FRIEDMAN PIANO RECITAL

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 47, 19 November 1941, Page 10

FRIEDMAN PIANO RECITAL

While the Sultan Abdul-Hamid was still reigning, Ignaz Friedman, who chanced to be in Constantinople, was invited to play for him at the famous Yildiz-Kiosk Palace, where —like King Ludwig II of Bavaria—the ruler had his own private and personal theatre, and where artists of distinction who chanced to be in his capital were often invited to play for him. The ladies of the harem were not debarred from participating in the musical enjoyment, but listened from behind galleries screened from observation by gilded lattice-work. When an artist's playing or singing especially pleased the Sultan he was not slow to express his appreciation. Thus AbdulHamid, when Friedman was led to the imperial box where he sat surrounded by a group of pashas and high dignitaries in brilliant uniforms, said to the pianist: "Tell me, is it not difficult to play tlie piano as well as you do?” “Your Majesty,” replied Friedman, "1 am convinced that it is much easier (han ruling the Orient.” The Sultan, with a goodhuirtoured sigh, said m reply' “Perhaps you are right !" This anecdote sums up the personality of the great pianist, who. with, his almost fabulous technique, his exceptional interpretative gifts, his undoubted talents as a composer, his perfect poise and his commanding knowledge of affairs, must, be counted among the world's greatest figures.

Friedman will give a public recital in the Wellington Town Hall on November