There are several live recordings of Holshovsky in the BBCL series, and I received 4 (there should be only four) and took turns listening to them, the favorite of which was the following one. Of course, the other 3 photos are also worth listening to.
BBC live recordings
The most famous "highlights" of the pianist are two – one is his longevity and the length of his artistic career. Second, it is his illustrious teacher.
He was born in 1892 (born in present-day Ukraine) and died in 1993, at the age of 101. And the length of his playing career may be a world record — he first appeared on stage when he was less than 10 years old in 1901 (he was a child prodigy), playing and recording until he was nearly 100 years old in 1991, that is, his playing career lasted 90 years, unmatched. For ordinary people, it is already a blessing to live to be 90 years old.
Pictured below is Holszovsky as a child prodigy. Notice that its expression is very "mature", like a small adult. He played the piano to Sansantha and Frey as a teenager. People who have such "qualifications" and live back into the 1990s, except that he has no second.
Holshovsky as a child prodigy
The four CDs in the BBCL series are from his solo concerts in the 1980s, one of which was from 1990. That is to say, until the 1980s (more than 90s), he was still active on the performance stage and gave solo concerts. This is an extremely rare phenomenon.
As for the illustrious teacher, it means that he was one of the students of a generation of piano teaching masters Lesheitsky. Leshettitsky, who had studied from Beethoven's student Cherny, was the most brilliant piano teacher on earth in the second half of the 19th century, teaching Master Pianists such as Padrevsky, Friedman, Schnabel, Jesipova (prokofiev and Eugena's piano teacher), Moisevich and other masters. Holshovsky was also listed among his famous students. He was also the only one of Lesher's disciples to live into the age of digital recording. The rest of the masters are almost all characters from the mono period.
It should be said that Holshovsky is not a brilliant star soloist. Even in his prime, he was never included in the list of piano stars. He has an introverted personality, does not like to waver, prefers chamber music, has a long-term cooperation with a generation of cellist master Casals, and left many chamber music records (such as the following one).
Holshovsky and Casals
In his later years, however, he reduced the weight of chamber music and engaged more in Concertal (recitals) and left some solo recordings. I suspect that maybe I didn't find the right chamber music partner. In terms of his generation, it is true that it is difficult to find a chamber music partner. By the time the calendar turned to the 1980s, the living pianists were among the highest and unmatched — Leshetitsky's only living student, Beethoven's fourth generation, and all the pianists on earth were his juniors.
Judging from these 4 BBC scenes in the 1980s, Lao Huo's energy and artistic vitality are really amazing. One of the recitals in London on 21 June 1990, which was fully recorded in 78 minutes, was a miracle for a 98-year-old man.
Of course, at this age, we can all understand, mainly listening to the "taste", not listening to the "quality". It must be "taste chicken" rather than "quality chicken". Maybe his fingers aren't sharp enough, sometimes they're not clear enough, maybe sometimes they have more pedals, but these performances are still very listening. In particular, some of his renditions of Bach, Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven, as well as a recording of Frank's "prelude, hymn, and fugue," can be included in the so-called "divine qualities."
In the old age, the biological clock will slow down, and the overall speed of the performance will slow down, but Lao Huo's performance in his later years is soft and pure in pronunciation (but also rich in layered changes), and the interpretation is generous and peaceful, revealing a pure artistic atmosphere. The music skims out all external effects and becomes pure and simple. At the same time, Lao Huo's interpretation is still full of vitality, not the chanting of an old monk, but a sensitive artist, after an incomparably rich experience, telling us about his understanding of music, and expressing the ups and downs and rhythms of music in an extremely natural and stretched manner.
I also don't want to use fantasy adjectives to describe Lao Huo's playing. "Deification" is meaningless. Nor do I find his interpretation of each work successful and convincing. However, as far as the repertoire he chose and focused on— Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, etc.— it can be said that his interpretation is worth listening to, even if there are occasional technical mistakes, the overall failure is not successful, and the purity of the deduction has reached a considerable level.
My relative favorite is the one numbered BBCL4230-2. The recordings are from two concerts in Edinburgh. The elder Played a "Prelude" by his old friend Casals, Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 3 and 2 Mazurca, Mozart's Piano Sonata (K332), Bach's "Pipe Organ Prelude and Fugue" by Liszt, Mendelsohn's "Song of the Spinning Wheel", and 2 small pieces by Brazilian composer Vera Radish. It can be said that the interpretation on this disc is worth listening to, there is no cold field, no failure.
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