Practises Through Night

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 14

Practises Through Night

For the American concert pianist, Mr Abbey Simon, practising was “a matter of desperation,” he said in Christchurch yesterday.

“It all depends on what has to be played at a particular time. Before concerts I always practise, but normally I have no set pattern of practising for a set number of hours a day. Some days I do nothing, on others I work extremely hard.” Very often, said Mr Simon, he liked to practise through the night “Often I have come in at midnight, had a nap far a couple of hours, and then gone to the piano and practised until 5 a.m. or 6 a.m.” Mr Simon describes himself as a not very adventurous pianist “I simply enjoy all sorts of music.” He has no favourite composer. “Most of the musicians of my generation and younger have not had time to specialise. You do not have Beethoven and Chopin specialists today. I think it is much more interesting when you don’t specialise.”

Mr Simon began playing the piano at the age of three

and took his first lesson at the age of six. He said he had always had a facility for music. “I am told I played my own compositions, written down by others, before I understood music.” Mr Simon can still write music easily. “I have no trouble composing, but unfortunately I’ve never found an Abbey Simon style. It always comes out like music composed by someone else.” Since he made his New York debut in 1947, Mr Simon has toured most countries, with the exception of those in the Soviet bloc. And this will be remedied in December when he begins a tour of Russia.

In New Zealand he will play a sonata which he commissioned an American composer to write specially for him. “The Ford Foundation has a special programme in which they ask established artists to commission works from established composers so that there is a constant addition to the repertoire of music. "Several years ago I received one of these Ford awards, and I commissioned

Anis Fuleihan to write a sonata. Three years ago I played it in New York for the first time. I will play it during my present tour of New Zealand.” Mr Simon said he adored the pianists, Rubinstein and Horowitz. "For me Mr Rubinstein is the most inspiring pianist I have ever heard and the one I’ve had the greatest pleasure knowing.” Asked what he thought of audiences, Mr Simon said he believed that the world was divided into those who loved music and who attended concerts, and those who didn’t. “The ones who do are the same the world over. There is no fundamental difference in audience reaction anywhere.” Mr Simon said he relaxed through travelling, reading and photography. “Travelling constantly, our hobbies are always limited by baggage weight. “I am also the world’s most frustrated tennis player,” he said, patting his expanding waistline. Mr Simon said that in about a year he would stop touring and take his first major vacation in four years. This evening he will appear in a concert with the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the noted Italian conductor, Alceo Galliera. Mr Simon last toured New Zealand in 1961. At the end of his present tour he will go to Australia for a concert tour lasting until July.