Tuesday, December 24, 2013

No comeback home for piano virtuoso Schiff

BBC News - Andras Schiff: Why I won't perform in Hungary

We heard Andras Schiff's debut concert in Chicago many years ago, when he was a fresh-faced 24-year-old (1978), and soon to make his mark in the keyboard kosmos.  We heard him perform Bartok PC No. 3 with the Chicago Symphony there the next year, and again three years later (Grieg PC) with Ferencsik, and then later with Sir Georg Solti himself (Tchaikovsky PC). 

We heard Maestro Schiff in recital several more times (Bach Goldberg Variations, and WTC), as well as soloist with the New York Philharmonic (Dohnanyi) in Avery Fisher Hall (front row), and we heard him give a stunningly insightful master class in Lutz Hall, Northwestern University, where a student was grappling with a tangle of notes from Herr Schumann and, taking the artist bench himself, Schiff effortlessly spun them into pure gold.

This piece is a report of an appalling shame taking place back home, and his testimony puts a name and face on it.  What an embarrassment to Hungarians everywhere.  What has humanity learned in the 80 years.......?