The Greatest Pianist

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 258, 28 July 1936, Page 11

The Greatest Pianist

Sir, —In the extremely interesting interview given by Sehor Carreras to vour representative, he made one statement which calls for immediate refutation, viz., “Busoni was the greatest pianist that ever lived.”

This assertion will not bear an instant’s ■' examination. The . greatest—immeasurably the greatest—pianist that the world has yet seen was, of course, Franz Liszt. Busoni himself said on one occasion: “I am well aware what a wide gulf separates Liszt from all other pianists.” Unquestionably. Busoni was a magnificent artist. but his executive powers were not superior to those of his celebrated contemporaries—D’Albert, Rosenthal, Siloti, Sauer, Sapellnikoflf, and Hofmann ; while none of these, in their turn, equalled Anton Rubinstein, who, by common consent, most nearly approached Liszt. And what said Rubinstein on the subject?: “If you think I am a pianist,” he once told an admirer, “you should hear Liszt; where I am but a common soldier, he is a field-marshal.” There are still living people who heard Liszt, including four of his most eminent pupils—Siloti, Rosenthal, Sauer and Frederic Lamond. The latter —who, by' the way, was also referred to by Senor Carreras —I met in London last year, and we had a long discussion about pianists in general, and Franz Liszt in particular. Lamond said that to hear Liszt in the last year of his life, in ISB6. when he was an old man of 75, was an experience never to be forgotten, for even at that advanced age he was a pianist the like of whom has never played since. What gave Liszt a special pre-eminence was his amazing power of sight-reading. Some slight idea of this may be gathered from well-authenticated instances of feats he performed—such as playing at first sight, in public, Schumann’s “Carnaval," Chopin’s first set of “Etudes, Wagner’s “Tannhauscr” Overture (from the full orchestral score in MS-l. and Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Grieg told Percy Grainger, who informed me, that, he called upon Liszt in Rome and showed him the concerto, which was still in the original orchestral sccra manuscript.. Liszt put the music on the piano, and, without the slightest hesitation or any semblance of inaccuracy, played it right through—not only the solo part, but the orchestral accompaniment also, wherever feasible! Of course, only musicians are able fully to appreciate such a tour de force: but quite apart from that, Liszt had a technique which even to-day would be deemed miraculous. The world is no* destined. probably ever again, to behold his eoual. —I am, etc.. q L. D. AUSTIN. Wellington, July 27.