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| Home | Conversations Backstage with Garrick Ohlsson Nearly a quarter century ago, pianist Garrick Ohlsson started winning gold medals; first the Busoni Competition in Italy in 1966, then the Montreal Competition in Canada in 1968, and finally and most importantly the Chopin Competition in Poland in 1970. Over the years, the promise of such auspicious be- ginning was fulfilled and Garrick Ohlsson is now recognized world-wide as a grand master of the piano. He appears regularly both as recitalist and orchestra soloist in all the great concert halls on four continents. Piano Technicians Journal contributor Rick Baldassin spoke with him in January 1989: Because you are traveling so much, each place you play you see a different piano. what sort of adjustment is that? Is it a difficult thing to ad- just from instrument to instrument, hall to hall? Ohlsson: I would say that sure, it is difficult in a certain way, but a pianist who has played as much as me, in as many different places, must be extraordinarily flexible and must adjust quickly. So it 's part of the whole concertizing experience. Ohlsson: It is part of what I do normally. If I could spend two weeks in a hall with a piano and a good piano technician, I could get very used to it and it could get used to me, and we could have a lot of fun. But you do have to adjust quicker. I mean, there is no such thing as the perfect situation, or the perfect piano, either. Some of my colleagues want a piano to sound a certain way or to feel a certain way. Of course, I have my ideas about that, but basically, if you come into a town for a few days, you really can't make a piano over, even if people are willing, which they are usually not, and they shouldn't be; So it is also part of my job to get adjusted as fast as possible - how loud will it play, how soft will it play, how fast or slow, and see what it will do, to take measure of the instrument which you use, because the instrument is a tool, after all, to play music on, and you have to do the best you can, with all the givens. Nevertheless, if the instrument frustrates you, of course it is very difficult. Unquestionably. It certainly is, in a way, difficult to change from instrument to instrument, but on the other hand, pianos are really relatively uniform these days. I'm not talking about quality, but they are intended to be relatively uniform (in touch), so they are within a certain range. By now, I've played hundreds and hundreds of pianos, so I know what the range of possibilities would be. When I was a young pianist, it was much more difficult. 18.htm |