Everything about Jorge Bolet totally explained
Jorge Bolet (
November 15,
1914–
October 16,
1990) was a
Cuban
pianist,
conductor and teacher.
Life
Bolet was born in
Havana, Cuba and studied at the
Curtis Institute of Music in
Philadelphia, where he himself taught from 1939 to 1942. His teachers included
Leopold Godowsky,
Josef Hofmann,
David Saperton,
Moriz Rosenthal and
Fritz Reiner.
In 1942 Bolet joined the US Army and was sent to
Japan. While there, he conducted the Japanese premiere of
The Mikado.
In
1984, the
A&E Network broadcast a series of three programs entitled
Bolet Meets Rachmaninoff, in which the pianist was shown giving
masterclasses on
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff), or, as it's popularly known, "The Rach Third". This is followed on the series by a complete performance of Bolet playing the concerto.
The DECCA/London recording company contracted him in 1978, so that Bolet got his first major record contract at the age of 63. They made recordings of key sections of his repertoire from 1978 up to his death, but there are also tapes of many live concerts which can be found in archives, principally the International Piano Archive at Maryland. These include a speciality of his, which he studied with the composer himself: the J. Strauss/L.Godowsky
Fledermaus paraphrase.
Bolet's health began to decline in 1988, and in 1989 he underwent a brain operation from which he never fully recovered. He died from heart failure in October 1990, at his home in Mountain View, California.
Recordings
Bolet is particularly well remembered for his performances and recordings of large-scale
Romantic music, particularly works by
Franz Liszt and
Frederic Chopin. He also specialised in piano transcriptions and unusual repertoire, including the fiendishly difficult works of Godowsky, many of which Bolet had studied with the composer himself. In an interview given to Elyse Mach ("Great Contemporary Pianists Speak for Themselves"; Dover Books on Music), Jorge Bolet extensively mentioned the "Romantic Piano Concerto" by
Joseph Marx which was, according to Bolet's own words, his favorite among the great virtuoso concertos because of the enormous show of strength required from the soloist. Bolet recorded for the RCA, Everest, and Decca labels.
Instruments
Throughout his career, Bolet bucked the system endorsing and performing on Baldwin and C. Bechstein pianos worldwide. When others aligned with the Steinway piano, he chose to show a different approach and a unique broadly varied tone through the non-standard instruments. It is common knowledge that Bolet's best DECCA/London recordings were on the Baldwin SD-10 concert grand.
Some of the most celebrated, near the end of his career, were made with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (Orchestre symphonique de Montréal). Most pianophiles agree that the most perfect piano sound and tone (through masterful piano technical preparation) was the last DECCA/London solo piano recording of
Debussy.
Further Information
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