing an impetus and physical strength that Chopin so envied, all of which fit perfectly within the Romantic mould of which he was the undisputed master—no one has captured that expressive, spirited, and exquisite force quite like Jorge Bolet; a force that stirs the soul and thrills the body, where the human and the divine seem to join hands in a shared impulse of total self-giving.' "Tricaz", Reus Semanario de la Ciudad, 29/4/1961 Cuando el miércoles por la noche, o, para ser más exactos, en los primeros minutos del jueves, salíamos del Teatro Fortuny después de haber oído al virtuoso cuyo nombre encabeza estas líneas, una imagen fantástica fue tomando cuerpo en nuestra mente hasta quedar impresa de forma viva, concreta y determinada. Se nos antojó —la fantasía y la locura son primas hermanas— que en el último piso del coliseo habíamos visto a un hombre, vestido a la moda ochocentista, aplaudiendo entusiasmado al final de cada pieza, y que ese hombre era nada menos que Franz Liszt. Naturalmente, tras ej necesario descanso se impuso la razón y esfumóse el sueño, si bien nos quedó en el ánimo la certidumbre de que si el incomensurable pianista húngaro hubiese podido asistir al concierto en cuerpo y alma, no habría titubeado en estrechar la mano de Jorge Bolet, y, quien sabe si hasta descendiendo de aquel pedestal altanero en que le colocaran sus triunfos de superdotado, no hubiérale abrazado después de reconocer publicamente que su espíritu de coloso revivía en el concertista cubano. Porque, verdaderamente, si ya en aquella -pésima biografía cinematográfica de Liszt que lleva por título «Sueño de amor», nos entusiasmó la ejecución de la parte musical, ahora hemos podido comprobar personalmente que, oyendo a Jorge Bolet, se experimenta la sensación de que el genio de Liszt flota en el ambiente. «Funerales», el estudio «Un suspiro», el famoso «Vals Mefisto», la Sonata en si menor que dedicara a Schumann, la popularísima «Campanella», «Consolación» en mi bemol mayor y una paráfrasis de «Rigoletto» componían el programa con que la Asociación de Conciertos quiso conmemorar el 150 aniversario del genial compositor. Pero esto es lo de menos cuando se está intimamente identificado con una obra y un estilo. La única verdad es que si Liszt fue un pianista potente, arrollador, capaz de verter torrentes de notas al conjuro de sus privilegiados dedos, y al propio tiempo, todo ese ímpetu, esa fortaleza física que tanto le envidiara Chopin, ajustábanse por entero a los moldes románticos, de los cuales fue rey y señor, nadie como Jorge Bolet ha sabido captar integramente aquella fuerza expresiva, temperamental y exquisita, que cosquillea el alma y estremece el cuerpo, porque lo humano y lo divino parecen darse la mano en un mutuo impulso de entrega total.

Susan Goldenberg, Steinway from glory to controversy: the family, the business, the piano (1996), 147 claims that Jorge Bolet had been introduced to Baldwin pianos by Serge Koussevitzky [in the 1950s?]. 'After Baldwin sold the Bechstein line, it air-freighted an SD-10 to Europe for a 26 city tour by the internationally, acclaimed, pianist, Jorge Bolet. Bolet and SD-10 drew rave reviews, enabling Baldwin to gain a foothold in Europe.' This particular tour was in the mid-1980s. Prompted by the above, I've looked back over the pages of this website, gathering together the sum of my knowledge about Jorge and Baldwin pianos. Feel free to contact or (new feature) add a comment in the box at the bottom of this page. In 1862, reed organ and violin teacher Dwight Hamilton Baldwin opened the doors to his music store in Cincinnati, Ohio. With an eye on increased growth opportunities, Baldwin decided to manufacture "the best piano that could be built" in 1890. The first Baldwin piano, an upright model, was available one year later. In 1895, the company introduced its first grand piano, a 5'4" model. On August 23, 1899, D.H. Baldwin died. Fortunately, one of his strengths had been hiring young men with the potential to lead his company. Lucien Wulsin, who was raised in Alexandria, Kentucky, displayed such promise. In 1961, Lucien Wulsin III became president. By 1963, the company had acquired German piano manufacturer C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik; it would retain ownership until 1986. In 1965, a revolutionary new Baldwin was introduced. The SD10 Concert Grand was heralded as a major advancement in piano design. A music critic cited in a Time magazine article about the new piano exclaimed, "If Beethoven had had a piano like that, the course of music would have been radically altered." C. [Carl] Bechstein had been struggling to rebuild after World War II and the rise of the Berlin Wall. In 1973–1974: Baldwin acquired the remaining shares to take complete ownership, running Bechstein as an independent European name while sharing corporate management. But in 1986, facing its own financial pressures, Baldwin sold Bechstein to master piano builder and technician Karl Schulze, returning the German brand to local ownership. 1942 In the Auditorio, Havana, Bolet played Spanish music on 12 January 1942. This was with the Havana Philharmonic under Massimo Freccia, an Italo-American conductor who died at the grand old age of 98 in 2004. Jorge played a Baldwin piano, courtesy of Excelsior Music Co. [This is the earliest reference on this website to Baldwin + Jorge Bolet] 1952 15 January 1952 Carolina theater, Orangeburg, South Carolina The review notes that Jorge arrived with his own caravan/Baldwin in tow Bolet toured Canada ("with his 9 foot Baldwin") in the autumn of 1952. Monday 6 October 1952, Théâtre Cartier, Montréal: recital on his first tour of Canada as reported in La Voix de Shawinigan. Musical America, 1 December 1954 has an interview with Jorge in his Washington Square residence. Conversation turned to companions and to the transport of his Baldwin piano. 'Nowadays the ever-busier Mr. Bolet spends most of his waking hours with two beloved traveling companions. One of them is “Tex” Compton, an old friend of his Washington days (as a military attaché in the Cuban embassy) who now serves him as personal representative and sometimes chauffeur. The other, almost equally beloved, is “Baldwin”, a tiny Chinese pug thoroughbred... 'There is cause to mention, also, the contribution that Mr. Bolet’s nominal sponsor, the house of Baldwin, has made to his signal success. More accurately, it was in the course of an informal evening at the Tenafly, N. J., home of John and Letitia Ortiz (he is the firm's New York manager) that the idea of the piano van first came into being. It was Mrs. Ortiz who made the suggestion, three seasons ago, in approximately these terms: 'If you are so dissatisfied with most of the pianos you have to play on the road, why not pick out one that you like very much and make arrangements to drag it right along with you?' 1953 In August 1953, a newspaper announced: JB has travelled 45,000 miles, giving 67 concerts in 38 states during the last 12 months. Tex Compton was the "bad-weather" driver. Going up a hill in Connecticut once, the wheels came off the wagon carrying the piano, but the instrument was undamaged. One review in the 1950s by Ronald C. Teare notes of the 9 foot Baldwin that "it is the only time in the memory of those to whom we spoke that an instrument of that size had ever been placed on the high school stage". 2 April 1953 Oceanside Carlsbad high school auditorium, North County San Diego, California 'Here one of the world's greatest artists interpreted some of the world's greatest piano literature with the aid of his own cherished ''friend and colleague,” a superbly toned Baldwin piano, which he said had traveled over a thousand miles with him already on his present tour.' Blade Tribune 16 October 1953 Civic auditorium, Grand Rapids, MI Before starting this tour, JB had stopped off in Cincinnati (where the factory was) to pick up his Baldwin. Lucien Wulsin (Jr., 1889-1964), company president, came down to watch it being loaded onto the wagon. For three years now, Mr Bolet has been accompanied by his piano on tour. But if it's a case of one hall being miffed and "What's wrong with our piano?", he'll use theirs. The Baldwin will be unloaded some 55 times on this tour. (Cincinnati Post 15.10.1953) Elsewhere, we are told its value is $7,000, approximately $84,344 in 2026. 1967 22 January 1967 (Sunday matinee) Music Center Pavilion, Los Angeles Prokofiev's Concerto No. 3 in C Major Detroit Symphony Orchestra/ Sixten Ehrling; JB introduced the new Baldwin SD-10 to Los Angeles 1971 The Miami Herald 17 October 1971 records that Jorge (who will give a recital on Saturday evening) has been missing from the local scene for a decade; he was last heard here in the small Binder-Baldwin concert hall in 1963. 1977 He was a Baldwin artist who had 2 Baldwin grands installed in a studio (courtesy of Baldwin) in an all-Steinway school. Many feathers were ruffled. He played that last recital on a Baldwin concert grand which is very slightly larger than a Steinway model D and it did not fit on the stage elevator. He paid for the installation and tuning himself and we blocked the hall for 2 days (my memory is a bit hazy on that that), so that Jorge could practise and work with the Baldwin technician on tuning and voicing the instrument. Robert Fitzpatrick, Dean, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia (1986 - 2009) 1978 The company Girimport was founded in 1977 to represent exclusively Baldwin pianos in Brazil. At that time the market for pianos was high in the country, but imports of any kind for Brazilian operations were complex. It began its activities by bringing to Brazil two Baldwin grand pianos, which were inaugurated by Jorge Bolet at Sala Cecilia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro [July 1978], and which are now in the Maksoud Plaza Hotel in São Paulo. November, Mexico City Rachmaninoff 3 [+Lutoslawski, Shostakovich] Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México and Polish conductor Andrzej Markowski (Jorge had performed with Markowski in Poland in 1961). But the Baldwin piano had not been secured and crashed off the stage. The Cuban-American pianist should have been a soloist in Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto with the Filarmónica and Polish conductor Andrzej Markowski. He insisted on playing the Conservatory's new Baldwin piano, so the great instrument was removed from the campus despite the Director Armando Montiel Olvera's reluctance. Well, when the new Baldwin was placed in the middle of the stage, because of a certain slope towards the musicians' pit, the piano began to slide and ended up in the said pit, in pieces. The audience abandoned the hall without hearing the final work (Shostakovich). No one could agree on who was responsible, but the INBA will be forced to replace an instrument that cost close to one million pesos.' 1980s When Jorge had some concerts in Holland, he was so unhappy with the Bechstein provided by the Dutch dealer that I proposed he play the following concert (in Utrecht) on the restored Baldwin. This was arranged and became a big event. Baldwin had just opened their warehouse in Spijkenisse, close to Rotterdam, and Tony [Antonio] Caravia had become its director. Caravia and Bolet knew each other from Baldwin USA, and both shared a Cuban background. Caravia organised a big lunch in Keyzer restaurant in Amsterdam. After the concert, Jorge said that playing this instrument felt to him like driving a racing car. One critic - Hans Heg - was not so pleased. He wrote the instrument looked as if it had come from a brothel! He concluded that everything in the concert was more focussed on beauty than on substance. Mattheus Smits 1980 Peter Wadland, JB's producer for DECCA,remembers Bolet in the studio: 'In the USA, he played a Baldwin while in Europe he played a Bechstein, right up until 1987, when he changed to a Baldwin also. Having watched him playing for hours, I understood why he did not like playing a Steinway. In his opinion the soft pedal changed the tone of the instrument too much. 'During his playing, he kept both feet on the pedals, using the 'soft' pedal as much as the sustaining pedal. This helped to produce his very individual sound for the instrument. I was always amazed at how the keyboard shifted from side to side constantly when performing. 'I have to say that we did tend to have problems with the Bechstein. There was only one instrument then in London, and every time it appeared for a recording, it had been reserviced in Germany and returned in a different state. It was very lucky that I had the good fortune of employing Michael Lewis (son of the late Richard) and Denijs de Winter, both of whom Jorge adored, to tune and maintain the piano during recording sessions.' During 1980-1981, Baldwin recorded LPs with six of their associated pianists (David Bar-Illan, Jorge Bolet, Gilbert Kalish, Ruth Laredo, Santiago Rodriguez & Earl Wild) intended to be given away by their dealers to buyers of Baldwin pianos. These recordings hence weren’t commercially available in the traditional sense, unless you didn’t mind getting a piano along with the discs (a box with all six LPs entitled “The Essential Piano Library” was given away to libraries, which also included a double disc called “The Student’s Essential Classics” which might also have drawn from these sessions). Earl Wild’s session was recorded in Miami – the hometown of the producer – so I’m guessing Bolet’s was as well. Christian Johansson During the era when Baldwin owned Bechstein, I recall seeing a televised master class given by George Bolet, which was excellent. Both the Baldwin and Bechstein were clearly visible. My recollection is that the students sat at the Bechstein, and Bolet used the Baldwin to demonstrate occasionally. [True?] (Blogger) 1981 Franz Liszt, Jorge Bolet – Schubert Song Transcriptions - Piano Works Vol. 2 The piano was supplied by the Baldwin Piano Company for this recording. Mattheus Smits, who was present during the recording sessions, says Jorge actually played on a Bechstein. 1982 Jorge's only recital this year (June) in Lima, Peru, a recital arranged in association with Baldwin Pianos (Los Zorzalas 140, San Isidro, Lima) A recital in the Angelico Auditorium of the Dominican College, San Rafael California. 31 October, 1982 The SD-10 piano supplied by Baldwin had loose tuning pins in the register above middle C. The Baldwin technician tried to address this in the interval but without success and the tuning slipped even more during the second half. Ray Edwards recalls: 'It was an interesting program, although not for the repertoire, which I don't remember, but for the fact that the Baldwin piano he was supplied with had a loose pin in the wrest plank in the octave above middle C that gradually slipped quite noticeably out of tune. The technician at hand bought it back up at the intermission, but it slipped again even more.' 1986 27 February 1986 Orchestra Hall, Detroit Liszt recital (Benediction, selections from Années de Pelerinage:Italie, Transcendental etudes)​ Jorge had to stop midway through his opening number because of a stuck pedal on his Baldwin. It was ably corrected in record time by piano technician extraordinaire Thomas Pettit, who had to perform his surgery in full view of the audience, which is something like walking through a Roman Catholic cathedral stark naked during midnight mass. (John Guinn) 1987 Schumann: Carnaval / Fantasie (1987) DECCA recording Recorded in St Barnabas' Church, London, 6/1987; piano: Baldwin Chopin, 24 Preludes Op. 28; Nocturnes Op. 27 Nos. 1&2, Op. 55 No. 1 and Op. 62 No. 2. London 421 363–2. Recorded in St Barnabas' Church, London, 6/1987; piano: Baldwin Abram Chasins (1903 – 1987) died on 21 June. The Manhattan School of Music held a concert in his honour (date?) and JB took part. Baldwin had very thoughtfully flown Bolet's personal piano from the west coast for this event. Robert M Taylor September 1987 Liszt Totentanz, Hungarian Fantasy Houston Symphony/Sergiu Comissiona "The celebrated Chilean pianist", according to The Houston Post. 'The opening week had its backstage trauma. A brand-new Baldwin piano shipped direct from the factory for Bolet's use was ruined Thursday evening (10th) when its rear leg came off after hitting a crack in the floor while being moved below the stage for some technical adjustment. Douglas Whitaker said the piano's cast iron frame was cracked, rendering it worthless. Financial responsibility for the accident has not been assigned, but Bolet used the Symphony's Baldwin piano Saturday (12th). 1988 13 March 1988 (Sunday), Royal Festival Hall, London inc. Beethoven Sonata No.31 Op. 110 in A flat and Bellini/Liszt, Réminiscences de Norma. The programme says that Bolet plays a Baldwin piano supplied by Pianomobil Antwerp. (I attended this recital.) As ever, I am grateful to Mattheus Smits for providing information to this website. He has alerted my attention to this tribute (edited) to Jorge Bolet's tuner in the USA. The Journal de Genève (19 November 1988) reviewed a concert in Victoria Hall, Geneva (Switzerland), with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Erich Leinsdorf 'His leonine playing exhibits the highest qualities.' He played his own Baldwin piano and 'he indeed knows how to make his instrument vibrate in an unusual way, ample and intense. In the delicate melodic passages, he extends the sound as if in a long breath.' Jorge payed 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). Mattheus Smits According to my good friend Leszek Blach-Siewierski, Jorge played both Liszt concertos in Warsaw, Poland [November 1984]. It was for this concert that he stayed in the American Embassy and insisted on leaving the country after the concert with the last flight. Leszek is a first class piano-technician who worked for Jorge very often. He did the two recordings Jorge made with Chailly (Franck, Schumann, Grieg), and all Jorge's recitals in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam after 1976, fragments of which can be heard on Marston. Many of Jorge's performances in Paris, too. All this came to an end when C. Bechstein, for financial reasons, informed Jorge they could no longer provide him with Bechsteins. So Jorge and Mac [Finley, Jorge's manager] decided to have a Baldwin available for Europe to be transported and serviced by our friend Denijs de Winter who was running PianoMobil. This was also convenient for Jorge who could travel by car together with the instrument. The traveling within Europe for distances of several hours became more and more complicated for Jorge's tide schedule. Cancelled flights, trains not on time, missed connections and all that. So Jorge and Denijs travelled a lot. Jorge was very fond of Denijs because Denijs was always quiet and never talked much. Above all they both enjoyed smoking. So during travelling from Paris to Munich by car Jorge could at least enjoy his cigarette! Mattheus Smits Andrei Svetlichny died on 12 April 1998 [b. Leningrad, Soviet Union 1957] at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 41 and the chief concert technician and manager of technical services for the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company. He was the personal tuner for Jorge Bolet in the 1980s after the pianist's previous tuner failed him grievously. The tuner had forgotten to anchor the piano legs to the stage prior to a concert and when Mr. Bolet sat down to play, the piano began to roll away from him. It rolled right off the stage and fell into the orchestra pit, breaking in half. [Does anyone know if this refers to the event in Mexico City, November 1978?] Baldwin had recently [mid-1990s] asked Mr. Svetlichny to assist in the first significant redesign of its SD-10 concert grand since 1966, when it was produced under the guidance of Leonard Bernstein and Max Rudolf. After crawling in, around and under the nine-foot piano and making or proposing various adjustments, he persuaded the company to make some fine changes in its basic design. ''You could tell right off, here was a master,'' said Joe Vitti, one of his early tuning coaches. ''He knew he had to take the stage, to stride up to that huge instrument and take command. 'Remember,' he'd say, 'it's likely to kick back.' ''

Photo for JB in Brazil, June 1955 An excerpt from "Liszt Rhapsodies" by Donn Teal Ovation (August 1986) I love a great many of the transcriptions. A transcription like the ‘Spinning Song’ from The Flying Dutchman is, I think, an absolute masterpiece of piano writing and of transcribing the character and spirit of Wagner. It always amazes me when people and critics comment with some surprise on the poetry and the lyricism that they claim to notice in my performances of music by Liszt. I can’t understand why it should be a surprise to anyone, because Liszt was a very intensely religious man. Therefore, so much of his music is lyrical, poetic, and it has a religious quality. Unfortunately, many performances of Liszt in the last thirty-five or forty years have emphasised the pyrotechnics and the virtuoso elements—the mechanical display of very fast octave passages and all those things which, yes, are in Liszt’s music. I don’t believe in emphasising these elements at the expense of other elements that are so much more musical. Through long years of study and experience, I have found that Liszt in performance requires a totally unique style. You cannot play him the way you play Schumann or the way you play Chopin. For Liszt’s music you must, naturally, study the score very carefully, you must master the mechanics of simply playing the notes. And then—well, then you are in a position to be able to play the music very freely. By ‘very freely’ I mean not hesitating in the slightest to change dynamics, tempi, or whatever. We know that Liszt was very free with everybody else’s music in performance. If that was his attitude toward what others had written, he certainly must have been doubly free with works of his own. I like to feel that whenever I am playing Liszt, I am playing something that I wrote myself. I am completely free, I don’t hesitate in the slightest to alter things, because I know that it’s very much in the nature of the music.’

c.21 August 1986 In August 1986, the International Chamber Music Festival (Festival Internazionale di Musica da Camera) in Cervo, was well into its classic summer run, hosting classical soloists and chamber ensembles in the historic open-air square of the Piazza dei Corallini. It was inaugurated in 1964, the brainchild of the renowned Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh. It is held every July and August in the picturesque church square of Cervo, a small, ancient town in Liguria, Italy. Enzo Restagno writes: Even in the world of celebrity, strange winds are blowing that seem to take pleasure in throwing a spanner in the works. Accustomed to international standardisation – even of the most sophisticated products – we are taken by surprise whenever the rules are circumvented. The fame of concert performers depends, of course, on the calibre of the performers themselves, but it also depends, and not insignificantly, on their recording output, the skill of their agents and the resourcefulness of their press offices. Take, for example, the case of the pianist Jorge Bolet: he is a musician of the very highest calibre who has enjoyed a distinguished career, the echoes of which only reached Europe very late – and, in Italy, later than ever. Bolet is now 72 years old: after being born and growing up in Cuba, he moved to the United States, where he completed his studies and embarked on a brilliant career as a virtuoso. For years he has held an exclusive contract with Decca, for whom he has recorded Liszt’s complete piano works; he has given concerts all over the world, earning a reputation as a great Romantic interpreter, but the boundaries of popularity in Italy have proved difficult to cross. This has happened only recently – indeed, in the last two seasons – and the great Cuban pianist has been introduced to the public with the tagline ‘the last of the great Romantic interpreters’. Suddenly, our audience has taken notice of him, and the response has been one of great enthusiasm. ​​Whilst we were waiting, we had the opportunity to attend a concert on Thursday evening at the Cervo Festival, featuring a programme entirely devoted to Liszt. The three Petrarch Sonnets and the sumptuous, somewhat endless Fantasia inspired by a reading of Dante represented the literary side of Liszt’s musical Italy. The pieces from Venice and Naples, with their *Gondoliere*, *Canzoni* and *Tarantelle*, were, on the other hand, dedicated to the landscape.These are pieces we have heard all too often in this centenary year of Liszt’s death; yet under Bolet’s hands, any sense of routine vanishes and all the magic is reborn. His touch is one of rare precision, and the quintessentially Lisztian sound – with its symphonic expansions, grandiose hyperboles, the infinite proliferation of ornamentation and, above all, the interplay of continuous repetitions, each time more elevated and majestic – finds few connoisseurs today who are equally refined. Bolet thus possesses a masterful precision of touch, the charm of which reaches the listener through a phrasing that is unrivalled. This music, which despite the grandiloquence of its imagery never strays from the perspective of an intimate narrative, must be rendered with an extremely long breath, with a melancholic subtlety of inflection such that it borders on silence. And it is precisely in these spasms verging on silence that the fate of this music is decided. The great interpreter manages to unravel this intangible thread without severing it; indeed, he suspends upon it all the seductions of the Romantic imagination, and in this supreme art, our Bolet has very few equals. Enzo Restagno, born in Torino, has taught music history at the Turin Conservatory and at music institutions in Europe, Asia and the USA. Author of monographs on Ravel, Schoenberg and Stravinsky, Debussy and of a series of portraits of the greatest 20th century composers: Xenakis, Nono, Berio, Petrassi, Steve Reich, Gubaidulina, Schnittke, Henze, Arvo Paert, Ligeti. Parallel to his musicological activity, he has dedicated himself to musical organisation, taking on the artistic direction of the RAI orchestra, the MiTo festival and currently Ferrara Musica. Anche sulle faccende della celebrità soffiano venti bizzarri che paono divertirsi a imbrogliare le carte. Abituati ad una standardizzazione Internazionale, anche dei prodotti più sofisticati, restiamo sorpresi ogni qualvolta le regole vengono eluse. La celebrità del concertisti al misura sulla Moro classe di interpreti naturalmente, ma dipende anche, e non poco, dalla loro diffusione discografica, dall' abilità del loro agenti e dall' intraprendenza degli uffici stampa Prendiamo ad esempio il caso del pianista Jorge Bolet: si tratta di un musicista di levatura grandissima che ha compiuto una grande carriera della quale solo molto tardi sono filtrati gli echi in Europa e, in Italia, più tardivamente che mai. Bolet ha ormai 72 anni: dopo essere nato e vissuto a Cuba si è trasferito negli Stati Uniti dove ha completato i suoi studi ed iniziato una brillante carriera di virtuoso. Da anni ha un contratto in esclusiva con la Decca per la quale ha registrato l'opera completa per pianoforte di Liszt, ha dato concerti in tutto il mondo conquistandosi la fama di grande interprete romantico, ma le frontiere italiane della popolarità sono state ardue da da valicare. La cosa è avvenuta di recente, si può dire proprio nelle ultime due stagioni, ed il grande pianista cubano è stato presentato al pubblico con lo slogan di ultimo dei grandi interpreti romantici. Improvvisamente il nostro pubblico si è accorto di lui ed è stato con grande entusiasmo. Lo abbiamo ascoltato nella stagione appena trascorsa a Torino in un memorabile recital lisztiano per l'Unione Musicale e lo ascolteremo il 29 di agosto a Settembre Musica in un programma che comprendo alcuni testi fra i più ispirati del planísmo romantico come le quattro Ballate di Chopin o la Fantasia di Schumann. Nell' attesa abbiamo avuto occasione di ascoltare giovedì sera al Festival di Cervo in un programma totalmente dedicato a Liszt. I tre Sonetti del Petrarca, la sontuosa e un po' sterminata Fantasia ispirata a una lettura di Dante rappresentavano il versante letterario dell'Italia musicale di Liszt A quello paesaggistico erano invece dedicate le pagine di Venezia e Napoli con le loro Gondoliere, Canzoni e Tarantelle. Sono brani che abbiamo in questo anno del centenario della morte di Liszt ascoltato fin troppo; ma sotto le mani di Bolet ogni routine si dilegua e rinascono tutti gli incanti. Il tocco è di una rara precisione e la sonorità tipicamente lisztiana con le sue dilatazioni sinfoniche, le iperboli grandiose, la moltiplicazione infinita degli ornamenti e soprattutto la vicenda delle continue ripetizioni, ogni volta più elevato e maestose, conosce oggi pochi cultori altrettanto raffinati. Bolet possiede dunque una sovrana giustezza di tocco il cui fascino giunge all'ascoltatore sull' onda di un fraseggio che non ha eguali. Questa musica, che pur nella magniloquenza delle immagini non si discosta mai dalla prospettiva di un narrare intimo, deve essere resa con un lunghissimo respiro, con una sottigliezza malinconica d'infies-sione tale da rasentare l'am-mutolimento. E proprio in questi spasimi prossimi al silenzio che si gioca il destino di questa musica. Il grande Interprete riesce a dipanare questo filo impalpabile senza recidere; ad esso sospende anzi tutte le seduzioni della fantasia romantica ed in quest'arte sovrana Il nostro Bolet ha ben pochi confronti.

Wisps of Internet chatter that there has been/will be (or not!) an issue of Jorge Bolet's recital for Radio France on 31 January 1985. I see that Tower Records Japan advertises it. This recital was two days after I heard him live in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 29 January, and I recall when going backstage to meet him for the very first time that he told a friend he would be in Paris the next day - and so he was! The CD cover (it actually seems to consist of two CDs) looks - at the moment, anyway - like one of those private (possibly amateur) releases. 31 January 1985 Recital for Radio France, Paris Liszt: Six Consolations, S.172 Schubert: Fantasy in C major, D.760 (Op.15) (Wanderer) Schubert/Liszt: Six Song Transcriptions o Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D.774 (S.558 No.2) o Ständchen (Horch’, horch’, die Lerch’!), D.889 (S.558 No.9) o Das Wandern, D.795 No.1 (S.565 No.1) o Der Müller und der Bach, D.795 No.19 (S.565 No.2) o Lebe wohl! (S.563 No.1) [by Weyrauch, misattributed to Schubert] o Aufenthalt, D.957 No.5 (S.560 No.3) · Liszt: Transcendental Etude in D-flat major, S.139 No.11 (Harmonies du Soir) · Liszt: Transcendental Etude in C minor, S.139 No.8 (Wilde Jagd) Encores: · Chopin: Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1 · Chopin: Two Etudes o Op.25 No.1 in A-flat major o Op.25 No.2 in F minor · Chopin: Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, Op.47 (which he also played on 29th January when I heard him in London)

Pianist Charles Rosen (b.1927) recalls… At age 11 he left Juilliard to study piano with Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946) and with Rosenthal's wife, Hedwig Kanner. They had settled in New York from Austria in 1938, following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. (Peter Sühring suggests they left in 1936. “The Rosenthals emigrated to the USA relatively early; many of their Jewish colleagues did not do so until 1938 following the Anschluss.”) Rosenthal studied with Karol Mikuli (during 1872-74), a pupil of Chopin, and later with Franz Liszt. he first met the composer in October 1876 in Vienna, and he studied with the Master during the period 1876 to 1878 and from 1884 to 1886. 'Before he commenced studies with Liszt, Rosenthal toured Poland and Romania where the fourteen-year-old boy was made court pianist to the Romanian royal family. While studying with Liszt in Rome and Weimar he was sometimes fortunate enough to be the only student, receiving Liszt’s sole attention.' (Jonathan Summers) Liszt left no significant remarks about Rosenthal‘s playing during the classes 1884-1886. For example after Rosenthal played the Chopin Barcarolle on June 20, 1885 August Göllerich wrote that the Master said Rosenthal took “a fairly fast tempo”. Göllerich wrote nothing after Rosenthal played Liszt, Au bord d'une source. In general, the playing of his pupils provided an occasion for Liszt to make important pronouncements about the art of the piano - an art that he ultimately felt could not be taught. Though Jorge Bolet was not impressed with his five lessons in Vienna in 1935 with this celebrated pupil of Liszt - and a legendary pianist in his own right-, Charles Rosen has a more favourable impression. In spite of, his immense reputation for caustic remarks about other pianists ("Now you have the tempo, you can put in the thirds" was his comment on one of [Vladimir]de Pachmann's less successful salon renditions of Chopin's Etude in thirds"), he was a very kind and generous man. In fact, during all that time, he rarely told me that I was wrong about something in the music: "I have a different idea of this piece, he would say gently". He almost never discussed technique with me, in spite - or perhaps, because - of his formidable reputation as a technician. Josef Hofmann once said that he did not know what piano technique could be until he heard Rosenthal. Rosenthal went for long walks with Brahms and often spoke about him. About his studies with Liszt, he was more reticent: when I asked him what the lessons were like, he said only that it was difficult to get Liszt out of the café and back to the studio. (This may be in conflict with another reminiscence of Rosenthal: 'In Tivoli, near Rome. . . I was fortunate to be his only student and to receive daily instruction in the autumn of 1878. Every afternoon I appeared at the Villa d'Este, where I found the master composing either in his study or sometimes on the terrace, where he was gazing forlornly into the blue. The glowing Roman autumn, the picturesque beauty of the area, the Master's noble instruction - all these things blended into an ecstasy which I still feel today.' Editor's note) On one occasion, when I played the Handel variations of Brahms for him, Rosenthal stopped me in the middle of the 17th variation and asked, "Why do you get faster here?" "It's written più mosso" I replied. Rosenthal got up, walked to the piano and looked at the music, and then said: "Brahms let me play his music any way I liked and I'm afraid that I abused the privilege. You are quite right." I still find that kind of courtesy of a distinguished 80-year-old man to a 14-year-old student incredible and even more revealing is the respect for the integrity of the text from one who had been so free with it. His interpretation of Chopin's mazurkas corresponds to accounts of Chopin's own playing. He did not impose upon them a Viennese, waltz rhythm, as many other pianists tend to do, even Polish ones. He did sometimes systematically double the value of one of the beats throughout the phrase, making 4/4 measures, and contemporaries of Chopin claimed that the composer played his mazurkas that way. Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music: A Legacy of the Nineteenth Century Mark Mitchell, Allan Evans Indiana University Press, 2005 Rosenthal made his remarks about the lessons in Tivoli in an article written on the occasion of the centennial of Liszt's birth and published in Die Zeit, Berlin. Where did Rosenthal live in Vienna when Jorge Bolet studied with him? A letter dated 2 June 1924 gives Wien XVIII, Anastasius Grün 38 as his address [Anastasius-Grün-Gasse 38, 1180 Wien (Währing)]. Mattehus Smits tells me that in his files he has another address, which I think may be the correct one: Wohllebengasse 11 Wien. Letter from composer Moriz Moszkowski to Henri Hinrichsen, dated 13 April, 1902, from Paris: Would you be so kind as to have the following compositions of mine sent to Mr. Moriz Rosenthal (Wohllebengasse 11, Vienna) and Mr. Josef Lhévinne (Bayreutherstr. 10 [c/o Fr. Silber], Berlin)? To Rosenthal: Caprice espagnol / Suite Op. 50 / Scherzo-Valse Op. 40 / Frühling/ Etude in D major Op. 48. To Lhévinne: Suite Op. 50 / Scherzo-Valse from *Boabdil* / La Jongleuse / Bagatelles Op. 63 / Etude in D major Op. 48. The two gentlemen mentioned have asked me to send them pieces that I consider suitable; and since both have always enjoyed great success in concert with my compositions, it would seem appropriate to fulfil their requests. Some of Rosenthal's activities during the year 1935 when JB met him - he may actually have met him previously, as MR taught as a faculty member of Curtis in Philadelphia from 1926 to 1928. On 28 February 1928 Moriz Rosenthal gave a recital at Curtis which Jorge probably heard. His programme included Beethoven's Sonata No. 30 Op.109 in E major, Schubert's Wanderer Fantasie, Chopin's Barcarolle, Albeniz's Triana (from the Iberia Suite) and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. 12 March, 1935: Musikverein, Vienna, Austria Beethoven, Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101 Brahms, Variations on a Hungarian Song in D major, Op.21 No.2 Schumann, Novelette in D major, Op.21 No.2, Vogel als Prophet, Op.82 No.7 (from Waldszenen), Traumeswirren, Op.12 No.7 (from Fantasiestücke) Rosenthal, Variations on an original theme Chopin, Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1, Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, Op.47, Etude in G-sharp minor, Op.25 No.6, Etude in C minor, Op.25 No.12 Debussy, Reflets dans l’eau (Images, Book I No.1) Liszt, Tarantella, S.162 No.3 (from Venezia e Napoli) 24 March 24, 1935: BBC’s Studios [?], London, England (Studio Radio Broadcast |) Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58 – III [incomplete] This was part of a 45 minute programme Rosenthal gave for the BBC. The recorded excerpt comes from a private individual who had just acquired a home disc-cutter and recorded two sides of the broadcast to test his equipment. 29, 31 March 1935 Abbey Road Studios (Studio 3), London, England (Studio Recordings ) Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.9 No.2 Chopin: Etude in F minor, Op.25 No.2 Chopin: Etude in A-flat major, B.130 No.2 (from Trois Nouvelles Études) Chopin: Mazurka in A-flat major, Op.50 No.2 Chopin: Etude in G-flat major, Op.10 No.5 21, 23 November 1935 Abbey Road Studios (Studio 3), London, England (Studio Recordings) Chopin: Waltz in A-flat major, Op.42 Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28 o No.6 in B minor o No.3 in G major o No.7 in A major Chopin: Mazurka in A-flat major, Op.50 No.2 Chopin: Mazurka in G major, Op.67 No.1 Chopin: Mazurka in B minor, Op.33 No.4 Rosenthal: New Carnaval de Vienne (on themes by J. Strauss II) (Source of recordings: Christian Johansson). In 1976, Jorge spoke about Rosenthal to Morris Risenhoover (for his book Artists as professors): ​ 'You know, there are many, many performers who are what I call "intuitive musicians." They seem to know music and they seem to feel music through an inborn instinct, and they know things and they do things which no one has really taught them. I studied very briefly with Rosenthal. ​ 'Now here was a great pianist, a great artist, a great musical personality. He was a student of Liszt, you know, a man who you would think would have so much to say about any piece of music that any student played for him. (I must say he was terribly expensive. A friend of mine fortunately paid for my lessons at the time because I certainly could never have afforded them.) But I cannot tell you one single thing that this man ever told me. He never told me anything. I would arrive at his villa and say, "What are you going to play for me today?" "Well, the Appassionata." "Oh, good. Fine. Wonderful." So I would sit down and play the Appassionata from beginning to end "Um, that's very good, that's very nice. Now what else are you going to play for me?" These were his lessons. I played for him vast amounts of repertoire: the Liszt Sonata; the Chopin ballades, scherzos, sonatas; Beethoven sonatas. Everything was "fine." ​ 'One thing I do recall him telling me: he pointed out very clearly what a bad composer Liszt was, and this rather amazed me because I should think he would have had Liszt on the highest pedestal. Well, that's the only thing I ever recall him telling me ​ 'Now, you see, I am not that kind of musician. I am not an intuitive musician. I think I have a certain intuition for music, but my intuition is more for the mechanical aspect of piano playing, having always had a very great facility for it. But my facility for appreciating purely musical, aesthetic, and emotional values, I must confess, I have had to receive from other people. I have always been a very analytical student of music and piano playing, and in order to learn those musical values, to appreciate them, absorb them, and be able to project them with conviction in my own playing, I have had to analyze and scrutinize things down to the cell within a cell within a cell, so that whenever I play, I assure you that I have a very exact road map of everything.'

LISTEN I had occasionally wondered whether Jorge Bolet played the arpeggios of Un Sospiro completely in the left hand, thus being able use the right hand for the unbroken melody, i.e. not using alternate left and right hands for the individual notes. Mattheus Smits, a friend of Jorge Bolet, has confirmed to me that he didn’t cross hands when playing this piece. “In general Jorge disliked crossing hands: too much movement for, in this case, no use at all.” "In Un Sospiro Jorge never crossed hands where the melodic line has to be played in broken octaves (triplets) with alternating hands. This was an issue between Teresa [Escandon] and me, when she prepared her [Jorge Bolet Memorial] edition of this piece. She decided to print Liszt's original without mentioning Jorge's way of playing it. "In general Jorge disliked crossing hands: to much movement for, in this case, no use at all. I remember having a long discussion with Jorge about this connection with the Choral in Franck's Prelude, Choral and Fugue. In the Choral, Jorge did cross hands to reach the top notes of the melody, which I believed was not necessary as it could be achieved by changing the fingering in the right hand. This was easy to do as the top notes are usually the octave above the previous note in the chord. Above that the left hand could stay on the bass note in order to keep the bass line. Jorge found the idea very interesting, but told me that he had worked so hard in keeping the bass line with the middle pedal and crossed his left hand over right with an unusual fingering (always his l.h. thumb on the black keys of the top notes. This was a trademark of Jorge's fingerings: when single notes had to be played with crossed hands, the black keys had to be played with the thumb as the surface with the key was greater (and as a result more secure). But having played this masterwork since he was a teenager, he did not want to change in order not to get mixed up. I have to admit both of us enjoyed very much talking about this and I remember very well Jorge's great interest in this topic."

This list does not include Cuba. See also 1936-58 1974 In late 1974, Jorge was one of the judges on the Concurso Latinoamericano de Piano Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela. He made a number of concert appearances in Caracas. 1975 17 September 1975 São Paulo, Brazil Recital 19 and 21 September 1975 Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brazil Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations OSESP (Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo) under Gerard Devos ​ 23 September 1975 [?] Rio de Janeiro, Brazil recital 26 September 1975 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires (Argentina)​ Bach/Busoni, Chopin, Strauss and Wagner-Liszt. 29 September 1975 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires (Argentina) incl.Chopin's Sonata No. 3 in B minor Op.58 and the Mozart/Liszt Don Juan Fantasy ​​​ 30 September 1975 [?] Buenos Aires (Argentina) Liszt 1 and 2 1977 15, 16 January 1977 Jorge's date book notes rehearsals ("ensayos") in Caracas, Venezuela 14 March 1977 Teatro Tapia, San Juan, Puerto Rico Haydn, Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major, Hob. XVI/52, Schumann's Carnaval Op.9 and Liszt (Petrarch Sonnets, Don Juan Fantasy). It looks as if his previous appearance on the island was way back in October 1958. There was a tour of Central (and possibly South) America in July 1977. On Saturday 2 July, Bolet left for Mexico on AeroMéxico. 7 July 1977 Palacio de Bellas Artes, México City Liszt 1 [+Bartok, Miraculous Mandarin & Tchaikovsly 4] Filarmónica de las Americas/ Stanislaw Skrowaczewski 8 July 1977 Palacio de Bellas Artes, México City Haydn sonata in E flat major, Schumann’s Carnaval, Liszt’s Sonnetti di Petrarca and Don Juan fantasy. 11 July 1977 (a date of the 5th is also given) Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico) recital (replacing an indisposed fellow Cuban Horacio Gutierrez) In a concert during this week (beginning 3rd June; Mexico City), Jorge replaced Polish-British-Canadian violinist Ida Haendel (1928-2020) who had cancelled due to the death of her mother. 'In her place the Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet played Liszt's First Concerto. The concert was with the Filarmónica de las Americas under Polish conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and was completed with Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin [A csodálatos mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82)] and Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony in F minor.​ Jorge flew back on Saturday 9th to San Francisco. Was this flight (noted in his date-book) changed to accommodate the recital on 11th in Guadalajara? Or was the recital actually on the 5th? November 1977 (?): Teatro Tapia, San Juan, PR 1978 In July 1978, there was a trip to Brazil for concerts. He took an American Airlines flight on Monday 3 July at 8.30pm, arriving Tuesday morning in Rio de Janeiro.​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​6 July 1978 Sala Cecilia Meireles, Largo do Lapa, Rio de Janeiro Funerailles and the 12 Transcendental Etudes 8 July 1978 Palacio Boa Vista, Campos do Jordão, Brazil Liszt’s Consolations 1and 2, the B minor Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets 47,104 and 123 and Mozart/LIszt Reminiscences , f Don Juan (as part of the Winter Festival) 10/12 July 1978 Casa de Manchete/ Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo, Brazil 2 recitals On Thursday 13 July, Jorge flew on American Airlines flight 251 to Buenos Aires, Argentina, but does not appear to have played in that city in July [?]. On Sunday 16 July, he flew on AA370 to Mexico City (masterclasses on 18, 20 and 21). He presumably gave concerts; his date book mentions Tepotzotlán, 25 miles north-west of Mexico City. 19 July 1978 UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Mexico City Recital [Musica de Camera] by "Georges Bolet" (El Universal 's description!) Jorge told Lisa Battle of The Columbus Ledger (6 March) that an impresario wanted to display his photography in concert halls during the Mexican tour. ​​ On Monday 31 July he flew at 10:30am from Mexico City to JFK Alternatively, another date books lists: 6 July 1978 Sala Cecilia Meireles, Largo do Lapa, Rio de Janeiro Funerailles and the 12 Transcendental Etudes 8 July 1978 São Paulo, Barazil 9 July 1978 Flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina 10 July 1978 Lima, Peru or Buenos Aires 11 July 1978 Leave for Mexico 12 July 1978 Tepotzotlán 30 Jul 1978 arrive back in U.S. 12 November 1978 (Sunday, 12 noon) Teatro de la Ciudad, Mexico City Rachmaninoff 3 [+Lutoslawski, Shostakovich] Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México and Polish conductor Andrzej Markowski (Jorge had performed with Markowski in Poland in 1961). But the Baldwin piano had not been secured and crashed off the stage. 14 November 1978 Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City Rachmaninoff 3 Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México/Andrzej Markowski (also cancelled?) Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México and Polish conductor Andrzej Markowski (Jorge had performed with Markowski in Poland in 1961). But the Baldwin piano had not been secured and crashed off the stage, so no concert. 1979 In June/July 1979, Jorge was in Argentina and Uruguay. He flew on 18 June to Buenos Aires. His date book mentions repertoire (see below but also: Chopin, Barcarolle, Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Sonata No.3, Ballades, Rachmaninoff's third concerto and Weber's Konzertstück) ​10 July 1979 Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay 30th anniversary of SODRE (Servicio Oficial de Difusión, Representaciones y Espectáculos; Official Service for Broadcasting, Performances and Entertainment) in con junction with the Embassy of the USA Liszt's Sonata and Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8; Funerailles. (JB's first appearance in the country) 21 July 1979 Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina (JB’s only appearance in this fabled venue) Bach/Busoni Ciaccona, Liszt's Sonata and his Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8. 1980 A newspaper review dated 31 May 1980 discusses a concerto with Armando Krieger and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre (in Montevideo, Uruguay). It featured Uruguayan composer León Biriotti's Symphony No. 3, "in memoriam Lauro Ayestarán" and Jorge playing Rachmaninoff 3. See here for mixed review. 26 May 1980 National Theatre, Panamá City, Panamá Recital 30 May 1980 Palacio de Bellas Artes (?), Mexico City, Mexico Liszt 1 (+ Wagner, Berlioz) Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (OSN)/ Sergio Cárdenas A newspaper review dated 26 May 1980 mentions a concerto with Armando Krieger and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre (in Montevideo, Uruguay). It featured Uruguayan composer. León Biriotti's Symphony No. 3, "in memoriam Lauro Ayestarán" and Jorge playing Rachmaninoff 3 Heterofonía 70, México (July-September 1980) mentions that JB performed Liszt 1 and the Hungarian Fantasy in Mexico City with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional under Guatemalan conductor and composer Jorge Sarmientos. Is this 30 May? 12 June 1980 Teatro Nacional, San José, Costa Rica Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op.58 Conductor Agustín Cullell 1981 3 May 1981 (Sunday, 12 noon) Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City Chopin, Barcarolle, Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Schumann, Carnaval, Liszt Sonetti del Petrarca 104 & 123, Dante Sonata 5 May 1981 Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City Brahms, Concerto No 2 in B flat Op.83 (also Moncayo, Tierra de temporal and Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4) Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM/ Armando Zayas 15 October 1981 [originally 18th?] Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara (Jalisco), Mexico Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor Op. 18 Conductor: Hugo Jan Huss 20 November 1981 Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert & Liszt In El Caribe (12.11.1981), Lamela Geler stated that Jorge visited Santo Domingo in the early 1950s and played in the Teatro Olimpia, under the auspices of Sociedad Pro Arte. Now he gives a second recital in Santo Domingo. 1982 Jorge's itinerary states that 1-15 June 1982 had been reserved for Mexico. His date book notes a flight from New York to Mexico City on 31 May 1982. 4 & 6 June, 1982, [6th Sunday at 12 noon] Sala Nezahualcóyotl., Mexico City Franck, Symphonic Variations Rachmaninoff, Variations on a theme of Paganini Enrique Diemecke and the Orquesta Filarmonica de le UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Saturday, 5 June, in the Palacio de la Antigua Escuela de Medecina: Mendelssohn, Fantasie in F sharp minor, Op.28 "Scottish" Schumann, Fantasy in C major Op.17 Schubert/Liszt, 5 Lieder (Auf dem Wasser au singen, Der Müller under der Bach, Der Lindenbaum, Aufenthalt, Erlkönig) Liszt, Mephisto Waltz 9 June 1982 Auditorio, Colegio Santa Ursula, Lima Mendessohn, Fantasy in F minor Op.28 "Scottish" Schumann, Fantasy in C major Op.17 Schubert/Liszt, 5 Lieder (Auf dem Wasser au singen, Der Müller under der Bach, Der Lindenbaum, Aufenthalt, Erlkönig) Liszt, Mephisto Waltz Jorge's only recital that year in Lima, Peru, a recital arranged in association with Baldwin Pianos (Los Zorzalas 140, San Isidro, Lima) "It has been a long time since we have heard in Lima a pianist of Bolet's stature." El Comercio 13.6.1982 c.10/11 June 1982 Santiago, Chile? 12 June 1982 Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay Liszt, Concerto No. 2 in A major & the Hungarian Fantasia Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchewsky & the SODRE Symphony Orchestra, the national orchestra 15 June 1982 São Paulo, Brazil *On 16th he flew from Brazil to New York. 13 November 1982 Sala René Marqués of the Centro de Bellas Artes, San Juan (Puerto Rico) Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor Op. 18 Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico/ John Barnett ​ Cristobal Diaz writing in El Mundo 7.11.82 recalls an unforgettable night at the Teatro Tapia in November 1977, which seems to be when he last heard Bolet in San Juan, or it may be the last time JB performed in the city. 1983 14 /16 June 1983 Teatro Municipal, Santiago de Chile, Chile Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op.30 Juan Pablo Izquierdo and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago ​ There's some confusion as the season schedule lists Tuesday and Thursday 14/16 June 1983 as conducted by Franz Paul Decker; the Rachmaninoff is there but it's framed by Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony and Richard Strauss's Rosenkavalier Waltzes. Indisposition? 23 July 1983 (Saturday) Arequipa, Peru Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 *Birthplace of Peruvian author and Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-2025) 25 July 1983 Auditorio Santa Úrsula, Lima, Peru C. Franck, Symphonic Variations Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 Orquesta Sinfónica de la Escuela de Música/ Peruvian conductor Armando Sánchez Málaga Brazil (July 1983) The organisers of the II Gramado International Festival, which will begin on the 1st of next month, are encountering the same difficulty faced last year: a lack of resources. Of the Cr$ 200 million requested from the Ministry of Education, for example, only Cr$ 15 million were released. Even so, maestro Eleazar de Carvalho, its creator, is enthusiastic about the event, for which more than 500 music students have already registered, and which will feature 13 foreign musicians and another 12 Brazilians, to the point of stating that in 1985 he will create another festival, in the same format, in Fortaleza. Eleazar de Carvalho, conductor of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, organizer of the festival, invited important names such as the Cuban Jorge Bolet, one of the best pianists in the world... From Brazil itself, for example, Arnaldo Cohen, Magdalena Tagliaferro, Temo Jacomi and Marcos Barbero will be present. With the exception of Bolet, the invited musicians will also act as professors of the chamber music, instrumental music, percussion instruments and applied theoretical subjects seminars. The festival is similar to the Berkshire Musical Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, USA, where Eleazar studied. Ultima Hora (Rio de Janeiro, 27 June 1983) 29 July 1983 Cine-Teatro Embaixador, Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 30 July 1983 Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Schubert's Trout ["Die Forelle"] Quintet in A major D.667, with Telmo Jaconi, Miguel Mutuberria, Dennis Parker and Milton Masciadri. 31 July 1983 Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Brahms 2 Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, presumably under Eleazar de Carvalho 3 August 1983 Lima, Peru Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 1984 Claudio Arrau returns to Chile, May 1984 Arrau made a 15-day tour of his homeland Chile, arriving on Thursday 10 May, after a 17-year absence. On Friday 11 May, there were rehearsals with conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago at the Teatro Municipal, whilst anti-government street protesters clashed with police forces resulting in one 18-year-old dead and 170 arrests. In June 1984 there was a tour (?) of South America; Jorge Bolet flew from San Francisco to Miami on 1 June and then on LAN Chile LA141 to Santiago. 5, 7 June 1984 Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile Liszt 1 & 2 Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago/ Simón Blech (1924-1997, Polish-Argentinian) 11 June 1984 Teatro Cultura Artística, São Paulo (rua Nestor Pestana 196), Brazil Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op.18 Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado/ Eleazar de Carvalho 12 June 1984 Teatro, Casa da OSPA, Avenida Borges de Medeiros 1501, Praia de Belas, Porto Alegre, Brazil Rachmaninoff 2 and Paganini Variations Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado/ Eleazar de Carvalho 19 June 1984 Lima, Peru

This list does not include Cuba. See also 1974-84 In El Caribe (12.11.1981), Lamela Geler stated that Jorge visited Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) in the early 1950s and played in the Teatro Olimpia, under the auspices of Sociedad Pro Arte. Now he gives a second recital in Santo Domingo. She goes on to state: 'Conocido mayormente en Europa y los Estados Unidos, ya que sus incursiones en América Latina han sido escasas, su repertorio está constituido por el total del material importante y difícil escrito para el piano.' (Known mostly in Europe and the United States, since his forays into Latin America have been few, his repertoire is made up of all the important and difficult material written for the piano.) 1936-39 We are told of recitals/concerts in the Caribbean and in Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republica Dominicana during 1936-39 1946-47 After his discharge in September 1946, Bolet began to tour Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. The tour began on 22 September 1946 and would keep him busy until mid-December. He had been flown back from Japan (where he had conducted The Mikado, August 1946) at the request of Columbia Concerts. He also gave frequent performances in Havana - solo recitals and concertos with the Havana Philharmonic. ​ Musical America noted that Bolet was again on tour in Mexico and Cuba in February 1947. ​The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania, 2 June 1947) reported that Jorge had 'recently returned from a Latin American tour which took him as far south as Guatemala and included a 10-week radio engagement in Mexico City.' 29 January 1947 Teatro Capitolio [1925; on Calle Arzobispo Meriño], Ciudad Trujillo (present day Santo Domingo) Dominican Republic Mozart's Fantasy & Fugue in C major, Beethoven's Les Adieux, Franck's Prelude Choral and Fugue, a suite (1940) by Norman dello Joio and his Prelude For A Young Musician (1944); Liszt's Mephisto Waltz. Columbia Concerts and Sociedad Musical Daniel announce a season [March 1947- February 1948 ] including Jorge Bolet, Tito Schipa etc. (La Nacion, Costa Rica, 7 January 1947) ​ [El Imparcial was a major daily newspaper active during the 1940s in Guatemala: British Library MFM.MF1384] April 1948 JB seems to have been engaged to give concerts in Bogotá, Colombia during an Inter-American conference in April 1948 but these had to be cancelled due to the political situation. July 1948 Mexico? The Sioux City Journal 26 September 1948 announces JB is back in the USA after tours of Canada and Latin America ​ 11 March 1949 Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara, Mexico Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Leslie Hodge and the Guadalajara SO. 27 April 1949 Havana incl. Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784 (Schubert) and Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 8 in B♭ major, Op. 84. We are told in a newspaper report of this concert that Jorge will make his first appearance in the Teatro de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. On 4 December 1949, the San Angelo Standard (Texas) states that 'Bolet comes to San Angelo from a seven-month tour of Latin America and Canada. He performed with Erich Kleiber and the Havana Philharmonic and presented 12 half-hour radio programs from Mexico City with the symphony under Jose Sabre Marroquin.' 1950 Fresh from an engagement (3 concerts) in Caracas, Venezuela - mostly likely in the Teatro Municipal, arranged by the Asociación Venezolana de Conciertos; he had flown back on February 14. Jorge performed Rachmaninoff 3 with Howard Mitchell in Constitution Hall, Washington DC on Wednesday 15 February 1950. October 1950 Teatro San Jorge/Teatro de Colón (?), Bogotá, Colombia (Sociedad de los Amigos de la Música) *Advertised, but it looks as if he didn't appear, to judge by a handwritten note beside his name in one of the programmes. Could be due to the political situation at that time: Bogotá was gripped by La Violencia, a brutal decade-long civil war. 7 November 1950 Cine Victoria/ Victoria Theater, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (Mexico) Recital 1953 Early in the new year, Bolet had been on tour in Central America/Caribbean. A passenger manifest shows that he arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 7 February 1953 on Pan Am World Airways flight 204 from Caracas, Venezuela (Maiquetia, the airport south-east of the city); his ultimate destination was San Francisco. 3 February 1953 Teatro Municipal, Caracas, Venezuela Concerts in honour of José Martí (b.1853), who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country from Spain. Beethoven [Andante favori ?], Brahms [Intermezzo Op.119 No. 3 in C , Rhapsody Op.118 No. 4 in E flat] , Liszt's Sonata & Mephisto Waltz, Chopin [7 Preludes & Ballade No. 3 in. A flat] and Rachmaninoff 6 February 1953 Teatro Municipal, Caracas, Venezuela Schumann, Concerto Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela/ Ángel Sauce 1955 A report in The New York Times, 26 May, 1955 informs us that ‘Jorge Bolet, pianist, leaves today by air to play a series of eighteen concerts in Brazil and Argentina'. 30 May 1955: Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro Recitals were then given in the Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo on 31 May/1 June. ​ Other destinations in Brazil included Porto Alegre. In Argentina, Jorge appeared first in Buenos Aires. The Asociación Wagneriana had organised his recital at 9:45pm on Monday 6 June at the Teatro Broadway, 31 May/1 June 1955 Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo (Brazil) Other destinations in Brazil may have included Porto Alegre 6, 7 June 1955 Teatro Broadway, Avenida Corrientes, Buenos Aires (Argentina) Jorge added "Gato" (1940), a lively, syncopated dance by an Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) to his programme, for a bit of local colour. The Latrobe Bulletin (3.10.1955) said that he played both orchestral and recital engagements. Jorge may have performed in Córdoba and Rosario (El Círculo), the next two most populous cities in Argentina. Other cities may have included: ​ San Miguel de Tucumán (Teatro General San Martín), Bahía Blanca (Teatro Municipal), Asociación Cultural de Bahía Blanca, Mendoza (Teatro Avenida [1926-1988]), La Plata (Teatro Argentino), Mar del Plata (Teatro Auditorio). The Key West Citizen, 20 March 1957 noted that after this present season finished in May, there would be concerts in South America during the summer. 7 October 1958 Theatre of the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan PR. Haydn (Sonata No.62 in E-flat major, Hob.XVI:52), Franck (Prélude, choral et fugue [1884]), Chopin (4 Scherzos). [22 November 1959] Mexico? Or mention of the Liszt film? El Porvenir

ChatGPT analyses thus: The two pages appear to be U.S. Army administrative records concerning Lt. Jorge Bolet in 1946. Their purposes are different: Document 1 (3 August 1946) Purpose: To authorise and coordinate Lt. Bolet's separation from the Army and return transportation home. Key points: States that Lt. Bolet must be separated from the Army or aboard transportation returning home by 31 August 1946. Notes that authority exists to retain him until the required approval is obtained. Authorises air travel and provides the applicable Air Priority Request (APR) reference. In short, this document is a personnel movement/order dealing with Lt. Bolet's discharge and travel arrangements. Document 2 (22 August 1946) Purpose: To request and record an official performance (efficiency) rating for Lt. Jorge Bolet before his reassignment or separation from service. Key points: Issued by General Headquarters, United States Army Forces, Pacific. Titled "Check Sheet". Requests the completion of a WD AGO Form 66-1 covering Lt. Jorge Bolet's service from 1 July to 30 August 1946. States that the rating is needed because of a reassignment of the officer (that box is checked). Instructs that the completed evaluation be returned in a sealed envelope. In short, this is an administrative personnel action to ensure Lt. Bolet's official performance evaluation was completed before his transfer or departure. Overall context Together, these documents show the Army processing the end of Lt. Jorge Bolet's military service in the Pacific in mid-1946: Travel and separation were being arranged (3 August 1946). His final performance evaluation was requested and completed as part of the administrative out-processing (22 August 1946). Source: Bolet, Jorge Lt (Document name: GHQ/SCAP Records, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-II = Documents of the Second Section of the General Staff, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers) (Section/Department: Public Safety Division) (Series name: General File, 1946-50) (Box number: 280; Folder number: 16) Accessed from: The National Diet Library (NDL) (国立国会図書館, Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan), Japan

Carlos DuPré Moseley's (1914-2012) remarkable career with the New York Philharmonic lasted from 1955 to 1985. He rose to become Managing Director (a post now referred to as Executive Director), President, and Chairman of the Board. Moseley presided over the Bernstein-Boulez era at the Philharmonic, during which the orchestra cut an uncommonly bold and unpredictable profile. He was an elegant, courtly man, whose South Carolina accent probably fooled more than a few Easterners into underestimating his intelligence and savoir faire. He was, above all, deeply musical, a pianist of considerable skill; while studying at the Berkshire Music Center (now Tanglewood), he played Brahms's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto, under the direction of the young Bernstein. Moseley died today at his home in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at the grand age of ninety-eight. (Alex Ross) The New York Philharmonic's 125th Birthday was officially marked with celebrations on December 7, 1967. Jorge Bolet was one of the many esteemed guests invited.