What should I give my Forum friends as a Christmas gift? - I have been asking myself for a few days.
In these times of unrestrained consumption, I instead prefer Christmas at home, an intimate, almost secluded day, with small gifts for friends and loved ones discovered while browsing local markets.
And so, I have decided to bring out two little gems from the history of our instrument, united by the piece I present to you and by not-so-happy stories.
Carl Tausig was born in Warsaw in 1841, to a family of musicians of Jewish-Bohemian origin. His father, a pianist and composer who was a pupil of Thalberg, was his first teacher; he was fourteen years old when his father introduced him to Franz Liszt, of whom Carl quickly became the preferred pupil; the latter taught him piano, counterpoint, composition, and orchestration. At sixteen, Carl met Wagner, becoming one of his close friends, as was also his great friendship with Brahms.
Tausig's concert career unfolded with alternating fortunes and, despite notable artistic success, he also faced financial misfortunes. Having retired to study for a few years, after getting married he was appointed court pianist; upon the advice of Hans von Bülow, he opened a piano school in Berlin, which he had to abandon to remain faithful to his commitments as a concert artist.
In 1871, not yet thirty but marked by an irregular existence, he died of typhus in Leipzig; on his tomb is an epitaph written by his great friend Wagner.
Tausig is considered by several critics to be the greatest among Liszt's pupils, with heights comparable only to his great master; Rubinstein speaks of him as an "infallible automaton". The contrast in posture with his brilliant master remains proverbial, because Tausig sat at the piano almost motionless (in this sense, Radu Lupu is a modern Tausig).
Tausig is particularly known for his interpretations of Chopin, whom he truly venerated, so much so that one of his great regrets was never being able to meet him; we will see that this veneration is fully found in the piece I present to you.
We know Tausig more as a pedagogue than as a composer, especially for the "Tägliche Studien" or Daily Exercises, which are of a high level, and for his piano transcriptions of Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Chopin, Scarlatti, Schumann, Schubert, Wagner, and Weber.
And yet, like other minor composers, he composed works characterized by profound beauty and absolute grace.
Michael Ponti was born in 1937 in Germany to American parents, then was taken by them to the United States, to Washington, where he also began his studies with his father, later continuing with the great MacDonald; at age eleven, he already performed The Well-Tempered Clavier in public.
When he was eighteen, his parents returned to Germany and here he continued his studies with Flinsch, an assistant to von Sauer in Vienna. He studied with Arthur Rubinstein and Robert Casadesus and won first prize in the 1964 Busoni Competition in Bolzano. He debuted in Vienna with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sawallisch, performing Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2.
His New York debut was remarkable, where he was acclaimed to the point of performing nine encores.
Endowed with an extraordinary technique, Ponti dedicated himself to the research and performance of technically demanding music that is less well-known; in addition to performing it in concert, he collaborated extensively with Vox/Turnabout to record a vast amount of forgotten music from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including, among others, works by Alkan, Balakirev, Clara Schumann, Moscheles, Moszkowski, Rubinstein, Scharwenka, Sinding, Tausig, and Thalberg, as well as the complete piano works of Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov.
Unfortunately, what remains of the recordings is afflicted by a harsh piano timbre which, due to known psychological effects, tends to diminish the performer's qualities; nevertheless, Mr. Ponti's sensitivity and skill are still appreciated.
At the end of 1990, a stroke struck Ponti and left him without the use of his right side, which prevented him from returning to concerts or recordings.
I propose to you here, by Carl Tausig: L'espérance, Nocturne varié Op. 3
in the interpretation of Michael Ponti
At this point, I have nothing left to do but wish you a
H a p p y C h r i s t m a s and a Happy New Year to all of Pianoforte!"}{