The Music Box

Berne, March 20

Since Europe is still rather cut off from America as far as exchange of musical talent is concerned, it is a good time to indulge in a little crystal gazing about the Continent's younger artists, many of whom will attempt American tours during the next two or three years. Of the pianists in this category, perhaps the most important is Rumanian Dinn Lipatti, a former pupil of Cortot and Stravinsky, who is nearing thirty. Although he is a regular professor at the Conservatory of Geneva, Lipatti has been spreading his rapidly growing reputation by exhaustive tours of Europe. Already an excellent technician, his interpretation of Romantic and Modern music have often been hostilely received by critics. His Ravel, and even more strikingly, his Chopin have a neat, precise touch that makes them sound almost Classical to ears accustomed to the rather hyper-poetical treatment of many better known pianists, such as his former teacher. On the other hand, his beautiful feeling for the earlier composers. Bach, Scarlatti, and Mozart--has been widely and justifiably acclaimed. He is already under contract to Columbia to record the complete works of Chopin. Also in the arduous process of reputation building is the Italian Arturo Benedetti-Michaclangelo. Although well beneath the level of Lipatti, he is a fine pianist.

Two much younger pianists are just beginning but already show signs of great talent. Jean Helmatien Benda, a pupil of Edwin Fischer, although only in his mid-twenties, has an astounding technique. His only concert of this year in Geneva consisted of a well-planned and well-played program of Beethoven and Liszt. Far more astonishing is a 16-year-old Austrian, Friedrich Gulda, who won last fall's International Music Contest in Geneva hands down over 150 other pianists. He is still studying--and his technique shows it occasionally--but from the point of view of interpretation of a wide variety of composers, his three concerts were the best I have heard on the Continent. From a lyrically beautiful Bach, to a Schumann with just the right blend of Classicism and Romanticism, to a mystically impressionistic Debussy, he displayed an understanding and taste that was, especially for a boy of 16, really amazing.

Descending into the realm of will-they-last child prodigies, the sensation of the season, not only from a musical point of view, was the conducting of 9-year-old Pierrino Gamba, still clad in short pants. After a tour of his native Italy, he made brief appearances in Lagano and Zurich before going to France. He concentrates on a young man's program (Schubert 8th, Beethoven 1st) and although I had no chance to see or hear him, I was very reliably informed that he conducted it very well.