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Author:  Greg Luebbert Posted:  1/20/04; 1:23:28 PM Msg#:  4101 (top msg in thread) Prev/Next:  4100/4102 Reads:  799

Hey all,

Iíve been listening to a Horowitz performance of Rachmaninoffís Prelude in G. Ye gods! Did they use his piano for firewood after every performance? I remember knocking my dadís piano out of tune when I was five, and I wasnít hitting it one tenth this hard. One of my friends plays the piano, and last I heard from him, he was trying to learn to play Prelude in G (on a keyboard rather than a piano, and I think he did wear out some of his keys, actually). He said that Horowitz usually had his piano tuned so that the strings were very taut, but wouldnít that then make it impossible for him to have such a dynamic range? He couldnít have more variation in volume if he were using explosives. Does anybody out there play the piano, or know what Horowitz did with his piano to keep it from spontaneously combusting while he was playing?

Ooh, and a side note. I just recently learned that Vladimir Nabokov, the guy who wrote Lolita (and is, by the way, one of my favorite authors of all time) knew Rachmaninoff. Not only that, but old Sergei actually loaned him the money to emigrate to America. This is interesting, because it sheds some biographical light on one of Nabokovís short stories, called ìBachmannî. (ha ha, Vladimir. Good one.) Itís about a pianist who is ìa barbarian in the literal sense of the wordî. Now Nabokov hated it when people tried to connect his life with his writing, but you almost have to wonder. Itís not exactly a flattering portrayal. If any of yíall like Rachmaninoff, it might be fun to read the story. Itís in Nabokovís book of collected short stories.

-Greg the Mighty

• Re: That poor piano, Charles Schoonmaker, 1/20/04; 4:22:59 PM

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