Music from Janina Fialkowska and Boris Giltburg

Dear Friends,

All the carryings-on that must take place to keep things humming at PPI headquarters in recent days have been, in a word, just a blur. All of it is good, but, golly, what my organist colleague Michael Kleinschmidt used to call “administrivia” can make one forget momentarily the evanescent beauty of the piano.

As I write this, I am looking forward to heading home tonight and spending a little time at my piano working on current projects – Prokofiev Seventh Sonata, Bach c-minor Toccata, Brahms Opus 116, Philip Glass Mad Rush – all things that are just a little bit too hard for me, but at 69 years old, why not strive for big goals? Too, I plan to listen to a couple of favorite recordings, not while cooking supper or having other distractions: Boris Giltburg on thunderous Rachmaninoff, Janina Fialkowska with silken Schubert and Faure, and, of course, beloved Angela Hewitt on Bach transcriptions.

Aren’t we lucky that we love the piano?! Yes, I meant to italicize love in that sentence. I get cranky too frequently about the endless background music with which we are constantly surrounded. I so want everyone to have more opportunities to really listen to real music and not be lulled and/or annoyed by music-as-wallpaper. I want all of us to get to return to live, in-person musical experiences. Without asking, I know that you, too, ache for the real stuff.

Happily, PPI will soon head back to the stage. I can hardly wait for Saturday afternoon, January 22nd, with Aristo Sham! I’ve been to the Symphony twice already this fall (the new acoustical system is astounding and thrilling) and one Friends of Chamber Music program (the dumbfounding Takacs Quartet) and have felt like a foundering man finally coming up for air! “Hunger is the best sauce” and real music, long longed for, is a Balm in Gilead.

Here are some favorite things that you might like to give a listen to if you, too, have had just about enough in recent days . . .

Janina Fialkowska - Schubert Impromptu in F minor, D. 935, No. 4

Boris Giltburg - Rachmaninoff Études-tableaux, Op. 39

Don’t forget, either, that we have splendid virtual “Rising Stars” recitals on November 14 and December 12.

Finally, I’d like you all to know that, with an astonishing founding gift from our long-time friend/subscriber/donor, Tom Mark, we have begun a mighty fine library about all things piano, right here in our new offices at 1137 SW Broadway. Come by and see us some time. The Caffe Umbria is right across the street and the coffee and bun will be on me!

All the best,
Bill C.