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  • Big break 1938

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  • JB in Chile

    Delighted confirm Jorge Bolet DID play in Chile (I had thought he hadn’t) June, 1983 in Chile, with Juan Pablo Izquierdo (born Santiago de Chile, 1935) and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago in the capital's Teatro Municipal.  Again in 1984 (also June).  Full details added to the relevant page.

  • Bolet researches in Weimar

    New Zealand's Evening Post (11 March 1961) carries a text by Jorge Bolet on his preparation for the 1960 film (with Dirk Bogarde) ​ When William Goetz, the producer of "Song Without End " first approached me with the idea of portraying musically the great Franz Liszt , I must confess I received the suggestion with mixed feelings. ​ Naturally, I was enthusiastic at the opportunity to play the music of a man who had always been my artistic idol, but the offer had its terrifying quality. I would have to play as the greatest pianist who ever lived had played, a task which could serve to make me only more aware of my own limitations. And yet I could not bring myself to turn down such an opportunity! I decided to accept.    After some deliberation,  I decided that in order to play like this man, I must first fully understand the emotions and thoughts which possessed him when he composed and performed his works. Thus, I embarked upon an ambitious reading programme designed to steep myself in as much of Liszt as possible — his music, his loves, his life, his times. I practically haunted the libraries and bookshops in a one-man campaign to completely absorb myself in the man, as much as the music. No college student ever crammed more for an examination!   In addition to his prolific writing and performing, Liszt was one of the greatest teachers in musical history, and I had the great personal advantage in my endeavours of having studied in my youth in Vienna under Moritz Rosenthal, who had been a pupil of Liszt. I also spent many worthwhile hours in Weimar atthe Liszt Museum, which contains his manuscripts, his personal correspondence, his music salon perfectly preserved as it was in his lifetime — in short, everything that was his life. At last I felt that I was ready and I began recording the sound-track of the picture. One immediate problem which I faced concerned the particular dramatic scene in which the musical piece was being performed. For example, was he before a dazzling audienee of the crowned heads of Europe? In a ballroom, or perhaps in an intimate salon, as was the popular fashion in his day? In his studio attempting to polish and perfect a certain piece? Or in the villa of his beloved Carolyne? And yet, to balance this problem I also had-to remember that Liszt was, in the final analysis, still Liszt, no matter where he performed, and that even when he played the compositions of other giants of music, he was first, last and always himself.   A difficult technical problem concerned the fact that everything I played was being simultaneously recorded on three separate sound-tracks. I had always to keep in mind that every flaw, no matter how seemingly insignificant, would be magnified a thousandfold. The most minute error in the playing meant a retake was necessary. And so it should be! Those five weeks in which I attempted to feel as Liszt felt, think as Liszt thought, and play as Liszt played, were equal in musical benefit to me to five years of concert playing.

  • Jorge Bolet in New Zealand/Aotearoa

    I've added some reviews from Jorge's New Zealand tour of 1964 to the relevant page. Here are some clippings from the Evening Post.

  • Cuban Airs to Sound On Colorado Range

    Cuban Airs to Sound On Colorado Range? The Rocky Mountain News (Daily), November 27, 1944 The plaintive if slightly monotonous tempos of the West Indian calypso may leave their mark on the lustier folk music of western North America as an indirect outgrowth of the war. That opinion was voiced in Denver yesterday by Lt. Jorge Bolet, noted Cuban pianist and assistant military attache to the Cuban Embassy in Washington. Lieutenant Bolet is in Denver for an appearance with the Denver Symphony Orchestra next Friday under the baton of Franz Allers. Tall, handsome and with a rich voice in which there is not even a shadowy trace of accent, Lieutenant Bolet expressed the belief the current importation of Cuban, West Indian and Mexican agrarian workers will have a definite influence on Western music of the future. Cuban Music Waning “But turn about is fair play,” he added. “Hollywood writes a lot of primitive African stuff, puts it to Spanish tempo and calls it Cuban. It catches the fancy in Cuba. The result is that real Cuban music, the bolero, for instance, is on the wane in its own country. “A Cuban peasant sings about anything — a political uprising, a strike or abdication of a ruler. He puts his story to verses, usually 10 lines, called decimas. Like the calypso songs, they don’t have much tune, but they have a sort of plaintive appeal. These are the kinds of songs that are invading particularly the Western United States.” To illustrate his point, Lieutenant Bolet sat down at a piano in one of the KOA reception rooms and played a Cuban folk song. There was a striking similarity to some popular American songs of the range. He will play Schumann’s Concerto and a group of Latin American compositions with the Denver ‘Symphony Orchestra at its third winter concert in City Auditorium Friday evening.

  • Jorge Bolet "conducts" Wagner

    Who knew? It cannot have been the full Die Walküre, as that would need to start much earlier than 7:30pm. It was given as a pantomime by a grils' summer camp with JB playing the piano score. Otsego Lake is a lake located in Otsego County in the U.S. state of New York. It is the source of the Susquehanna River and largest lake in Otsego County. The Village of Cooperstown is located at the lake's southern end. Glimmerglass State Park is located on the lake's northeastern shore, and includes Hyde Hall, a large mansion constructed in 1817, that overlooks the lake. The Glimmerglass Opera, opened in June 1987, is located on the western shore. The Glimmerglass, 28 July 1937 reports:

  • Jorge Bolet, Berlin: 8 June 1989

    Jorge in cheerful mood entering the green room in the Philharmonie, Berlin before what turned out to be his last recital. (Photo: Mattheus Smits)

  • Edinburgh Festival

    Jorge's masterclass in Edinburgh (early 1980s). "If my memory is correct, the masterclass took place in a school next to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Arboretum Road. Left from Jorge can be seen Elisabeth Kittel, right from Jorge you can see me [Mattheus Smits]; the small group at my right is of some of the students. If I am not mistaken, the student on my right-hand side is Santiago Rodriquez who became an important pianist." Photo: Mattheus Smits Elisabeth Kittel (1925-2020), who was born in Augsburg, Germany, was a friend of Jorge and helped arrange some of his concerts in Europe. 'Elisabeth was a sponsor of the international summer academy at Count Schönborn's Weissenstein Castle in Pommersfelden from the very beginning. Young music students from all over the world would meet there for four weeks. Some of them played in an orchestra for the first time, others had their first solo performance there. Today, Elisabeth's grand piano is at Weissenstein Castle for student practice.' (Martina Schulz, from a blog by Sergio Cardenas)​ Santiago Rodriguez (born February 16, 1952) is a Cuban-American pianist. He was born in Cárdenas, Cuba, and began piano studies at age four with Nelson DeBerge. When Rodriguez was eight years old, he and his brother became part of Project Peter Pan, a project sponsored by Catholic Charities which brought Cuban children to America during Fidel Castro’s regime. Although his parents originally thought that they would be quickly reunited, it took six years for the parents to immigrate to America. He continued his piano lessons while living in the orphanage in New Orleans supported by money that his mother had sewn in his coat. When he was ten years old, Rodriguez debuted with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27. Rodríguez has enjoyed a very successful performing and recording career and is currently the Chair of the Keyboard Department at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. (Wikipedia) "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..." (Christian Johansson)

  • Jorge Bolet & Franz Schubert

    A portrait once said to be by Leopold Kupelwieser (not authenticated) and said to be of Franz Schubert aged 16, probably drawn before Kupelwieser met Schubert. Modern research suggests it is Karl Joseph Maria von Hartmann or Moritz von Schwind. Jorge Bolet & Franz Schubert. On 30 January - 2 February 1989, Bolet recorded for Decca two sonatas by Schubert, Sonata in A minor D784 and the one in this recital D959. He had in fact played Schubert throughout his career, reasonably often at times. In an interview he gave in 1989, he tantalisingly said that he planned to record more Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms. (Riccardo Chailly had wanted to do the Brahms concertos with him, though probably only No. 2 - I don't think JB played No. 1) In his student days and notably in his Naumburg recital in Town Hall New York City 1937, JB often played the rondo from the Sonata in D major, D850. Some Impromptus also appear from time to time, from both sets. The earliest reference to D959 I've come across is 29 October 1940 (Hofmann Award recital) in Town Hall, New York City , when Jorge was 25. As early as November 1950 (in San Jacinto High School, Houston, Texas), he was performing Schubert 's great Sonata in B flat D960, and it featured in his recitals throughout the 1950s, but that seems to have been dropped from his repertoire. And of course, he most often played the Fantasy in C Op.15/D760 (Wanderer) - that seems to have been his Schubert calling-card,. The "Trout" Quintet ( Forellenquintett ), the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, also pops up (e.g. with the Juilliard, 1978) - he might even have recorded that with the quartet but for the recording company Sony wanting their "big" pianist of the time to do it (this never happened). In July 1983, in Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil, Jorge may even have taken part in a "Trout "with violinist Viktoria Mullova, who had just recently sought asylum in the West, but I'm not sure about this. Rachmaninoff had been unaware of the late sonatas at the time of Schubert's centenary in 1928. Bolet in Ancona, June 1988 playing the A major D959 Ascona is a picturesque, Mediterranean-style town on the shore of Lake Maggiore in Ticino, southern Switzerland.

  • No one can agree!

    15, 16 May 1987 Circle Theater, Indianapolis Grieg {+ Saint Saens Organ Symphony [No.3] and José Pablo Moncayo, Huapango } Indianapolis Symphony/John Nelson (Jorge Mester)

  • Australian interview (Jorge Bolet)

    The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 28 February 1987

  • Rachmaninoff & Hofmann

    Sergei Rachmaninoff’s tribute to Josef Hofmann, in dedicating his third piano concerto to him. Who was the first British pianist to play this notoriously difficult concerto? Clue? He was a pupil of Leopold Godowsky in Berlin and was from Liverpool. He also taught Simon Rattle.

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