I Really Should Be Practicing by Gary Graffman

by Gary Graffman

Tan board covers with black cloth covers. Owners embossed stamp on half title page. Dj with black cover and white spine. 8.25x5.75 with 350 pp including index. Gary Graffman, in one of the great performances of his career, "plays it as it lays," taking th

Genres: Music, Biography

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 7 in 1936 as a piano student of Isabelle Vengerova.

After graduating from Curtis in 1946, he made his professional solo debut with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. By the age of 20, Gary Graffman had made a name for himself worldwide as a classical pianist. In 1949, he won the prestigious Leventritt Competition. He then furthered his piano studies with Rudolf Serkin at the Marlboro Music Festival and informally with Vladimir Horowitz.

Over the next three decades, he toured and recorded extensively, performing solo and with orchestras around the globe. In 1964, he recorded Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. He also made a classic recording of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in 1966. It was reissued on CD as part of Sony Classical's "Great Performances" series in 2006.

Probably Graffman's most famous recorded performance was for the soundtrack of the 1979 Woody Allen movie Manhattan in which he played George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic. Portions of the Philharmonic/Graffman version have been featured countless times in TV and movies over the last quarter century.

In 1977, he sprained the ring finger of his right hand. Because of this injury he began re-fingering some passages for that hand in such a way as to avoid using the affected finger. Unfortunately, this altered technique exacerbated the injury rather than ameliorating it, ultimately forcing him to stop using his right hand altogether by around 1979.

This setback encouraged him to pursue other interests such as writing, photography, and Oriental art. In 1980, he joined the faculty at the Curtis Institute where his career had begun. He took over as the school's director in 1986, and added the title of President in 1995, serving in both capacities through May, 2006. He continues as a faculty member at Curtis teaching piano.

In 1985 he gave the UK premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Piano Concerto in C-sharp for the Left Hand. Paul Wittgenstein commissioned the work in the 1920s and played it many times, but it later slipped from the repertoire.[3]
Seven left-hand works have been commissioned for Graffman. In 1993, for example, he performed the world premiere of Ned Rorem's Piano Concerto No. 4, written specifically for the left hand, and in 2001 he premiered Daron Hagen's concerto Seven Last Words. The American composer William Bolcom composed Gaea, a concerto for two pianos, left hand for Graffman and Leon Fleisher. It received its first performance in Baltimore in April 1996.

Through his longstanding service and devotion to music, Graffman has received honorary doctoral degrees, was honored by the cities of Philadelphia and New York, and received the Governor's Arts Award by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Graffman remains active as a teacher and coach of piano and chamber music. His notable students include the piano virtuosos Lydia Artymiw, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, and Haochen Zhang.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting autobiography up to the time of writing in mid career.
I understand that career has been limited a bit by injury since this book came out and that at least one single handed concert work (Rorem's) has been composed as a result.

His accounts of working with Vengerova are most interesting. I especially enjoyed the moment when he got some back by playing Schumann as written rather than as her tradition dictated. Before starting with Vengerova he was rejected by Jose Iturbi, and based on what a teacher I knew thought about Iturbi as artist and technician, that might not have been so bad in retrospect. Artist with active career as teacher is often very problematic.

I appreciated his unromanticised overview of what it means to be or become a concert pianist as well as the trials of agents, travel and the mystery instruments on site in many cases. Whenever he could he got almost everyone's favorite Steinway (C-199 as I recall) sent out, until it finally was retired to a good home after becoming too tired for further road work.

He also recounts some real foot in mouth episodes. For example, his annoyance that a strange woman was using his piano at the Steinway center and his embarrassment when that woman turned out to be Guiomar Novaes.

Before this book I had not heard of Eugene Istomin, but Graffman describes him as an artist of top ability and top integrity who helped him face some of the central artistic issues of a career in classical music. Flashiness of career is more a matter of ambition, promotion and luck that a real measure of quality.

There is a discussion of compulsive practice vs sufficient highly focused practice. Graffman exemplified the former while the late Julius Katchen represented the latter. As described in this book, Katchen believed that most pianists (probably by extension, musicians in general) are not really concentrating well or using efficient methods while practicing and as a result substitute excessive "finger wiggling" for the really hard mental effort needed to get the work done and more efficiently, leaving more time to live outside the practice room. Graffman tended toward the security afforded by having literally done everything possible taking no chances with necessary and by Katchen's standards was a "finger-wiggler", and Graffman admits it if not defends it. Both had substantial careers, with Katchen's being cut short by premature death from cancer, and Graffman's by work related injury. Now, well after this book was written, it does raise the questions about overwork leading to a career ending injury, something that happens more often in music than most of the public are aware and professionals are willing to admit.

[Kiersten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost didn't want to give it five stars, because then people would think I was a piano nerd. Then I remembered that I am. I don't know that I have ever laughed more during a book. I loved his writing style, and so many of his stories were just so fun and applicable to my piano-life. If you're a pianist, I highly recommend it.

[JDK1962 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worthwhile read for the view of the life of a concert pianist (and the world) in the post-war era of the 1950s/60s/70s. Enjoyed the digression in Civil Rights politics and artistic boycotts, enjoyed less the digression into Chinese pottery.

[Zeke Sokoloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part autobiography, part funny anecdotes. A great read.

[Garret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and very funny memoir. Full of great anecdotes about the legends of classical music and of life on the concert tour.

[Analisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and fun. Didn't necessarily learn much about piano/teaching, but enjoyed his experiences.