NOTES

After years away from the piano, and some gentle prodding from Richard Rodzinski, I entered the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, held in Fort Worth in June, 1999. The format was three rounds (preliminary:10 mins, semifinal:20 mins, finals:30 mins), and contestants were asked to choose their own repertoire (pieces could be repeated across rounds).  My program was:

Bach-Liszt: the great fantasy & fugue in g minor

 

Bolcom: two ghost rags
Liszt: Mephisto waltz

 

Chopin: Sonata in b minor

When the moment of truth came, I found I was the 97th person to play, and most of the opening repertoire had been pretty tame (over a dozen Chopin ballades, lots of Beethoven, etc).  So rather than play the whole Bach fantasy & fugue, which might have left everyone feeling like they had just spent 10 minutes in a Lutheran church, I decided to drop the fugue and use a piece from my second round, the Bolcom Graceful Ghost rag.  My daring tactic worked perfectly: I was critically acclaimed in the Dallas/FtWorth papers, received a wonderful ovation, and the jury bounced me out of the competition!  The eventual winner was Joel Holoubek, a French coin dealer, who played Liszt's Funerailles, Ravel's Ondine, and the finale from Dutilleux's sonata.  Holoubek played wonderfully, and had exceptional, sensual charisma.

Michael Hawley
mike@media.mit.edu