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Fons Manuel Clausells (Centre de Documentació de l'Orfeó Català) Source: hispana.mcu.es

6 April 1958 (Sunday, 11am) Teatro Auditorium, Havana, Cuba Mozart No.24 in C minor, K491, Schumann, Rachmaninoff 3 Orquesta Filarmónica de la Habana/Alberto Bolet ​​ Jorge's nephew Samuel Bolet described the concert to me in c.2010/11: 'Memories? I could share a torrent, even going back to my youth sitting in Havana's Auditorium flanked by grandma, my folks and others applauding the two uncles (Alberto conducting the Filarmónica, and Jorge at the piano). 'One unforgettable program featured what few pianists would dare: 3 concertos, back to back! The standing ovation at the end was short of apotheosic! Walking out of the theatre, my dad turned to his brother: "Ah, Jorge, why didn't you play an encore?" To which the soloist replied: "I just played 3 concertos. What else did they want? For me to cut my veins?" Later the same day my dad and I encountered the orchestra's concertmaster, who happened to live with his family in our same building. His summary of the afternoon's concert? "Jorge is a monster!" To us in the family who loved him beyond his God-given talent at the piano, there will always be much to cherish in his legacy.'

Diario de la Marina notes (22 May 1958) that after a tour of 7 months in the USA, Jorge has returned to Cuba on a flight of Viscount de Cubana Aviación from Miami. ​ Cubana de Aviación operated the Vickers Viscount (a British four-engine turboprop airliner) in the late 1950s, becoming the first Latin American airline to fly them. Cubana integrated the Vickers Viscount into its fleet starting in 1956 to modernise service on regional and international routes (replacing older Douglas DC-4s). A few months later... *Cubana Flight 495 (1 November 1958): a tragic and historic event involved Viscount registration CU-T603 operating a scheduled flight from Miami International Airport to Varadero Airport, Cuba. During the flight, anti-government rebels from the 26th of July Movement (acting on behalf of Fidel Castro) hijacked the aircraft to divert it to rebel-held territory near Preston Sugar Mills in Oriente Province. Due to the extended distance, darkness, and lack of runway lighting at the unlit target airfield, the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed into Nipe Bay, killing 14 of the 20 people on board. This is documented as one of the earliest fatal commercial aircraft hijackings. Source of the following: The US Government itself stated that the event was outside its jurisdiction Castroism was violent in the insurrection and much more so as a government. In its time they placed explosives in public places to force the population to stay in their homes, murdered police and military to provoke ferocious government repression, which must also be remembered, and which had as its climax the Castro strategy of “the three Zs [C in Spanish]: zero cinema, zero cabaret and zero c… in reference to brothels.” This threat was quickly confirmed by the explosion of a bomb placed in a woman’s abandoned purse in a cabaret in Havana, wounding several young women, one of whom had to have her arm amputated, according to writer Jose Antonio Albertini in a conversation. He was also one of those who attempted to rescue Flight 495 from oblivion in his WLRN TV program. Violence sometimes ravaged the insurgent ranks themselves, as when two young students in the city of Santa Clara were carrying a bomb that fatally exploded prematurely. The bombs and kidnappings carried out by the rebel forces in compliance with the disastrous orders of the Castro brothers pale before the horrendous crime that occurred on November 1, 1958, exactly two months before a darkness that has extended for 66 years and 10 months arrived in Cuba. It happened two days before the last pluralist, albeit fraudulent, elections in our history. As a sign that the spiral of violence was ready to operate outside Cuba, Raül Castro issued Order 30 authorizing the kidnapping of US citizens, which led in June 1958 to 49 Americans, including 20 civilians, employees of the US-owned Moa nickel mining plant and 29 Marines being kidnapped in the Sierra. Incomprehensibly, the painful events of Flight 495 were hardly mentioned among the Cubans. The rescue involved Gerardo Reyes, a notable Colombian journalist who dedicated 10 years of his life to an investigation that culminated in a book entitled Flight 495, in which he sees innocent people involved in complex situations that can end with their own death. Cubana de Aviación Flight 495 was the first aircraft hijacked in US airspace The passengers had no connection with the Cuban government and were not a political objective; simply, the kidnappers apparently intended to transport weapons, ammunition and perhaps money to the eastern guerrillas. The trip to Varadero, just over 300 kilometers, 45 minutes long, never reached its destination. On board the Vickers Viscount turboprop, there were 16 passengers, including a pregnant woman. The aircraft was captured by five young militants of the hapless July 26 Movement. It is claimed that they were following orders from Raúl Castro, and the operation ended in tragedy, according to the newspaper Gente in its edition of November 16, 1958. Seventeen people died, including six American citizens. None of the guilty paid for the crime: another Cuban tragedy that “nobody wants to hear about and least of all see.”

5 May 1937 Felix Labunksi (1892-1979), a composer from Warsaw, gave a lecture at the Curtis Institute on "Four Centuries of Polish Chamber Music". Recordings were played and there was also also some live music making including Juliusz Zarębski (1854-1885), Piano Quintet in G minor Op.34, played by Jorge Bolet, piano, Marian Head and Julius Schulman, violins, David Schwartz, viola, and Leonard Rose, cello. Of the quintet, Adrian Thomas (Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University, Wales and a specialist on Polish music, author of a study of the music of Henryk Górecki) has written: 'Since it was first published (in 1931, forty-six years after its composition), the Piano Quintet has been regarded within Poland as a masterpiece. It shows a remarkably fresh ear for symphonic thinking, motivic development and sheer melodic invention. It is immediately striking that the piano is cast as primus inter pares rather than as a vehicle for virtuosity.' Waldemar Malicki (piano), Amar Corde String Quartet = Listen here to a performance from 1997

Ivan Davis 18-20, 25 April 1960 Franz Liszt Sesquicentennial Piano Competition, Town Hall, New York $500 and a Town Hall recital constituted the prize, contributed by William Goetz, producer of the film Song Without Words. Jorge Bolet is one the of the judges (according to Piano Guild Notes May-June 1960, Vol 10/1), along with Egon Petri, Byron Janis, Moura Lympany, Dmitri Mitropoulos, composer Howard Hanson, and Abram Chasins. 'Mr. Davis had given a stunning performance of two works by the contest’s name sake: the “Funerailles” and the Hungarian Rhapsody No 6, as well as three sonatas by Scarlatti and Schumann's Variations on the name “ABEGG.” The other two finalists were Jacob Maxim and George Katz.' The contestants were guest honour at a special reception and given by Mrs. Robert F. Wagner Gracie Mansion, the official reside of the Mayor of New York, on Thursday, April 21st. The winner was Ivan Davis (1932-2018). The day after winning the April 1960 competition, Davis received a surprise phone call from Vladimir Horowitz, subsequently becoming one of his few select students at his New York City townhouse on 14 East 94th Street on the Upper East Side. On 21 October 1959, Davis had made his New York debut in recital at Town Hall, after which Harold Schonberg wrote in The New York Times, "This was an unusually exciting debut and it left no doubt that an important new American pianist has arrived on the scene." In the 1957 Busoni Competition in Bolzano, 1957, he had taken second prize with Jerome Lowenthal; Martha Argerich won. See Glenn Plaskin's biography of Horowitz for a then account of piano sessions at 9:45pm every week (without a fee), 305ff. I've always loved Ivan Davis' recording (15-17 January 1975, Kingsway Hall, London) of The Banjo, fantasie grotesque by Gottschalk: steely control, precision, and scintilating accuracy. With sixty concerts planned for his first cross-country tour and a CBS Records con- tract, Davis intrigued Horowitz because of his successes and the rumors of a Horowitzian technique. A meeting was arranged, and after dinner Horowitz asked Davis to play. "I understand you play the Sixth Rhap- sody of Liszt," Horowitz said. "I hear you have good octaves." Davis was shocked: "Oh my God, I thought to myself. It's like taking coals to Newcastle!" But after he played, the young man was touched by Horowitz's gentle response: "Well, Ivan] I'm not playing much myself anymore. You already have a personality, you're already a pianist, but sometimes I think you do things you don't hear yourself. I'd like to be big ears for you." For the next year and a half, Davis dropped by Horowitz's home on the average of once a week at 9:45 P.M. "I was never a student per se, be- cause I was already established, but he gave me suggestions about the repertoire I was playing in concerts, and we discussed my experience at Columbia Records since he himself was about to begin recording there. Also, I'm an opera buff, and we listened to Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko and other Russian operas." Horowitz also played for Davis his collection of private recordings of many of his Carnegie Hall recitals in the late 1940's and 1950's and told him that he was both proud and ashamed of one re- corded performance of the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. "It was the fastest damn thing you can imagine," recalled Davis] "Horowitz was just like a mischievous little kid-Hee, hee, listen what I do here, very bad taste, but isn't it fun?' And it really was marvelous." Curious about the hands that had managed such a feat, Davis observed them carefully. "Al- though not king-size, Horowitz's hands were extraordinary looking. The fifth fingers were surrounded by the most incredible mass of white muscle." In their evenings together, Davis much preferred Horowitz's demon- strations to any attempted explanations. He later stated that if there was a secret to Horowitz's brilliant technique, he never found it. "One time, when we were playing octaves," said Davis] "Horowitz said to me, 'You know, you've got a good wrist, most people don't. Want me to show you how I play my octaves?' And I thought, 'Here it is, the secret that all the world's been waiting for.' And Horowitz said, 'I practise slow, high from the wrist and in different rhythms.' Of course, everybody practises that was so I didn't learn one thing!" Elsewhere: 'When I went to London, I was subtly ordered to bring back his favourite fragrance- Stephanotis by Floris. I remember when I recorded Schumann's Carnaval, Volodya refused to hear it, declaring that it was the only work of Schumann's that he didn't like. However, he did perform it one season (during a bad medical period) and the tapes from Philadelphia and Tokyo sound like late Cortot on cocaine.' [Stephanotis by Floris is a floral fragrance for women. Stephanotis was launched in 1786. Top note is Orange Blossom; middle notes are Stephanotis, Jasmine, Carnation, Lily-of-the-Valley and Coriander; base notes are Powdery Notes, Sandalwood and Musk.] Ivan Davis was born in Electra, Texas, a small town on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, in 1932. In the obituary of the Miami Herald, it is stated: 'Soon after, Horowitz, nearing 60, asked Davis to take him to one of New York’s hot lounges. They wound up chatting on a bench outside O’Henry’s, but when a group of young music fans recognised Davis, and asked for his autograph, the older master was a bit dismayed. Davis believed this outing nudged Horowitz to resume his career, which the master did in 1962 with a series of acclaimed releases on Columbia Records and a return to the Carnegie Hall stage in 1965. The performances revived Horowitz’s career.' In 1966, Davis was hired by the University of Miami to teach piano, which he did until his retirement in 2008. He died after a stroke in 2018, at the age of 86. Ivan Davis shared the historic multi-piano gala stage alongside Bolet, Alicia de Larrocha, Gunnar Johansen, and Raymond Lewenthal for the International Piano Library benefits concert in October 1970 at Hunter College. It is noted in Musical America (May 1960) that he plays the Baldwin piano anf that he is under the personal management of [Arthur] Judson, O'Neill and Judd of Columbia Artists. 'Davis will play with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Revlon Show, CBS-TV, on Thursday, May 26th, 10:00 to 11:00 PM.' In a blog entry, Ondina writes (September 2020): 'Ivan Davis was my neighbor for many years. His home studio was directly across my bedroom. He would play very late into the night. While in law school, I would open my bedroom windows to hear him play after a long day of miserable studying. and let him lull me to sleep. An added bonus was the aroma of bread baking from Holsum Bakeries just 2 or 3 miles away. I still remember the day he moved in, seeing the piano being rolled in, not yet aware what lay in store, totally unaware it was Ivan’s gorgeous piano. Those are memories I will always cherish. How fortunate he was my neighbor and that we have recordings so that we can continue to enjoy his gift.' American heiress Gladys Vanderbilt (Grófné/Countess László Széchenyi, 1886-1965) was on the committee. She ws the wife of Count László Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (1879 – 1938) Count László's father, Count Imre Széchenyi, was a diplomat and a composer who was personal friends with Franz Liszt. See here

6 October 1961 Musis Sacrum, Arnhem, Holland​ Jorge Bolet gave a recital here for the first time. Willem Boone write: ​ The Musis Sacrum (lit. 'sacred to the Muses'): 'My earliest memories of Nelson Freire [Brazilian pianist, Minas Gerais 1944 -Rio de Janeiro 2021] go back a long way. At 15 (in 1978), my interest in music, and the piano in particular, was just beginning to awaken. Near where I lived (Arnhem), there was a concert hall, Musis Sacrum, which offered a series of piano recitals, something quite rare for a provincial town. I insisted that my father let me go, and we heard five recitals by Jean Bernard Pommier, Daniel Wayenberg, Jorge Bolet, Jean Rodolphe Kars, and Nelson Freire. I particularly remember a dazzling performance of Carnaval and several Chopin works that he played in quick succession, so much so that I didn't quite recognize the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise brillante...' Nelson Freire: 'In 1964, a close friend I had known during my studies in Vienna settled in The Hague. Her husband worked for Shell. Since it was financially difficult to travel to Brazil often, her house became a sort of pied-à-terre. I found the Netherlands very charming and exotic; it was quite different from what I knew. From 1972 onward, I played extensively in the Netherlands after receiving the Edison Prize for my recording of Chopin's Preludes. I performed all over the country. The concerts were organized by a well-known impresario at the time, De Koos. Some orchestras have disappeared now, but back then it was incredible to have so many orchestras and concert halls in such a small country. And the Dutch were surprised that I even knew places like Stadskanaal...' (a small village in the north of the country, WB). [Willem Boone blog, 2007, www.pianistique.com] And here is the young pianist playing a favourite piece of mine, though I know it mostly from the orchestral version. It was recorded in Munich in 1965. As with Novaes, Bolet, Arrau, Argerich and others of Latin American origin, its intersting to examine the background. Jed Distler writes: Born on October 18, 1944, in the small town of Boa Esperança, Minas Gerais, Freire began to play by ear at the age of three on his mother’s upright piano before learning to read music. The family moved to Rio de Janeiro to further his studies. In 1957, at the age of 12, Freire entered the city’s first international piano competition, playing works of Chopin and Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in front of a jury including Lili Kraus, Marguerite Long and his compatriot Guiomar Novaes, who would become a mentor. This led to his first commercial recording in the same year, in which the sheer musicality and breadth of Freire’s Chopin Fourth Ballade and First Scherzo belie his age. (1957) Brazil’s president Juscelino Kubitschek [compare President Pedro Mont/ Arrau and Presudent Juan Peron/ Martha Argerich, see here and here] offered Freire a scholarship to study wherever he wanted. He chose Vienna, where he went at the age of 14 to work with Bruno Seidlhofer for two years and met another teenage piano prodigy, Martha Argerich, who would become his ideal duo partner and best friend for life. Freire’s abilities bordered on the supernatural. For example, he learnt about the 1964 Vianna da Motta International Music Competition, Lisbon, at the 11th hour, and entered two days before it started. Carlos Seixas’s Keyboard Sonata in G minor was a required work for the preliminary rounds. ‘When I got there,’ Freire recalled, ‘I asked for the score of this sonata, and they gave it to me but thought I was mad. What’s more, when lots were drawn for the order of performance, I had to play first.’ Yet Freire sailed through the piece without mishap and ultimately shared first prize with Vladimir Kraniev. This led to many engagements and opportunities, including replacing Alexander Brailowsky for a 1965 Mexican tour, and learning Tchaikovsky’s Second Concerto in a fortnight to cover for an indisposed Shura Cherkassky in Germany. … In 1995, when asked if there is a typical style of Brazilian piano-playing, Freire said, ‘After soccer the piano is the second great love of Brazilians. But while Brazilian pianists have mostly worked in Europe and have certainly been deeply influenced by Europe, it is generally accepted that they have a certain rhythm, a kind of vibration that you don’t find elsewhere. For the same reason, some Brazilian pianists have inhibitions and inferiority complexes. They try to deny themselves by becoming more European than the Europeans! • 1957 – Recognition aged 12 Having had lessons in Rio with Lúcia Branco (a student of Liszt pupil Arthur de Greef) and Nise Obino, wins prize at Rio de Janeiro competition, leading to first recording and scholarship. Freire later credited Obino with rebuilding his technique from the beginning, including the position of his hands at the keyboard. He remembered her as the teacher who most changed his playing during childhood. His parents kept him in ordinary school, and he later recalled practising only a few hours a day instead of spending his childhood wholly at the piano. pianistique.com adds: I chose Vienna because I wanted to work with Bruno Seidlhofer, an Austrian pianist who was very well known in Latin America. I’d played for him in Rio. I set off on my own because my parents couldn’t go with me. I took the boat with Seidlhofer, who was returning home. In Vienna, I was alone for the first time in my life. I was still quite young and didn’t know a word of German or anything about the city. I found out what it meant to be independant. Those two years were very important for my personal development. It was then that I met Martha Argerich. I didn’t do much work, though, and didn’t enter any competitions. I didn’t live up to expectations. Then the time came when the scholarship ended and I had to return home. Returning to Brazil wasn’t easy. At seventeen I was in the middle of an adolescent crisis, and I had to live with my family again after acquiring a taste for independance and living on my own. During the next year I entered a few competitions but never turned up on the day. Then in 1962 I was offered the opportunity of giving a concert in São Paulo. The concert was a big success and I recovered my enthusiasm and desire to play. • 1964 – First prize aged 19 Victory at the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition, Lisbon, followed by LP recording for the Brazilian label Classic Riosom which can be heard on YouTube. pianistique.com adds: I walked off with the first prize! Things really changed for me after that. For six pleasant months I was asked to give a number of concerts in Austria, Portugese speaking Africa and Madeira. But other countries were a closed book for me until early in 1965 I received a telegram from Brazil from Ernesto de Quesada, an old man who had been Arthur Rubinstein’s first agent and went on to found the Conciertos Daniel. We had never met, but he’d heard about me from a member of the Lisbon jury. In his telegram he proposed that I should give three concerts in Mexico as a last-minute replacement for Alexander Brailovsky That was my first contract. After that, I returned to Brazil in style, I did tours in Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Peru and other countries. In short I started to earn a living. One day I was in Caracas when Martha Argerich’s agent contacted me and asked whether I would fill in for Shura Cherkassky and play Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. • 2001 – A recording rebirth Signs with Decca, his first exclusive recording contract in more than 20 years. Remains with the label until end of career, a partnership that included winning Gramophone’s Recording of the Year in 2007 for his account of Brahms’s piano concertos. Decca plays the same role it did with Jorge. Chopin Ballade No.4 in F minor (1957) Nelson Freire lived in a house in Joá (specifically in the Joatinga area), a wealthy neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. He lived in a spacious mansion overlooking the beach that previously belonged to Brazilian actor Reginaldo Faria. The house famously accommodated four grand pianos and several dogs. Freire passed away at age 77 in November 2021 following a fall at this home.

I'm not sure how I missed this. A little more detail from Jorge Bolet on Godowsky. He was speaking in 1983 to Carola Grindea for her book Great pianists and pedagogues. (The "lessons" as such were around 1932/33 in New York City.) Further information from this website: ‘Jorge’s scores of these pieces bore Godowsky’s markings in red crayon—the daunting “Passacaglia,” based on themes from Schubert’s “Unfinished” symphony; the “Fledermaus” and “Künstlerleben” symphonic metamorphoses (on famous waltzes by Johann Strauss II); the “Java Suite” (based upon Godowsky's trip to [modern] Indonesia.' Albert McGrigor Jorge listed these lessons for 1932-3 in a submission to Grove's Dictionary of Music; but they do not seem to have been systematic lessons. Gregor Benko has said, 'I remember a party at Sidney Foster’s house when he, Bolet and Abbey Simon reminisced about Leopold Godowsky, who apparently used sarcasm and insults with students..., and it left an indelible impression on these great artists, who had all played for him and suffered abuse.' In a BBC film from 1989, Jorge seemed to have softened his view, saying he was 'a very wonderful man'. ​Godowsky's biographer, Jeremy Nicholas, states: ‘Occasionally, Saperton and Bolet would go to New York and visit Godowsky, and Bolet would play Godowsky to Godowsky, as it were, and get advice from him. He said that in that sense, yes, he had studied with Godowsky. Of course he also, in the same way, had advice from (and played for) Hofmann as he was head of piano at Curtis. But his main teacher was Saperton, though Bolet told me the greatest purely musical influence was the French musician Marcel Tabuteau, first oboe with the Philadelphia Orchestra – the greatest musical mind I have ever known.’ ​Le Monde Diplomatique, August 1986 had a feature on Jorge at the Festival de La Roque-d’Anthéron, in which he states: 'I never heard Godowsky play; he had had a heart attack ("un infarctus"), and no longer played the piano. He was not a pianist for the big halls, he was - if you like - an artist of the salon. There are salons where the ladies are elegant and where hands are gently kissed. It is of such ladies that we must think when we play Godowsky, not of dancers wearing après-ski boots.' 'Jorge had in mind to play Godowsky's Johann Strauss Künstlerleben at his forthcoming 75th birthday tour as grande finale (1989). He 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 mostly played Fledermaus throughout his career. The earliest offical record for Künstlerleben is 3 August 1939 in the Anfiteatro, Havana (and this is the only reference I have). Carola Grindea (née Rabinovici) (1914 – 2009) was a Romanian-born British pianist and piano teacher, who established the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA). In London, she taught at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle and later the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and developed the Grindea Technique to encourage a balance though not relaxed body posture to eliminate muscular tension and better the performer's technique. Carola Rabinovici was born on 29 January 1914 in the Romanian city of Piatra Neamț in the province of Western Moldavia. Grindea was educated under the tutelage of Constanța Erbiceanu at the National University of Music Bucharest. Grindea was holidaying in Europe before the outbreak of the Second World War and she and her husband arrived in the English port town of Dover on 2 September 1939. She had the phone number of Myra Hess, the pianist, and the latter invited the couple to her house in Golders Green, London, where they learnt of the declaration of war. Grindea urged Hess not to enlist as an ambulance driver and instead establish a series of lunchtime concerts at London's National Gallery that ran during the war. She earned money by teaching and playing piano. She also worked for the Romanian language division of the BBC. ​ ​

Excerpts from his obituary in Le Monde, 19 October 1990 'Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, de Franz Liszt, une oeuvre, irrégulière, passablement saint-sulpicienne transfigurée par une science pianistique, une intériorité confondantes. Pour une fois, la partie centrale s'écoutera sans ennui (Decca 411 803-2). Franz Liszt’s *Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude*—an uneven, somewhat sentimental work transfigured by astonishing pianistic mastery and profound inwardness; for once, the central section holds the listener’s attention without a hint of boredom. César Franck’s *Prélude, Choral et Fugue*—Bolet’s architectural mastery, sense of colour, and polyphonic clarity are at their peak here (Decca 421 714-2). Unknown in France a decade ago, this Cuban-born pianist owed his recent renown to a handful of recordings made for Decca. He had won the favour of a vast audience, captivated by the aristocratic beauty of a playing style that excelled in the works of Liszt and Chopin

(Translation from Dutch via internet apps is a bit rough in places!) Five counts from now, and without mercy, the green studio light turns red—the fatal moment, at which a recording that is nerve-wracking for the pianist begins. Everything seems to proceed effortlessly, but "Vision," a melancholic etude building to a climax, turned out less well than Bolet had expected, and he plays it again with even greater concentration. "I hate recording," he says fiercely and grimly. He much prefers playing for a hall of three thousand people, like Carnegie Hall. "Then I am mesmerized by the tense attention of the audience, and you play more accurately than ever, without any flaws." Indeed, what a grandmaster this Ferenc Liszt is (he was Hungarian, after all), whose work was of such importance for the renewal of music and so clearly anticipated the Impressionists. What, then, was the secret of Bolet 's impressive playing? That he places his almost unparalleled and boundless virtuoso technique solely at the service of musical expression, which differs so much from the often exaggerated pathos and sentimentality of "der bombastische Pultvirtuozen", bombastic stage/podium/pulpit virtuosos. He understands the art of enchanting his audience and filling them with wonder by building a grand climax while preserving musical detail, and thus touching the heart of the work of art. Therefore, it is not surprising that the domestic and foreign press were delighted with the pianistic achievements of Jorge Bolet , who was placed by an American newspaper on par with the almost legendary Vladimir Horowitz. It is understandable that for the music recordings in the film "Song Without End" about the life of Liszt, the choice fell on specialist Bolet , who, as the invisible pianist behind the scenes, evokes the grandiose sonic suggestions that form an inseparable unity with the film image. A few years ago, this pianist made his debut in our country, performing with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, which was then conducted by his brother Alberto Bolet , a professional conductor. With the same orchestra , Jorge performed Brahms' Second Piano Concerto under Eduard Flipse in October '63 and has since given concerts in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Haarlem, and other places in our country. First, vacation. “What are your plans for the upcoming season?” is our question. “Well, first I am going on vacation to recharge my batteries for my participation in various American festivals in August.” Next up is New Zealand, South Africa in October, and then I will be back on the European continent for two months." And then the cycle begins all over again in the United States, a two-month tour of Australia, etc. ~ Twice the American master pianist Jorge Bolet made a recording—for the AVRO—of all twelve "Etudes d'exécution transcendante" (1851) by Franz Liszt, "etudes full of impetuosity and of a terrifying formidability for at most ten or twelve players in the world," as Schumann said: "Highlights in his oeuvre, wondrous moments of musical poetry and painting full of daring fantasy. His delivery in "Paysages" is lyrical, twinkling and flashing in *ponist*?? (Lyrisch is zijn voordracht in „Paysages", twinkelend en flitsend in ponist...) “Feux follets” (little will-o'-the-wisps), a mother-of-pearl necklace of crystallizing clusters of notes, poetic beauty stripped of pathetic humbug and embellishment, and “Ricordanza,” a gracefully flowing melody full of tender expression and arabesque-like cadences, characteristic of the com. “Beautiful in his wonderful harmony” is Liszt in “Harmonies du soir,” our pianist remarks as he relaxes for a few minutes between recordings. “And have you noticed that this rich harmonization and the mysterious atmosphere are already casting their shadows ahead of Impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel? Around the world in one year!” he says proudly. („En is u opgevallen dat deze rijke harmonisatie en de mysterieuze atmosfeer de impressionistische componisten als Debussy en Ravel reeds hun schaduwen vooruitwerpen? rond de wereld in één jaar!", zegt hij trots.) And then we bid farewell to Jorge Bolet , wish him heartfelt success on his concert tours, and hope to see him back on stage and in the Hilversum studio in the not too distant future. (Broadcast of Liszt's "Etudes d'exécution transcendante" tomorrow afternoon from 14:00 to 15:25). O. v. H. [= Oscar van Hemel] in De Gooi- en Eemlander (7.3.1964)

26 May 1974 Arnhem, The Netherlands (Festival of Romantic Music) Bach-Busoni: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D-minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004 Cesar Franck: Prélude, Aria & Final Op. 23 Grieg: Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song in G minor, Op. 24 Strauss-Tausig: Man lebt nur einmal Strauss-Tausig: Nachtfalter Strauss-Schulz-Evler: Arabesques on The Beautiful Blue Danube Saint-Saens-Godowsky: The Swan Paul de Schlözer: Concert Etude in A-flat Op. 1, No. 2 Moszkowski: La Jongleuse, Op. 52, No. 4 Jorge performed often in the Netherlands; his European début was in Amsterdam on 8 May 1935 and after a gap, he returned to the Kleine Zaal, Concertgebouw in December 1955 . He performed in many places, large and small: The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Utrecht, Rotterdam, de Bilt, Arnhem, Laren, Haarlem, Nijmegen, Leeuwarden, de Flint, Alkmaar, Apeldoorn, Eindhoven..., probably more in this one country than in other location outside his USA tours. One spectacular recital prompted the critic of NRC Handelsblad to write: "The technical achievements of this instrumentalist border on the unbelievable" and to head the review "Jorge Bolet: soms leeuw, soms musicus" (Sometimes lion, sometimes musician) . There is also an amusing anecdote. When in the 1980s, Jorge had some concerts in Holland, he was so unhappy with the Bechstein provided by the Dutch dealer that it was proposed he play the following concert (in Utrecht) on a restored Baldwin. Baldwin had just opened their warehouse in Spijkenisse. After the concert, Jorge said that playing this instrument felt to him like driving a racing car. But one critic was not so pleased, at least with appearances. He wrote the instrument looked as if it had come from a brothel. Mattheus Smits adds: Jorge also played several concerts in Tiel. These concerts were organised by Mr. and Mrs. Bloemsa. Mr. Bloemsma had been a schoolteacher and was a great music lover. He organised concerts in a movie theatre in Tiel. He was the first who invited the later famous Quarteto Italiano to The Netherlands. I remember a concert by Jorge when Reger's Telemann variation was on the programme. When Jorge and Tex arrived from Amsterdam, I was already with the Bloemsma family and there was much confusion about the time. This was the year in The Netherlands when we introduced summer and winter time. As Mr. Bloemsma did not care for this nonsense, all his clocks at his house showed one hour difference! Mr. Bloemsma also worried about the Reger/Telemann. As he did not know it, he worried if it would please the audience. Jorge without hesitation helped him out, telling that he would play the four Ballades by Chopin instead. After the concert - sold out - we enjoyed together a nice party with the Bloemsma family. Two memories will always stay with me: Mr. Bloemsma always adressed Jorge as Mr.Boleet,and when Mr. Bloemsma paidd Jorge, Tex took a big book out of his pocket which turned out to be his wallet - filled to capacity! Records from the local historical society, De Nieuwe Kroniek - Oudheidkamer Tiel, note that Jorge Bolet was advertised to perform a piano recital featuring works by Frédéric Chopin, Max Reger, and Franz Liszt on 2 March 1976.

This is an extensive and detailed account of Jorge Bolet during his three visits to Japan in the years 1946, 1976 and 1988 but it also examines the wider picture of his career at these times. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. Use the contact box (unless you already have my email). The PDF has been revised to take account of new material: 14 October 2026.