The pianist David Wilde died on 23 October 2025. Although I never met him, I owe a great deal to him (as the video explains). See also this blog entry David Wilde, ‘magnificently berserk’ pianist and composer of The Cellist of Sarajevo Billed as ‘the 10-year-old Boy Prodigy’, he performed the Grieg Concerto at Blackpool, and broadcast it that year on the BBC Telegraph Obituaries 12 November 2025 ​David Wilde, who has died aged 90, was a thoughtful and dazzling pianist, though not one for the faint-hearted; he was also a talented composer, most notably of The Cellist of Sarajevo, a poignant lament made famous in a recording by Yo-Yo Ma. Delivering on the promise of his surname, his recitals kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Reviews from the 1960s talk of him playing Bartók’s Sonata with “dash and bravado” and giving a “magnificently berserk” account of Liszt’s B minor Sonata. More recently, his third volume of Chopin’s piano music, released in 2015 by Delphian, was described in The Guardian as “a full-on blast of volatile extroversion”. The Cellist of Sarajevo (1992), with sombre phrases that yearn and mourn while the cellist wails on the top string, came about during the Bosnian civil war. Wilde was inspired by reading of Vedran Smailović, a former cellist with the Sarajevo Opera who played every day outside a bakery in Sarajevo where 22 people were killed by a bomb in May 1992. It was not Wilde’s only foray into politics. He so admired the Hungarians’ attempted rebellion of 1956 that after a recital there in the early 1960s he played as an encore Liszt’s Funérailles, written in memory of those who fell in the failed revolution of 1848. “Everyone in that Budapest audience knew exactly what I meant,” he told Kate Molleson in The Herald. More recent interventions include a string quartet concerning the murder in 2016 of the Labour MP Jo Cox. When her widower Brendan suggested it was time to stop mourning and celebrate her work, which would continue, Wilde tried and failed to write a follow-up. “Just look at the state of the world. Her work isn’t going on,” he said. “Maybe I should write a symphony of raspberries and call it ‘Trump’.” David Wilde was born in Stretford, Greater Manchester, on February 25 1935. At the age of three he made a beeline for his parents’ piano. The family home was bombed in 1940 and they moved to Blackpool, where he enjoyed a busy wartime career as a “boy pianist” playing for servicemen. This brought him to the attention of the pianist Solomon Cutner, who arranged lessons with his assistant Franz Reizenstein. Billed as “the 10-year-old Boy Prodigy”, he performed the Grieg Concerto at Blackpool. Three months later he broadcast the same work with the BBC Northern Orchestra under Charles Groves. At 13 he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of Music, where his composition studies with Richard Hall were on an equal footing with his piano lessons with Iso Elinson. By the time he left for National Service in 1951 he was considered the college’s star pianist, but on his return in 1953 that position had been usurped by his friend John Ogdon. But their friendship endured, and in 1974 he effectively sightread Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto at the Proms after the tormented Ogdon had taken an overdose. For many years Wilde held a dim view of Liszt’s music, saying: “I thought him third-rate.” He revised that opinion in 1961 after coming second to Ogdon in the Liszt Society’s competition in London. More glory beckoned when he shared first prize with the Hungarian pianist Gábor Gabos in the Liszt-Bartók competition in Budapest. Among the jurors was Nadia Boulanger, who invited him to study with her in Paris. He stayed in a converted attic room above her apartment and “learnt so much about music and about life from her”. Wilde soon gained a reputation in contemporary circles. “Playing Stockhausen’s Gruppen under Pierre Boulez was a revelation,” he told Gramophone. But it was in the music of Liszt, Chopin and Bartók that he shone brightest, holding Liszt’s Mazeppa Étude and Mephisto Waltz “in a virtuoso’s grip”, noted a Daily Telegraph review in 1962. By then he was a staff accompanist at the BBC in Glasgow, and that summer made his Proms debut in a fresh-eyed account of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto, returning there on eight occasions. Meanwhile, he recorded all Beethoven’s violin sonatas with the violinist Erich Gruenberg. Wilde taught in Hanover from 1981 to 2000, after which he settled in Scotland as visiting professor of keyboard studies at the University of Edinburgh. An entire room of his home in Cockenzie, East Lothian, was packed with reel-to-reel recordings of his radio broadcasts. On the mantelpiece stood a metal-and-wood model of a traditional Balkan doorway, presented by the Bosnian government in recognition of his contribution during​ the siege of Sarajevo. Wilde had two children from his first marriage. When that ended he undertook Jungian analysis, later applying Jungian theory to Liszt’s B minor Sonata in a paper called Listening to the Shadows. His second wife, Jane Mary, née Davis, died in 2013. David Wilde, born February 25 1935, died October 23 2025​ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/11/12/david-wilde-piano-yo-yo-ma-cellist-sarajevo-composer/

Jorge Bolet by Alan West-Durán: "Pianista luminoso" For those who read Spanish (or can use Google Translate), here is an unusually full article on Jorge Bolet by Alan West-Durán (La Habana, 1953), a Cuban poet, essayigst, translator and critic. He is a Profesor at Northeastern University (Boston). It's nice to read what a Cuban thinks of his compatriot. https://rialta.org/jorge-bolet-pianista-luminoso/ "Cuban musician Jorge Bolet achieved a unique and recognizable style. His work had a velvety yet full-bodied sound and an exceptional command of tempos and dynamics. It was controlled and intellectual, but at the same time tender, and possessed luminous clarity and precision..." "Great pianists are often compared to divas: they possess enormous talent, are temperamental—not to say melodramatic—have devoted followers, and evoke a mythical aura when they command the stage as soloists. Jorge Bolet (1914-1990), the renowned Cuban pianist , wasn't a diva because he was melodramatic or egocentric, but he was an astonishingly talented pianist and a superb live performer."

Jorge Bolet and The Devil, 1964: the video will explain! In late October and November, Bolet made a tour of South Africa (spring in the southern hemisphere).    Impresario Hans Adler told the Johannesburg Sunday Times in November 1962 that negotiations for the tour were already under way. This tour would also include a recital in Windhoek, formerly South West Africa, now Namibia)​​​. See South Africa page for more details

Jorge Bolet, Vienna, 23 May 1935 "But even in Cuba, they are aware of the secrets of Beethoven's style. This was demonstrated by the young, exceptionally charming southerner Jorge Bolet, whose "Appassionata" displayed such maturity, inner serenity, dazzling technique, and nuanced touch..."    Die Wiener Tag (7 July) The artist proved himself a refined musician. A clear, well-developed technique – only the fortissimo  attack was a little dry – provided the foundation for a performance free of mannerism and sentimentality. The centrepiece of the evening, the Appassionata , was the finest proof of a natural interpretation. The work emerged flawlessly pure, and the straightforward yet warm beauty that the pianist knew how to imbue the central piece must be particularly emphasised. His relationship to Chopin, however, remains not entirely clear. It was an ascetic, indeed at times somewhat restricted, Chopin that was presented. All the Allegro sections were approached with verve, which made it all the more surprising that the cantabile slow passages, such as the beginning of the Ballade in G minor, this power was not overly lyrical and was condensed with a restrained intensity. In contrast, the dances by Manuel de Falla were once again excellent, revealing above all the great rhythmic precision, the true "sustainedness with the rhythm," the primal force of the music-making. The audience honoured the artist's performance with enthusiastic applause. Wiener Neueste Nachrichten,  6 June 1935

A very incomplete list, which I've just started. Feel free to add - using the Contact page (I've excluded those students in masterclasses) Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana Francisco Rennó (Venezuela) Gary Thor Wedow Glenn Winters (1970-76) Curtis Institute, Philadelphia Meng-Chieh Liu (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Ira Levin Ju Hee Suh (South Korea) Makoto Ueno (Japan) Anthony Padilla Graydon Goldsby Wonmi Kim (South Korea) Studied with JB (privately) Teresa Escandon Henry Lowinger Panayis Lyras, 1953- (Greece) A few from masterclasses Hélène Grimaud

​ On 6 March 1983, Gilels performed in London's Royal Festival Hall: Brahms    Variations on a Theme by Paganini Opus 35 (Book 1); Fantasias Opus 116Schumann    4 Klavierstücke Opus 32; Symphonic Studies Opus 13 Jorge was in London to record Liszt's Années de pèlerinage: Suisse  S160 during 8-11 March 1983 in Kingsway Hall, which would constitute volume 5 of his Liszt series for Decca. Peter Wadland, JB's producer for DECCA, remembers Bolet & Russian pianist Emil Gilels (1916-1985). ‘One of the most memorable occasions was when I took him to a Gilels concert around 1984 ( 6 March 1983 actually), at the Royal Festival Hall. At the end, he asked me if I knew Gilels. I did not, but felt sure that there would be some backstage who could introduce him. My main worry was that I thought Gilels would have no idea who he was. My fears were unfounded, for on introduction, Gilels kept embracing Jorge, exclaiming "Jorge Bolet—great. pianist", to which Jorge replied "So are you". It was a peculiar sight, with big Jorge (he was over six foot tall) being embraced by the diminutive Gilels.  In October 1970, Emil Gilels had told Jacob Siskind of the The Gazette  (Montreal): ‘I enjoy recordings – I don’t have too many, I’m not a collector in any sense, but they give me a great deal of pleasure.   I remember that about 10 years ago I was shopping in Brussels and while looking through the bins I found a copy of the Prokofiev’s  Second Piano Concerto performed by Jorge Bolet.   I picked it up and I have listened to it very often.’ ​ In 1988, Jorge spoke with Elyse Mach: 'I don't want to leave the impression that because I preferred pianists of old, I don't think any pianists today are good. There are some very great ones, not better than the old masters, but very great. Generally, however, I believe most of today's pianists are not in the same class as the masters of old. One of today's pianists whom I admired very much was Emil Gilels. I heard him live for the first time a few years ago in London. It was just magnificent, the greatest piano playing I'd heard in thirty years. He played two major works, as I remember: Brahms's Opus 116, which I happen to have played a great deal, and the other was the Symphonic Études  of Schumann. There may have been something else, but I forget what it was. ​ 'The greatest compliment I can pay him is that although he played the Brahms and Schumann in a way quite contrary to my own, he played them with such conviction, such personal idea, that I had to admire him for it. And that is what has disappeared from piano playing today.' ​ The video shows Gilels performing the same programme a couple of months earlier (9 January, 1983) in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow.

New website (link): Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

As if it is not enough to maintain a website on Jorge Bolet, I've recently begun another on Italian legend Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It's an interesting experience to compare the research: on Jorge, there has been very little written, certainly no books; on the other there is a mass of material, but one has to distance oneself from the "cult". It's still work-in-progress but do take a look.

Sunday, 21 October 1956, Åmål in Västra Götaland County, Sweden.  Svenska Dagbladet says 'the famous American will visit the Music Circle of the School ( Läroverk ) here today'.  The same newspaper report on 31 December 1960 the following: 'Mr Bolet suddenly showed himself to be very familiar with Åmål. He simply loved the little town. A few years ago he went there to give a concert. He came a day early. Therefore no one was down to meet him at the railway station.  The place was deserted and cold.  But Mr Bolet had a name on a piece of paper in his pocket. He picked it up and called the person in question. There was cordial contact and a very pleasant evening. But that was not all. When Mr Bolet had given his concert and was on the train to Göteborg/Gothenburg, the conductor gave him a letter written in Swedish.  A fellow passenger translated it. It read:  "It is an honour for me to drive the train on which such a skilled pianist as you is a passenger.  Deeply moved, Mr Bolet hurried off to the train driver.  Yes, he had been to the concert and had had a very memorable evening. "We sealed our friendship with sign language and a big hug. You understand that I could not imagine greater success than to get in touch with such a magnificent man from the Swedish people through music. You must all be good musicians, you Swedes. Åmål is my Shangri-La. I sincerely hope to come back to that town once more in my life."'

9 December 1955, Copenhagen, small hall of the Odd Fellow Palace.  Berlingske Tidende , a Danish newspaper, first published on 3 January, reported: 'The Great Cuban. Jorge Bolet, who played Beethoven at the last Royal Chapel concert, is a piano virtuoso. This can be said without any hidden disdain, let alone indignation. The joy of effortless mastery of an instrument is an essential feature of all healthy musicality. And how could one reproach a musician for having created the means to express himself through the medium that is his own? Virtuosity is, to be sure, only form, but life does not exist without form. Nor is Bolet merely a stunning master of the piano. If he is an autocrat, he is also an enlightened autocrat. ( Er han enevældig, er han tillige en oplyst Enevoldshersker.)  His playing is extremely deliberate/thoughtful. One has the sense that he has subjected every little phrase to thorough consideration to arrive at the most pianistically effective interpretation.  Not that there is anything superficial about this Cuban's approach to music—on the contrary, one is at all times convinced of his absolute honesty. But his phrasing was, on the other hand, often executed—last night, for instance, in some Haydn variations and in Chopin’s B minor scherzo—with such delicate precision that one might have wished for a greater degree of spontaneity. Nevertheless, one listened with recognition and admiration to Jorge Bolet. He could play Haydn with intelligence and gentleness. But he could also—and especially—unfold in an always sonorous fortissimo, which made one regret that the palace's small hall was not the palace's grand hall. And even in the many thunderous passages, the music retained its transparency. You great Cuban, what a pianist you are!'

After his two month tour of Australia, Jorge gave a recital for the first time in Hong Kong, on 6 July 1965. 'Jorge Bolet - mark that name well.  Last evening in the City Hall Concert Hall, this American pianist treated a nearly full house to a display of fiery virtuosity which reached its climax in the second half with two Liszt works and I cannot recall its equal, at least in Hong Kong. ​ 'He chose to open his programme with one of the last of Haydn's sonatas in E flat major written, so Falber Ryan's the impeccable notes remind us, for a German female pianist whose playing had a masculine quality.  As Jorge Bolet himself has all the attributes of virile masculinity – he confesses that this brought him scant sympathy in the early stages of his career – his choice was not surprising. But like so many large men, he brought a delicacy of touch, which was noticeable from the start in the answering phrases in the introduction.  'In spite of fighting off an attack by an itinerant moth in the first movement of Beethoven's Appassionata , Mr Bolet, hardly faltered, and concluded the movement with all the dramatic intensity it demands. If there was a suspicion of thickness in the theme of the second movement, it was soon dispelled in the rising climax of the subsequent variations. Technical dexterity and expressive control marked the stormy final Allegro, enough to cause some members of the audience to demand to encore on the spot.' ​ In the Liszt B minor Sonata, the 'guest critic' said he/she saw why Bolet was famed as a Liszt player. 'I am not saying there were no inaccuracies, but I would not like to have to specify any single one – incredible finger work in both hands. The fast repeated notes in the fugue were crystal clear in all the voices, as were the octaves which concluded the prestissimo section.'  Jorge ended with the Mephisto Waltz. ( The South China Morning Post 7.7.65)

A summary of JB's four appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra. 14 November 1944, Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This was Jorge's first appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra which was on tour (under French-American Vladimir Golschmann).   Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18.  In Paris, Golschmann had conducted performances at the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.  He also premiered various workd: Le bœuf sur le toit , a ballet by Darius Milhaud, at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, 1920; Pastorale d'été by Arthur Honegger, Salle Gaveau, 1921; and El retablo de Maese Pedro  by Manuel de Falla, at the palace of the Princesse de Polignac, 1923. 25 July 1951, Summer Prom, Public Auditorium [500, Lakeside Ave], Cleveland, Ohio, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Rudolph Ringwall: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major (Jorge also played Camargo Mozart Guarnieri,  Toada Triste and Lecuona's Afro-Cuban Dances ) April 1959, Akron Armory, Akron, Ohio: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with Hungarian maestro George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra .  Francis Crociata has said: '[Jorge] had only himself to blame when, engaged as a substitute for Claudio Arrau in Cleveland, his customary diplomatic tact deserted him at the worst possible moment by calling attention to a wrong note in George Szell’s score of the Liszt Second [actually No. 1] Concerto, this in front of his Cleveland Orchestra players. It pretty much assured any re-engagement for Bolet there would be secured only after the notoriously thin-skinned maestro’s demise.'  (This was in August 1978). Andria Hoy, archivist, has informed me:  'It appears that Jorge Bolet performed with the Orchestra several times, including on tour to Michigan and including the Liszt with Szell you mentioned. Strangely, he never performed in our concert hall, only downtown or at our summer home, Blossom Music Center.'  The concert was reviewed in the  Akron Beacon Journal , 8.4.59 with heading: 'Pianist, Orchestra, delight Audience'.  'Jorge Bolet, a tall, dark and handsome pianist from Cuba, stole the show from the orchestra in the season's final concert.  Looking at Bolet's powerful build', write Oscar Smith, 'one could imagine he would be as effective with the Cleveland Browns, reeling off 10 or 15 yards at a crack through the line as he was with the Cleveland Orchestra.   The amazing thing was not that he achieved tremendous power at the keyboard, but that he could suddenly turn off the thunder and play with a feather-like touch. How could those arms and shoulder be gentle?  At the end cheers and shrill whistles were part of the applause.'  'It is obvious that Szell has deep affection for this symphony by a fellow Czech...'  Oops! Friday 11 (and also Saturday 12 at 8:30pm) August 1978, Jorge with The Cleveland Orchestra under Jerzy Semkow performed Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, Op.83 in the Blossom Music Centre, an outdoor amphitheatre at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio - the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra.  Jorge had not played with this orchestra in 19 [?] years. Fortunately, there is a recording, especially welcome as this major concerto of his repertoire was never recorded commercially.  The Chronicle-Telegram Elyria proclaimed this as Bolet's début with the orchestra. Andria Hoy, archivist of The Cleveland Orchestra has told me: ' Strangely, he never performed in our concert hall, only downtown or at our summer home, Blossom Music Center.'