Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
The Shostakovich Prelude certainly jolts the audience (and the judges) from the very beginning that he is not some slender delicate British pianist but one that can be as Russian as any vodka can be. You can hear the distinct 'voices' and occasionally one wonders if there are actually two pianists playing on two different pianos at the same time.
P.S. The audience's clothing reminds me of Mr Brown and his students in Mind Your Language.
Edit: Just realized it says this is the winners' concert. The winners certainly played a lot of pieces in the winner's concert in 1978 compared to now where each pianist only play one piece.
I well remember his playing, because he made many live broadcast performances for BBC Radio 3 (some of which were subsequently put on CD by Chandos after his death), and I heard most of them, though I never saw him play live.
What struck me then was his nervous tension and his highly-strung performances as well as his fearless virtuosity. Many commentators thought that he would relax a little as he grew older, and tone down some of his high-tensile interpretations (though in fact, that was part of his appeal for me). I don't know whether any of the critics knew about his mental torment - I certainly didn't, until after his death.
I don't know whether any of the critics knew about his mental torment - I certainly didn't, until after his death.
I wasn't alive at the time, but I heard/read that it was a great shock to many, because in public he always seemed to be really happy, confident, and engaged.
