In Thursday’s (3/26) Wall Street Journal, David Mermelstein writes, “To hear the pianist Murray Perahia in recital is to commune with one of music’s high priests. So audiences typically savor his legendary concentration and unassailable technique in hushed form—granting him a degree of respect not always afforded other, equally famous, artists. Certainly that was the case last week at Zellerbach Hall [in Berkeley, California], when Mr. Perahia began an American tour that continues in Kalamazoo, Mich., tonight and Boston on Sunday before concluding at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday. The appearances mark the pianist’s triumph over a recurring finger problem that last spring scuttled a tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Mr. Perahia, age 61, is sharing the spotlight with no one this time save Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart, composers especially dear to him.” Perahia talks about his love of Brahms, how Bach got him through his finger difficulties, his studies with Vladimir Horowitz, and the importance of connecting with the audience. “It’s not just something you can do in your studio,” he said. “Communication is a very strong part of art. And to get it, one needs to play it, to live it.”
Posted March 26, 2009
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