Moiseiwitsch Interview (1959)

Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) in a lengthy BBC interview with John Freeman, Philip Hope-Wallace and George Scott.
Broadcast 13 May 1959, on the BBC Home Service.

[@johnschlesinger2009]

He is exactly what I expected, knowing his music making: urbane, honest, modest, witty, self depreciating. A wonderful artist, and a hugely likeable man.

[@NOSEhow2LIV]

Moiseiwitsch became more English than the English, with the accent, the Saville Row suits & ties, the Savage Club....here he meets his match with suave, plummy interviewers, almost a caricature of postwar BBC! But it's marvellous to hear his spontaneous answers and anecdotes; i almost get the impression he amuses himself with the staid questions. Odessa is known among Russians as the "Capital of Jokes!" Doubtlessly the Jewish population, (very large at that time, often in precarious circumstances), resorted excessively to humor as a counterbalance to their miserable situation. BM was famed among colleagues for his humor and poker-faced jokes; i'm not surprose to learn of his expulsion from school, similar to another celebrote Odessan, Shura Cherkassky, himself reprimanded for his practical jokes in his youth. The miserable situation for the Jews probably stimulote the artistic expression, Odessa being the cradle of so many marvellous musicians: not only the violinists he mentions, Oistrakh & Milstein, (tho not actually Elman, who studied in Odessa but was born nearer Kiev), but Gilels, de Pachmann, Barere, M. Grinberg, Feinberg, Cherkassky and many others, (S Richter, born further inland, but worked at Odessa Opera!). My parents loved BM and would never miss a concert, heard him often, (i was too young); i was at first unimpressed by the 78's, then the LPs i heard; with the passage of time i realise that the "live" magic is difficult to transfer onto recordings, (where he admitted he was less at ease), and have come to appreciate his art belatedly. Thank you, sir, for sharing this fascinating period piece!

[@man0sticks]

Aside from everything else, it’s so refreshing to listen to people who actually knew how to speak the English language.

[@jamesmiller4184]

Yes! And not even an Englishman was he!

[@paulprocopolis]

It's most interesting to hear the great man offering glimpses into his professional and personal life. The interview is also a fascinating period-piece - goodness, those BBC voices!

[@cbooth2004]

Thank you. Moiseiwitsch is my most beloved pianist, and I had not heard this interview before. I am always very happy to hear him speak. I am grateful for this upload. Wonderful.

[@ThePianoFiles]

WONDERFUL!!! Thank you for uploading this!!!

[@nicolasvanpoucke.pianist]

Thank you for sharing this. Very interesting and also entertaining conversation.

[@harvardkarbodie]

Very interesting. Thank you!

[@MrGer2295]

Wonderful ! Thank you for posting :)

[@punkpoetry]

After they ask him what music gives him solace and he speaks very touchingly about Schumann, the next question is "so this suggests you have an emotional response to music and it's not, as we assumed, just a technical exercise?"... This is too stupid for words. Even if you had that fatuous question prepared, maybe give it a miss after the answer about Schumann? He was one of the many great pianists - and not so great ones! see Roland Barthes and his "Aimer Schumann" - who had a special love for Schumann. Gilels played many of his works beautifully but said that he mostly plays Schumann in private, because this music "means too much" for him to play publicly, and I've heard this has also been the case with Horowitz for much of his life.

[@pianopera]

The fragment you are referring to is at about 9:11. Indeed the interviewer seems to be a complete layman in musical matters!

[@punkpoetry]

A very amusing moment several minutes later: the interviewer asks whether BM's family were wealthy, and upon hearing that BM's father was a timber merchant, needs to reconcile it with his English picture of the world, where rarified things such as classical music can only be the preserve of the upper or upper-middle class (whereas in Russia, the famous "intelligentsia" transcends social class). And reconcile he does: "well, Jews do always control the arts!" Incidentally it's curious BM isn't sure whether Gilels was a Jew. "Emil" is indeed a name that was adopted around the time of his first competition instead of the explicitly Jewish "Shmuel" - but his last name is quintessentially Jewish if you know some Hebrew, it's the same root as "Hillel" ("הלל"). Guess Benno's Hebraic scholarship wasn't up to scratch!

[@pianopera]

Your observations are spot on! Yes, I also didn't know for a long time that Gilels was in fact Jewish. I was rather surprised by some of the "confessions" that BM made, for instance that he practised regularly on a dummy keyboard while away from home. I've heard Cziffra did the same. Also, it becomes clear that Leschetizky was by far his most important teacher - though as he stated here, he worked with him only for two and a half years in Vienna. But practising 8 hours a day!! Quite extreme.

[@68Voland]

Very interesting interview. I only wished the interviewer would have asked him about his personal meeting with Rachmaninov and also about his thoughts about Tchaikovsky’s piano concert no. 1

[@emilycorwith1119]

Wonderful to hear this great artist speak but the interviewers were unnecessarily obnoxious IMO.

[@chrisczajasager]

The BBC interviewers...peculiar!

[@RollaArtis]

In the 50's the BBC style of 'interview' could be more like 'interrogation'

[@chrisczajasager]

quite supercilious,,'poofy'BBC, ........

[@meredith218461]

@@RollaArtis Indeed I sense a degree of arrogance and insensitivity with the 3 interviewers. Moiseiwitsch answers with grace and intelligence.

[@clementinaanceschi9746]

Sottotitoli? È possibile? Grazie ;))

[@pianopera]

Perhaps possible, but too time-consuming, sorry!

[@punkpoetry]

There is a near transcript of this interview online web.archive.org/web/20060529215236/www.arbiterrecords.com/notes/120notes.html

[@noshirm6285]

Se odiavi così tanto esercitarti, hai provato un senso di frustrazione, risentimento, quando in realtà sei stato mandato da un grandissimo insegnante a Vienna per continuare ad esercitarti, per diventare un grande pianista? Sto parlando di Odessa. È perché a scuola ero un ragazzo molto dispettoso e dovevo fare tutto, tutta la routine scolastica a parte il pianoforte. Sono stato costretto a praticare e ho imbrogliato non appena mio padre si addormentava mentre ascoltava la mia pratica, ero abituato a sgattaiolare fuori. Ma nonostante ciò non ho potuto fare a meno di ottenere, in tutta modestia, direi, un successo fenomenale, perché ho fatto dischi lì. Invece di essere tre anni nel grado inferiore, tre anni nel grado medio, io avevo due anni [in ciascuno] e poi sono andato al top. Era un ottimo insegnante, allievo di Liszt e Leschetizky. Ma odiavo ancora praticare. Non mi sono interessato e vorrei [raccontare] una piccola storia in relazione a questo. C'è un premio chiamato premio Rubinstein che solo un allievo può tenere finché lo tiene. Non cambia di anno in anno: lui o lei muore o lascia la scuola, poi qualcun altro deve ottenerla. Beh, è ​​una cosa importante perché è un governo oltre che una scuola, e ci sono sempre articoli sui giornali che dicono "Il mese prossimo si deciderà chi vincerà il premio Rubinstein". C'è molta confusione tra gli alunni e così via, e alla fine è arrivato il giorno dell'annuncio e io ero a scuola a giocare e il direttore della scuola è venuto da me e mi ha detto "Sei stato tu a vincere il premio Rubinstein". Allora avevo nove anni e ho detto "Bene, grazie". Ha detto "Non sei sorpreso?" Ho detto no. Non mi stavo vantando ma non me l'aspettavo e da quando l'ho preso, l'ho capito. Tuttavia, più tardi quel pomeriggio sono tornato a casa e ho passato il pomeriggio, la sera, il solito orario, e la mattina dopo mia madre che mi ha svegliato per prepararmi per la scuola, ha detto "A proposito, hai sentito chi ha vinto il premio Rubinstein? " Ho detto "Oh sì, [sbadigliando] ho dimenticato di dirtelo, l'ho vinto".

[@noshirm6285]

@@punkpoetry Many thanks! :-)