Child Prodiges
June 20th, 2008 by Pete
When Andre Previn was a very young pianist and a whiz-kid in Hollywood, there was a suggestion that he should give a performance of the Gershwin Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra conducted by the formidable Hungarian exile, George Szell. But Szell was not so sure. So Previn flew to Cleveland to convince him and was ushered into Szell’s apartment.
The conductor glowered at him across the table and said, “Mr Previn would you be so kind as to play the solo part for me.” Andre Previn replied, “Certainly … but where is the piano?” Szell said, “There is no need for the piano — just play it here on the top of the table.” So Previn set to and fingered the entire solo part of the Gershwin piano concerto on the table while Szell watched fascinated.
At the end there was a pause, and Szell said: “No, no, very sorry, long journey, waste of time, very sad, no.”
Andre Previn paused for a moment and then said, “I can only tell you it sounds a lot better on my table at home.”
Now listen to another prodigy, Nathan (cellist, age 11) gracefully commenting on Saint Saens’ “The Swan” … beautiful!
This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Our World, Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.