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For me it would have to be hearing Stephen Hough play Rachmaninoff's 1st piano concerto with the St. Louis Symphony when I was young. I remember hearing him play the piece in a dress rehearsal and being blown away, but the concert was just a completely different level. Most notably, I remember the 1st movement cadenza being utterly monumental. I heard the piano make sounds that I had never heard before, both thunderous and delicate.
This is when I realized that as much as I loved the great recordings of the past, LIVE music was just a different experience entirely, and that is what I wanted to pursue in my life!
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Dominic Cheli
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Dominic Cheli A concert many years ago by Radu Lupu, may he rest in Peace, was memorable and influential. I'll never forget his entire demeanor and body language before he began playing the piano. It was nonchalant. Relaxed. Quiet. When his hands arose from his sides and touched the keys - - the hall filled with vibrant music. He made the piano and the hall come alive!
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Dominic Cheli during the 12 years that I lived in St. Louis, I often benefited from Stephen Hough's artistic relationship with the STL Symphony - mostly listening to radio broadcasts, but I did hear him live a couple of times, too. The last concert I remember attending was with him playing Rachmaninov's 3rd - a little too fast for my taste, especially in the first movement, but overall an incredibly high-octane performance generating one adrenaline rush after another.
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In highschool, watching my teacher perform Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto with the orchestra was a pretty incredible experience! I was so blown away!
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Rachel Doornink I went to go see Di Wu play this in 2010 with the NJSO and I got such intense chills I thought I might pass out. I have since seen it a few other times but this particular performance was just something else.
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2022 Vivace International Music Festival at Wilmington, NC. Mr. Alexander Kobrin’s solo recital. His control of the colors and layers of dynamics were so amazing!! I felt like the way I listen to music was completely changed by his magical performance!
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When I turned 40, I treated myself to a performance of my favorite piano concerto, Mozart’s piano concerto #25 in C Major at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Garrick Ohlsson was playing the piano and it was magnificent. The triumphant first and third movements were stellar. The slower second movement sublime. Garrick played each note with precision and power. It was an evening to remember.
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Don Calvert I hope i can get to see him play one day!
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When I first saw the movie, the Shawshank Redemption, I was very moved by the movie and the soundtrack. I found myself stuck in my seat as the closing credits rolled. It was one of the few movie experiences that impacted me like that and remains a favorite movie, in part, because of the score.
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Watching Vladimir Horowitz’s return to Russia concert on tv in the ‘80s. Besides the amazing playing, I was affected by the reaction of the audience and also my dad telling me that the concert grand was flown in from the US (the moment Steinway was added to my vocabulary and dreams).
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When I was a Jr. at San Francisco State University in 1967 I attended a concert in Oakland of Stravinsky's Requiem, the Premiere, I believe. It was unbelieveable and truly a work of a composer with deep thoughts of his own demise. He was there, and after the performance, brought out for a bow by Robert Craft, at the end of the performance. Still remember the feeling of being near the end of one's life, as I now am.
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For me the concert would be Andras Schiff performing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The first movement sounded completely different than what I expected; yet it sounded "authentic" in Beethoven's style. It led me to look up how he achieve the effect (he explained in his lecture) and re-discover my love for the piano (I stopped playing for years after graduating from college).
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When I was six, I attended a concert with Svyatoslav Richter playing. After the concert, my Dad took me backstage to meet him in person. In front of Richter, my Dad asked me if I will play as well when I grow up, and I said that I will play better. Richter found it to be amusing thankfully. This was the one and only in-person performance of his I attended. His playing became my North Star.
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Hi Tonebase fans,
When I was in graduate school at USC in Los Angeles, Arturo Benedetto Michaelangeli came to UCLA to give a concert. I remember it vividly to this day more than any other concert I ever attended. He made us wait almost an hour before appearing on stage. He had the bearing of royalty, with flowing red/brownish hair. He completely ignored the audience at his entrance. And then he proceeded to play Debussy's Gradus ad Parnassum as if he were, indeed, ascending stairs to heaven. The transparency, beauty and purity of his sound was something I doubt anyone in attendance had ever heard. I liken it to someone throwing a handfull of the most beautiful diamonds on a table, each one glistening with a piercing light. It was astonishing. He then proceeded to play a Beethoven Sonata in C, Chopin Sonata in B Flat Minor, some Scarlatti and the Chopin F Minor Fantasy. I have never heard or witnessed anything like it since.
While holding his left pinky in his ear, he exited the stage showing obvious disdain for the audience, acknowledging, even in the slightest way, the thunderous, continuous response he received.
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I lived in Chicago for almost 40 years and was fortunate to attend many amazing concerts but one sticks out: St. Mathew’s Passion with CSO, conducted by Peter Schreier. With the opening chorus we had taken flight.
As to piano, Igor Levit playing The People United Will Never Be Defeated is one I will never forget.
Oh how I would have like to see Richter!thanks for asking!.
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Grigory Sokolov. Listening him in Brescia (Italy) just woke up the pianist in me that was sleeping for a long time….
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Ithzak Perlemann doing a recital for violin and Piano at Susquehanna University on April 19, 2023. He had the audience in the palm of his hand on many levels.
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The first event I remember - my first grade piano teacher played the piano for us. I believe it was the only classroom piano in the entire school and since we had no music at home it was quite eye (and ear) opening. That experience began my lifelong passion for music and the piano. Others I recall: Jeremy Denk performing the Beethoven 4th concerto (his total enjoyment in his playing was inspirational); and Hillary Hahn performing the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra last year - but even more inspiring was her encore of the Andante from Bach's 2nd Sonata. Absolutely gorgeous, totally mesmerizing and unforgettable.
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It's a little bit self indulgant but when I turned 40 I put on a birthday concert. My little choir and two special singers (Soprano and Tenor). I was so nervous putting on something this big and playing for a professional singer. I accompanied the Tenor who chose Ev'ry Valley straight into Comfort Ye from Messiah, so condencesed orchestral scores. In the second half was Mozart Horn Concerto (Flanders and Swann paradoy) followed by Bendicitus (Mass in B minor - Bach) and to top it off a Soprano/Tenor duet of Panis Angelicus. This was interspersed by the choir (me singing Tenor) doing some pieces that included If ye love me - Tallis.
Granted most of this was done on my primary instrument, the pipe organ, but it made me realise that planning meaningful practice you can achieve anything. It's something that will stay with me forever. I also raised £750 on the night for charity, which was really overwhelming.
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Adrian Earnshaw do you have a video on youtube?
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I went to hear the Louisiana Phil play Dvorak's New World Symphony. I had heard it performed previously but this time it blew my mind. I reconized so many American sounds (combined with masterful European Romanticism). Sounds that we may take for granted today. Watch any old western movie and you will find a New World influence. Dvorak's 'vacation' in America was a pivotal moment in American music. Interesting that 'he learned' so many different and new genres. Such as Appalachian folk, sprituals and native american sounds. You can hear the purple mountains majesty, the rapids, the long nights and big skies. The Indians drumming and the antelopes playing. That's all.
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Definitely Radu Lupu while performing Mozart 23rd concerto in A Major. I was impressed by his calm and relaxed attitude sitting in front of the piano and yet the projection of the sound was just from another world. Each note was so clear and profound that it made me cry, especially during the second movement. Just pure emotion. I will regret this fantastic pianist so much and I'm grateful that I've could at least once in my life had the chance to hear his playing live.
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I have been fortunate to experience many live performances that shook me to the core, whether or not they featured the piano. But two standouts from when I was younger and lived in New York City:
1. Leon Fleisher playing Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand, with David Robertson conducting. This piece has been very close to my heart since I was a teenager, and to see and hear the legendary left-hand pianist of our generation performing it was a kind of miracle.
2. Also at Carnegie Hall, Pierre Boulez lecturing on and then performing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the London Symphony Orchestra. Another piece that entered my life when I was 12 or 13, thanks to a school music teacher (I hadn't even heard of who Stravinsky was prior to that time). The link to history was palpable and the performance was scintillating.
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40 years ago, I saw Alicia de Larrocha in concert. In the middle of her Bach, she had a memory slip. I will never forget her grace—
she quietly apologized to the audience, paused for 10 seconds, and continued on. In that moment, I understood that even the very best performers occasionally have a slip. She didn’t let that define her. She went on to play a beautiful concert. This experience greatly impacted me both as a teacher and performer and often tell my students about it.
