Four musical anecdotes

By Tony Magee

George Gershwin. (Photo courtesy Naxos records)

1. George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel sat down to coffee one day.

Gershwin asked Ravel if he would give him lessons in orchestrating.

“You’re very popular in the United States aren’t you.” said Ravel

Oh yes, they love me there.” replied Gershwin.

“How much money would you earn in a year?” queried Ravel.

“Oh, about $200,000.” said Gershwin.

“In that case, you give me lessons.” said Ravel.

Joseph Hoffman. (Photo courtesy Grammophone)

2. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Joseph Hoffman were chatting in a cafe one day.

Hoffman posed a question: “Sergei, who do you think the really great pianists of our time are?

Rachmaninoff’s response was brief and to the point: “Well Joseph, there’s you, and there’s me.”

Oscar Peterson. (Photo courtesy Discogs)

3. Oscar Peterson was taken to a nightclub to meet the owner and be considered for engagement as a house pianist there.

Art Tatum was playing that night. Peterson was marvelling at what he was doing. 

Tatum was missing about 7 notes right in the middle section of the piano - they just didn’t function at all - as well as it being badly out of tune.

Tatum finished his set and joined Peterson and the club owner at the table and said. “Now look, you’ve got this young pianist coming to play here that I think it talented. Okay, so you’ve got me playing that monster up there, but seriously, why don’t you get him a decent instrument.”

Are you kidding me? said the club owner. “I just had that thing painted last week!”

Sviatoslav Richter. (Photo courtesy Classical KC)

4. Yamaha’s classical piano endorsee for many years in Australia was British pianist Mark Gasser. I had the pleasure of meeting Mark on several occasions and admired his playing very much. He had previously been a student of Alfred Brendel.

Mark was offered the opportunity of a private master-class with the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

Mark arrived at the class and went in. Richter was seated in a chair and simply asked, “Have you seen the movie Batman?”

“Yes Maestro I have,” replied Mark.

“I mean the one where Jack Nicholson plays Joker. I want to see Nicholson play Joker. I think he will be very good.”

“Yes, that’s the one I’ve seen,” said Mark.

“Excellent” remarked Richter. “You will take me to the cinema now to see Batman.”

“But Maestro, what about my master-class?” queried Mark

“Ahh, fuck the master-class.” said Richter. “I give you that tomorrow. For now, Batman please!”