Views
8 years ago

Volume 16 Issue 3 - November 2010

  • Text
  • November
  • December
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Musical
  • Symphony
  • Choir
  • Concerts
  • Orchestra
  • Choral

GOODYEAR continued from

GOODYEAR continued from page 10It was – you were just 13 years old. The descriptionof this show says it’s about “a childprodigy who taught himself to play piano beforehe could speak.” That makes it soundlike you just emerged from nowhere, whichis surely misleading, given what you’ve saidabout your early training. It’s apparent youdon’t like being labelled a child prodigy, sohow did you feel about that show at the time?There is one conductor quoted in that showwho really angered me when he said, “He’san adorable little kid – but what’s going tohappen when he’s not cute any more?” Basicallyhe was saying that I was going to bepushed into oblivion. That’s what made medecide to go to Curtis – it was that comment.I thought to myself, “I’m going to prove youwrong – that is not going to happen.”But here you are with a thriving career, whenso many precocious talents don’t make it pastthe early stages. What kept you going throughall the inevitable difficulties? My mother waswonderful – very encouraging and alwaysbelieving in me from the get-go. She taughtme how to be independent and believe in myself.She told me, “If anyone tells you somethingis impossible, ten out of ten it’s possible.Follow your instincts and trust yourgut, because that is your best friend in theworld, and you know what’s right.”At Curtis you studied with Leon Fleisher, whostudied with Artur Schnabel, who studied withTheodor Leschetizky... Yes, it’s quite a chain.Do you feel part of it? Yes I do. When I wasgrowing up a lot of the pianists that I waslistening to were from the golden age ofpianism, which included Schnabel, JosefHoffman, Rachmaninov. All of these reallyinspired me to become a pianist. And mostof them were composers themselves.What was it like for you to perform the completecycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, asyou did last summer for the Ottawa ChamberMusic Festival? It was such a wonderful experience,it felt like the best week of my life.It had been a dream for me to perform all32 together since I was 15 years old. I feltemotionally that I had reached that momentwith them that I had absolutely no choice butto do it. These sonatas would not leave mealone. I didn’t plan to do all 32 sonatas whenI was 32 years old. It just happened that way.But it was very good timing.What order did you do them in? I did them inchronological order, so it was a journey ofevolution that Beethoven was taking the audience– and me – on. It was quite a baptism.The programme for your upcoming recital atKoerner Hall on November 28 includes someof Beethoven’s most magnificent sonatas – butwhy no late sonatas? Picking just four sonatasfor that recital was quite a challenge.Originally I was going to programme the lastthree sonatas, but then I thought that sinceI’ve already recorded them, and this concertwill be broadcast, I would play from the socalledmid-period.Why did you start out recording the Beethovensonatas with the last five sonatas? The laststudied under Fleisher when I was at Curtis.Each of these sonatas spoke to me on a verypersonal level, so I wanted to record themYou have created some controversy withyour speedy tempos in Beethoven’s sonatas.A lot of people think Beethoven’s metronomemarkings for the sonatas are wrong.So there’s a traditional way of interpretingthem that has been passed on through generations.But I disagreed with that tradition. Ifelt I had to pay attention to Beethoven’s ownmarkings because I was paying attention toeverything else that Beethoven wrote down.To me there’s a double standard when everythingBeethoven writes down, the dynamics,the expressive markings, must be followed –except his metronome markings. I thought tomyself, “Why did he write those metronomemarkings? They must work, so how can Imake them work?” Hammerklavierespecially, almost everyone thinksBeethoven’s metronome marking of a halfnoteequals 138 is ridiculously fast. Manypianists treat the opening like Mount Everest,vast and very broad, as though they’reconducting Bruckner. But I think it doeswork if one approaches it from another pointBeethoven’s tribute to a baroque overture. In– things like the sarabande and the fugue.From that perspective Beethoven’s markingfor that movement is perfectly sane. So,basically, one has to listen to my Beethovenwith fresh ears.Where do you go after Beethoven? You justgo – and you keep exploring. It’s like onceyou’ve gone to Paris or the Great Wall ofChina, that doesn’t end your travels.Furthermore... Stewart Goodyear will be giving a recitalat Koerner Hall on November 28 at 8.00. His new CD, “Beethoven: The LateSonatas” is available on Marquis 81507. The two video-clips of Stewart Goodyearmentioned above are posted atwww.cami.com/?webid=188Higdon’s Voices at the St. Lawrence Centreon December 9, presented by Music Toronto.Pamela Margles is a Toronto-basedjournalist who writes The WholeNote’smonthly “Book Shelf” column.PHOTO ANDREW GARNMARTINE CÔTÉ9 h – 12 h / 9:00 AM – NOONJANINE MESSADIÉ12 h – 15 h / NOON – 3:00 PMRadio-Canada.ca/espacemusiqueEN DIRECT D’ICI, MAINTENANT. LIVE, HERE AND NOW.70 thewholenote.comNovember 1 - December 7, 2010

SymphonyOrchestratsoTorontoPeter Oundjian | Music DirectorWhat’s Onat thetsoMGlagolitic MassNovember 10 & 11 at 8:00pmMaestro Oundjian brings Janáček’s choral masterpiece,the Glagolitic Mass, to the TSO stage for the first time in13 years. Written in Glagolitic, a medieval Slaviclanguage, this exceptional work is considered one of thefinest works in the modern choral repertoire. Also on theprogramme are Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave, andProkofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé suite.Stravinsky FirebirdNovember 13 at 7:30pmNovember 14* at 3:00pmA sumptuous evening featuring theSlavic music of Dvořák, Glinka, andLutosławski, culminating inStravinsky’s blazing Firebird Suite.*Nov. 14 at George Weston Recital Hall.Call 416.872.1111 for tickets.Natasha Paremski, pianoChopin PianoConcerto No. 2November 17 at 8:00pmNovember 18 at 2:00pmChopin’s lyrical Concerto No. 2 ispaired with two postcards fromEastern Europe: Smetana’s glowingportrait of his Czech homeland’sprincipal river, and Janáček’s fieryrhapsody chronicling the turbulentlife of a seventeenth-centuryUkrainian Cossack leader.BeethovenSymphony 8November 24 at 6:30pmNovember 25 at 8:00pmHear Beethoven's energetic SymphonyNo. 8 and a glorious Saint-Saënsconcerto performed by the TSO's newPrincipal Cello, Joseph Johnson.Andreas Haefliger, pianoNov 17 Performance SponsorJoseph Johnson, celloSeason Sponsor416.593.4828 | tso.caAll concerts at Roy Thomson Hall except Nov 14 at George Weston Recital HallConductors’ Podium Sponsor

Volumes 26-29 (2020- )

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)