SHURA CHERKASSKY INTERVIEW AMSTERDAM 1993

SHURA CHERKASSKY GIVING AN INSIGHT INTO THE BACK STAGE LIFE OF A CONCERT PIANIST. ALTHOUGH SHURA NEVER APPEARED TO ENJOY INTERVIEWS WITH POMPOUS MALE RADIO PRESENTERS HE OBVIOUSLY ENJOYED THIS TV INTERVIEW IN HOLLAND. PRECONCERT NERVES SHOW IN THE CHOICE OF A PIANO AND STOOL, HE TOUCHES ON THE LONELINESS OF HIS PRIVATE LIFE AND HIS WICKED SENSE OF HUMOUR SHINES THROUGH.

[@pianopera]

What a marvellous contrast: everything in Cherkassky's life was so calculated -- exactly four hours of practising every day, counting the stairs, learning timetables of trains and planes by heart... but his playing was completely the opposite: one never knew exactly what to expect, it was totally unpredictable! I heard a recital with works of Liszt and Brahms in Rotterdam (De Doelen) that I will never forget; it was spellbinding. A compelling man and an inimitable musician.

[@piano345]

The fact that he could count all the different number of steps between the five encores and still play them confidently from memory is astonishing. Most pianists would be concerned about remembering the pieces. Yes, his playing was so spontaneous yet his daily routine very rigid.

[@guyrowland8307]

What a superb interview, I love it!! I have a couple of radio interviews, but they're nowhere near as good as this one. I saw him many times from 1982 onwards, the last time was in June 1995 when he played a recital at the Lichfield Festival, a Lully Suite, Liszt B Minor Sonata and the Four Ballades of Chopin, then four encores, he was superb, his death just a few months later was a great shock. I still miss him, piano recitals are not as thought provoking and considerably less enjoyable since his passing.

[@meredith218461]

I love Cherkasskys mercurial and fascinating temperament. His analogy concerning technique is an absolute gem, ''It is very necessary to have technique, but you have to know what to do with technique. Just like in life money is very necessary, but you have to know what to do with money''. He was a great character and a wonderfully gifted artist.

[@mweiz09]

As a 17 year-old university student and violinist I was Mr Cherkassky's valet and practice gofer at the home of his New Zealand hosts who I was boarding with. One morning after he had finished his 4 hours of dead-slow practice he asked me to go upstairs to his bedroom to get a newly-purchased DGG recording from his suitcase and to play it on the gramophone for him for his first hearing of it---which I did. The recording was of Bartok's second piano concerto performed by Paul Badura-Skoda, whom he admired very much. Before we listened to it I asked Mr Cherkassky if he regularly listened to recordings by other pianists, to which he replied "Almost never." I then thought to ask him why on his present demanding concert tour he wanted to listen to the Bartok concerto. His reply amazed me: "Well, you see, I will be performing it in Vienna in two weeks' time and I haven't played it before, so I want to hear how it goes before I study it from the score". I heard some months later that his note-perfect Vienna performance of it received rave reviews from the critics. No surprise. He had an absolutely phenomenal memory and matchless confidence and was considered by his "peers" to be the greatest pianist alive.

[@kaleidoscopio5]

It is incredible that Cherkassky made his first hearing and learmed such piano nightmare in two weeks 😳

[@christopherczajasager9030]

Amusing to come upon this 7 years after it was issued. Indeed a great pianist and unique personality.He had an after concert super with us when I lived in the NL.He asked that there be " not a drop in the soup" as his great master Hofman suffered from alcoholism. A favorite of his quips, " You may not like my playing but you can't say it's boring:

[@christopherczajasager9030]

Souper

[@JamesVaughan]

There was only one Shura, and there will never be another. One of my major regrets is that I never heard him in person. He was positively the very last of the "Golden Age".

[@NOSEhow2LIV]

It's really heartening that you appreciate Cherkassky's art, having not heard him in person. I always wondered whether his magic could come thru on recordings, especially as i found many of them rather pale in comparison to the live event, especially his studio disks. My parents loved Moiseiwitsch,who they heard often,(yet another of those pianistic Odessans!), but i was too young, and for years i was disappointed by his recordings,(of course i didn't say it to them!), and only recently have i come to appreciate the wizardry that comes out from the grooves..... So the magic worked, but in my case took some time!

[@kaleidoscopio5]

Charming and eccentric man. I heard about him a lot, but only now I see how great pianist he was. Great sound, and a very unexepected repertoire. I see why he was so famous with encores moment.

[@piano345]

I first heard him in his DG recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.2 in G major when I was a teenager and have loved his playing ever since. His repertoire was immense - from Baroque to Berio. He always played from memory - never excuses of having the score on the piano to respect the composer's wishes - even the most complex modern scores.

[@martinadler73]

Fantastic! Many thanks for sharing.

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Fascinating. An extraordinary pianist, and an enigmatic character. His dedication and self discipline was extraordinary: his retained his technique and amazingly polished playing at an age when almost all of his great contemporaries' powers were declining.

[@MichaelAlexander1967]

This is a very good interview that reveals many aspects Mr. Cherkassky's character. I appreciate his forwardness and expressive comments. It is quite unfortunate that he most misses human contact It's very sad for people to be lonely or have to live without a companion or partner.

[@snaaptaker]

Pick, picky, picky! What an amazing chap. I love him.☺

[@berlinzerberus]

;-)) ...yes!

[@peterchabanowich4544]

Superb! A great discovery for me - a player of pianos. Incredible I didn't encounter his name somewhen. Thank you for this presentation. His character is mercurial and diligent and very earthy, and it sings.

[@paulprocopolis]

Fascinating - and what a character! Charles Rosen relates in his book 'Piano Notes' that once when Mr C played at London's Royal Festival Hall, he chose the piano he wanted in five minutes, but spent twenty minutes trying out different stools. This film rather corroborates the story!

[@NOSEhow2LIV]

The principal tuner at the South Bank recounted that the backstage team were tearing their hair out at Shura's difficulty choosing the piano bench, in contrast to the instrument itself. Probably Shura was secretly amused, especially as he had no hair to tear out himself! Sure, a joke has key!

[@diaA1na53]

Can i even dare to dream about being a pianist when people like him exist..

[@stevenvanstadenvanstaden4317]

'One's rickety, one doesn't go high enough, the other doesn't go low enough - there's something wrong with ALL of them.' The stressful hassles of the concert life seem so very comical when heard after the event in Cherkassky's so amusing manner of complaint.

[@TJFNYC212]

I got to know him when I worked at the Hotel Pierre in NYC where he alway stayed when performing in the city. He was such an unpretentious and sweet man. I got to hear him in concerto and recital many times and spend time at the front desk talking music and pianists. It was he that introduced me to Martha Argerich...

[@strevwal]

Fascinating recollection, thank you.

[@NOSEhow2LIV]

Very entertaining and absolutely typical of his contradictory characteristics. The interviewer was talented, or maybe just lucky enough to get some coherent flow from Cherkassky, as he usually clammed up or spouted irrelevences to most journalists or even other musicians. Stephen Hough, in his writings, had a reasonable success at interviewing the uninterviewable and also wrote a touching and poetic hommage after his death. He would usually prefer to talk about anything but the music. I would never miss a concert of his and once, i made a freezing three-hour journey by motorbike to hear him; the concert organizer took me backstage to meet him whereupon Shura abandoned his admiring throng to come and discuss intensely all about motorbiking, accelerating, cornering and..... leather clothing(!). I was hugely embarrassed, but that's the way he was. I miss his weird musical magic terribly and would make more freezing, (or boiling) journeys to hear him again... Thanks for posting.

[@ADGO]

that's a wonderful story! :)

[@palmerplantagenet]

Those performances when Cherkassky was "on" - playing his best, I still mentally bow to his extraordinary kinship with the MUSE. If everything was 'gelling' for him, including Inspiration, Keats couldn't have recited his poetry any more effectively. At those relatively rare moments, I would 'swoon'. And during the time I was studying with Jakob Gimpel (around 1961 and '62), I heard about one of his visits to the Gimpel household - demonstrating his outlandish humor. (Cherkassky had come to Los Angeles to give a recital which was the first time I heard him 'live').

[@artje123]

Wow amazing guy! I love how's he's being himself in this interview, to me obviously a (closeted) gay guy, and it gets very personal and maybe a bit uncomfortable when the interviewer mentions him missing a ''partner'. He being picky about the chairs all is so funny! He seems such a nice guy.

[@voraciousreader3341]

I love what Cherkassky said about wunderkinds! He has a different manner, and his hand position on the keyboard is so unique….is this the reason Rachmaninov told Cherkassky to stop playing concerts for two years to fix it? I remember watching a film made of a very young Glenn Gould when he went to New York to make a recording and he was shown going to Steinway to choose a piano, which he also did for concerts….did the venue in Amsterdam really only give Cherkassky two piano choices?? That seems weird. Maybe that documentary film came to mind bc Gould’s hand position was also unique. This interview was given two years before Cherkassky’s death, which shows how totally in control of his faculties he was. What an amazing person and pianist!

[@pghagen]

Hahaha I really like this interview! Did not know about this, although i live in Amsterdam, and have been to this 1993 concert. There is one other short interview held in the Pulitzer hotel Amsterdam after the famous Prinsengracht concert. Have taped it from TV but have to check whether it is on Y.T.

[@piano345]

I've uploaded part of the Prinsengracht concert 1992 - Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I also heard him play Rachmaninoff third concerto in London.

[@jpage99999]

Starts at :55 seconds How he practiced . Incredible advice. Thank you!!

[@kaleidoscopio5]

Pianist life can be exciting, but also very lonely. You must love piano to forget about everything else.

[@kaleidoscopio5]

Anyone knows the name of the interviewer? She seems really pretty and has a beautiful voice. I think Shura have such great interview because he liked her as a interviewer.

[@rudolfpianos]

Ego as great as the playing

[@kaleidoscopio5]

Choose the right chair it can be so difficult as to choose a piano, as we can see here.

[@piano345]

I agree with you. Also the right clothes - not too tight, not too loose etc. Cherkassky had a set routine before a concert. He had to have a fresh toilet roll in the artist's room and a flask of tea. Also he had a set number of steps to the piano and counted a certain number of notes before beginning to play. Eccentric maybe, but it made him happy and his playing was fascinating and individual.

[@kino2229]

Please, someone knows what he plays at 5:42 ?

[@piano345]

Chopin Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor.

[@kino2229]

Thank you !

[@Janaceks_Dad]

I've never heard any of his playing before, but he certainly comes across as a bit of a diva...

[@ianhall3822]

Piano stool not high enough? Not so Shura. You're too short.

[@HermanIngram]

I hope he never harmed any children.

[@ianhall3822]

Piano stool not high enough? Not so Shura. You're too short.