Nadine: May 2009

It has been a great week and I intend to publish many new posts.

First, this one, about music, because Bruce has been listening to alot of music. Romantic Music. I know, he IS such a romantic. Isn't he?

Specifically, he has been listenting to the The grandfather of a friend of his on Twitter:

Jerold Frederic's extraordinary career began at the grass roots level, playing in colleges and universities across the United States where he accomplished a record 257 engagements in his first three seasons under the management of Harry Culbertson. So remarkable was his success that Alexander Greiner, artist director for Steinway and Sons, said in the Steinway News, "Frederic's rise and extensive concertizing throughout the United States, accomplished as it was without preliminary debut in New York or Europe, presents an achievement without precedent in the history of the field".

In his early years he was fortunate to have contact with Moritz Rosenthal, Ignace Paderewski and Sigismond Stojowski. These remarkable pianists represented a tradition of playing that is all but lost today - a tradition that began with Franz Liszt and Anton Rubenstein. The printed note was used only as an entrance to a language in sound where everything is completely subservient to the nature of the thought. Harold Schonberg in the NY Times on 10/19/69 noted "...there is a dreadful uniformity today, and also an appalling lack of knowledge about the culture and performance traditions of the past". Frederic's playing has provided us with a new link to these great traditions.

Every few years Steinway provided him with his own concert grand which he would choose at their factory in Queens, NY from among a large number of these hand-crafted and very individual instruments. Most musicians would prefer to have their own instrument when they perform, but the nine foot long, 1000 pound Steinway presented a difficult logistical problem. Frederic solved that by designing a piano trailer that went with him wherever he traveled - even on his numerous trips abroad.

He has remained a Steinway Artist throughout his career and is one of the signatories on their distinctive 500,000th piano that was exhibited in Carnegie Hall and around the country.

Frederic's uncompromising approach to his art is one of the elements that has made him a great communicative artist and the present selections will allow his listeners to experience what is truly a language in sound.

Wow. I think everyone should hear the musical interpretations of Jerold Frederic.