Tamas Vasary

[verismissimo]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view? Or it it just me?

Listened to his superb recording of the Liszt piano concertos this morning (Bamberg SO/Prohaska from 1960).

He's not yet seventy!

[salymap]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view? Or it it just me?

Listened to his superb recording of the Liszt piano concertos this morning (Bamberg SO/Prohaska from 1960).

He's not yet seventy!

Excuse me but just below is a thread querying the very same thing. 'Ageism in classical music.'

[amateur51]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view? Or it it just me?

Listened to his superb recording of the Liszt piano concertos this morning (Bamberg SO/Prohaska from 1960).

He's not yet seventy!

Tamas Vasary is 78 (born 11 August 1933)

[Nick Armstrong]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view? Or it it just me?

Listened to his superb recording of the Liszt piano concertos this morning (Bamberg SO/Prohaska from 1960).

He's not yet seventy!

Verismissimo and saly - first of all, he was 70 in 2003....! he's just turned 78.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, TV happens to be my upstairs neighbour. He is though very rarely there, as most of his music making is indeed abroad, not least Budapest.

Funnily enough, he arrived back last night and the distant tinkling of his practising was audible until gone 11 and again at 7.30 this morning... so his work rate remains high. He must have a concert somewhere near this weekend.

Talking of which, someone on another thread had a question for me to ask him, can't remember what it was now... Anyone? About a recording with the Berlin PO I think....


EDIT: Amateur "Quick on the draw" 51 was in there already....

EDIT2: Ammy: no jokes about my use of the word 'tinkling' please....

[Stanfordian]

Yes, the question was from me. I wanted you to ask him where in Berlin he recorded the 2 Chopin piano concertos that he made with Berlin Philharmonic. The conductor of the first concerto was Jerzy Semkov in 1963 and the second was Janos Kulka in 1965. We seem to think it might have been the Jesus Christ in Berlin Dahlem. It would be great if you could ask him.

[amateur51]

Verismissimo and saly - first of all, he was 70 in 2003....! he's just turned 78.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, TV happens to be my upstairs neighbour. He is though very rarely there, as most of his music making is indeed abroad, not least Budapest.

Funnily enough, he arrived back last night and the distant tinkling of his practising was audible until gone 11 and again at 7.30 this morning... so his work rate remains high. He must have a concert somewhere near this weekend.

Talking of which, someone on another thread had a question for me to ask him, can't remember what it was now... Anyone? About a recording with the Berlin PO I think....


EDIT: Amateur "Quick on the draw" 51 was in there already....

EDIT2: Ammy: no jokes about my use of the word 'tinkling' please....

All this musicality AND sharing a splendid bottle into the wee small hours with your chum, what an evening Caliban!

I'm assuming that this was all undertaken in the spirit of today's being Poets's Day?

[Nick Armstrong]

All this musicality AND sharing a splendid bottle into the wee small hours with your chum, what an evening Caliban!

I'm assuming that this was all undertaken in the spirit of today's being Poets's Day?

I am just waiting for the right moment to slope off

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes, the question was from me. I wanted you to ask him where in Berlin he recorded the 2 Chopin piano concertos that he made with Berlin Philharmonic. The conductor of the first concerto was Jerzy Semkov in 1963 and the second was Janos Kulka in 1965. We seem to think it might have been the Jesus Christ in Berlin Dahlem. It would be great if you could ask him.

[amateur51]

I am just waiting for the right moment to slope off

Off to Barchester Towers with you, Obadiah

[verismissimo]

Wonderful posts from Caliban. Thanks.

And shame that I can't count. Still, 78. Young!

[Nick Armstrong]

I remember clearly the day he and his wife Henriett moved in. Their flat had been empty for weeks, having previously belonged to a lovely French lady who'd become a friend, who was very quiet... Blissful, as one is always at the mercy of neighbours in London flats...

Then one Monday about 10 years ago probably, I got home from work and vaguely heard energetically played piano coming through the ceiling... My heart sank - oh Lord, noisy new neighbours, gone are the days of peaceful music-listening...

Then I stopped and listened... I remember thinking "Oo - that's actually rather good..."

I thought I'd give it till around 10pm and if it was still going on, go up and say hello and that I'd appreciate the piano playing not going on too long in the evening.

But around 9pm it stopped, and I heard footsteps coming down and a tap at the door. I opened it to this slight, smiling gentleman with bright grey-blue eyes... "Oh good evening, my name is Vasary" - my reply was: "I know exactly who you are", as I recognised him instantly from the free glossy DG catalogues I used to pore over in the 70s, and from the photo in one of the first ever cassettes I ever bought: the Dutoit/LSO "Petrushka".

Since then, he only practices in the evening when leading up to a concert, and then only on rare visits to London - and as you might imagine, I am only too pleased to hear Chopin or Rachmaninov drifting through the rafters. Repeat practising of the more percussive bits of Bartok or Liszt can lead to the telly being turned up though

[Barbirollians]

I have just been listening to his Rachmaninov 2 and 4 - the former very satisfying - the latter up there with the Michelangeli but more romantic and indeed perhaps now my favourite in this work - great work by the LSO and Ahronovitch too and available very cheaply

[ardcarp]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view?

Doesn't he do a fair bit of conducting these days? Many a fine performer is lured by the baton. Much easier to hide slips when wielding one!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Doesn't he do a fair bit of conducting these days?

I don't know about "these days", but in the '70s he was Music Director of the Northern Sinfonia, and held a similar position with the late-lamented Bournemouth Sinfonietta.

Many a fine performer is lured by the baton. Much easier to hide slips when wielding one!

How do you know he wears one?

[Nick Armstrong]

I wonder why he's rather faded from view?

Doesn't he do a fair bit of conducting these days? Many a fine performer is lured by the baton. Much easier to hide slips when wielding one!

Very rarely in W. Europe these days. I think a lot of his work is now closer to home in Hungary (he's 82 now!) and in the Far East...

https://www.mupa.hu/en/program/tamas-vasary-and-the-franz-liszt-chamber-orchestra-2015-03-14_17-00-bela-bartok-national-concert-hall

He features here, from last month: http://www.euronews.com/2015/10/27/m...-page-turners/