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Leon Fleisher and Katherine Jacobson will pres-ent an evening concert at the 2017 MTNA National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, Fleisher will serve as clinician for the advanced piano master class during the con-ference. (See pages 30 and 31 for information.) James Litzelman, MTNA member and the AMT

Editorial Committee chair, recently had the opportunity to ask them about their careers and future music plans.

James Litzelman (JL): We’re delighted that the two of you will be performing a four-hand recital at our confer-ence this March! How often do you perform together?

Leon Fleisher (LF): We perform together rather fre-quently, actually—at least a dozen times each year.

Katherine Jacobson (KJ): Leon and I are very much looking forward to playing a recital for MTNA in March. For the past several years, we have performed hundreds of duo-piano concerts around the world including Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Library of Congress, Tokyo, Beijing and Brussels—on the very same stage that Leon won the Queen Elizabeth Competition!

JL: Do you focus mostly on 4-hand repertoire, or two-piano or concerto?

LF: Four-hand repertoire, mostly. There’s some really beautiful music there.

KJ: Yes, our recitals have focused on the four-hand piano repertoire. We have enjoyed performing and recording the Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 242 for Sony, and we have also played it several times in its original version for

Leon Fleisher And KAtherine JAcobson

The Waltz Of One Piano, Four Hands

James Litzelman, NCTM, teach-es piano and piano pedagogy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and is an inde-pendent piano teacher in Arlington, Virginia. He currently chairs the AMT Editorial Committee, and is past pres-ident of the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association.

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three pianos, most recently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia with Alon Goldstein.

JL: Ms. Jacobson, one of the first questions that our readers might want to know is “What is it like to collab-orate with Leon Fleisher?”

KJ: It is invariably an intense experience due to the mag-netic force of Leon’s musical vision. He has a powerful way of drawing his collaborators inside that world. I have been affected by that. Leon is a big proponent of the idea that the performer is there solely for the music and the performer’s ego should not be part of the equation. He often likens the performer to being a vessel through which the music pours.

JL: Mr. Fleisher, I wonder how Artur Schnabel may have impacted you in this regard. You began your stud-ies with him at age 9, studying with him for almost 10 years. Could you speak about what it was like to study with a man such as Schnabel? Although you were a prod-igy, you were only 9, so I wonder how much you were able to absorb from him at that young age.

LF: Schnabel was presented with the possibility of teaching me by two conductors—the then conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Pierre Monteux and Alfred Hertz, who was Monteux’s predecessor. At the behest of President Roosevelt, Hertz started a WPA (Works Progress Administration) orchestra because so many musicians were out of work at the time. Hertz and his orchestra played a number of school concerts, and he had heard of me and invited me to play with him.

Whenever Schnabel came out to the west coast, he always had dinner at the Hertz’s. The Hertz’s recommended me to Schnabel, but he very politely turned me down—just on principle, simply because of my age. Up to that point, the youngest student he had ever accepted was 16. Another reason he declined was because of language. Schnabel spoke very often in abstraction, and he wasn’t sure that a 9-year-old could understand all of the imagery he used in his teaching. That winter, when I was 9, Schnabel came out to play a concert, and as usual, he had dinner with the Hertz’s. While they were dining, Mrs. Hertz snuck me into the house through the basement and had me sitting at the

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Leon Fleisher And Katherine Jacobson

piano when the dining room doors opened after dinner and well…there I was. Poor Schnabel was trapped! But being the gentleman he was, he proceeded to listen to me, and I remember very clearly I played some Liszt for him—the Sonetto 123 and the Beethoven Cadenza to the B-flat Concerto. It was after this that Schnabel agreed to accept me as a student.

JL: And you started your studies with him in Italy, correct?

LF: We started in Italy in 1938, but then war clouds started gathering, and he recommended I return to New York. He eventually followed, coming in 1939, and I worked with him for the following 9 years.

JL: At the time, did you know what a colossal figure Schnabel was?

LF: Yes, yes I did. Because my teachers in San Francisco prior to Schnabel all knew of him, and he was a giant. Having been the first actually to record all of the Beethoven Sonatas, and doing so in the old format of the 78 LPs.

JL: Only two or three minutes a side, right?LF: Exactly! They had to stop to change the mother

record, and he had to pick up exactly where he had left off. It’s truly inconceivable to imagine going through the Beethoven Sonatas in this manner—can you imagine!

JL: It must have been extremely difficult to present one’s artistic vision of the work by having to record in this manner.

LF: Precisely, but he did it.

JL: That reminds me of the Schnabel edition of the Beethoven Sonatas—I believe I’ve read that Schnabel came to regret the fact that he had his edition of the Beethoven Sonatas published. Is that true?

LF: Yes, but not for the reasons you might imagine. He was very unhappy because he felt that the edition was misunderstood. For example, he tried to indicate the very small fluctuations of tempi that occur when interpreting the sonatas. Some tempi kind of moved forward and others were more relaxed, or kind of suspended in time, and he developed this method of trying to

indicate these things by marking a metronome change of one or two notches. He felt eventually that this was so misunder-stood—that people actually thought it was different tempi—and that was not his intention at all, so in certain ways he regretted the edition.

One of the great things he did, of course, was to intro-duce this idea of a different print for everything that he thought should be done as an interpretation of the music, as opposed to Beethoven’s indications, which are volumi-nous. He wanted large print for Beethoven and small print for Schnabel. We are to be very grateful for that, because there are terrible editions where the editors don’t distin-guish between what they think should be done and what Beethoven obviously indicated in the score.

JL: You are probably the most famous living pianist with focal dystonia. This is a topic that is of particular interest to me, as I, too, have focal dystonia. Some years ago, you were asked in an interview on The Diane Rehm Show if, given the opportunity to relive your life without focal dystonia, would you choose to do so. Your answer surprised me, because you said you might not choose a different path than the life you’ve had. Could you speak about that a bit for us?

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Leon Fleisher And Katherine Jacobson

LF: Once I got over my period of—oh, what would you call it?—my deep funk, and my period of self-pity, I guess—and started to function again as a musician, what I realized is that my connection to music was not exclusively as a two-handed piano player, but as a musician. I became quite active as a teacher, and there is a considerable litera-ture for left hand alone, and I began to conduct. Some of my greatest joys have been as a teacher, to share some of these insights with gifted young people who are searching for answers; this has brought me a level of satisfaction that I’m not sure I would have given up just to continue con-certizing as a two-handed pianist.

JL: Ms. Jacobson, you studied with Vronsky and Babin, one of the truly great duo-piano teams. That must have been enormously helpful in your later collabo-ration with your husband, I would guess.

KJ: I will always be grateful that I had the amazing opportunity to study with Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin at the Cleveland Institute of Music. They were both mon-umental musical influences in my life. The Babins had studied with Schnabel and would regularly speak of his teaching. I remember Victor Babin making reference to Schnabel’s playing and likening it to “hearing the angels sing.” A lesson with Dr. Babin on the Scriabin Third Sonata will forever be etched in my memory. After I played the sonata for him, he sat down at the piano and sight-read the piece for me to show me how it should go. I was in awe as he somehow fit his mammoth fingers on the keys and played Scriabin’s music with such great beauty and passion.

JL: Mr. Fleisher, what’s been the most rewarding aspect of being able to collaborate with your wife?

LF: Oh, that means we can fight all 24 hours every day!JL: I suppose that, in some ways, rehearsing with

your spouse is easier than rehearsing with others and in some ways it’s more difficult. Do you care to share any thoughts about that, Ms. Jacobson?

KJ: Rehearsing four-hand piano repertoire with a spouse has its challenges! First of all, there’s not a lot of room for each pianist to share space at the keyboard, so collisions may occasionally occur. My husband always jokes that he recommends elbow guards to prevent serious injury. Seriously though, four-hand piano playing involves a cer-tain twist in the upper body, which over time can present problems. Yoga can help a lot with that! These days we try to “keep it fresh” by rehearsing minimally until right before the concert. Certain string quartets are known to rehearse

for a tour with each player then traveling separately to con-cert venues. Thankfully, Leon and I haven’t come to that yet!

JL: Are the two of you still learning new pieces to add to your repertoire and, if so, how do you go about choos-ing repertoire that you both want to play?

KJ: A concerto for two pianos by composer, Nicholas Jacobson-Larson, has been commissioned for us. We look forward to premiering it and adding it to our repertoire.

LF: The digits are perhaps losing a little bit of their flu-ency, so I’m more interested in conducting than in playing at this point, but yes, indeed we do look at new repertoire.

JL: Ms. Jacobson, what’s been the most rewarding aspect of being able to collaborate with your husband?

KJ: Becoming a better musician.

JL: Finally, can you offer us any clues as to what we might hear on your program?

KJ: It is my hope that Leon will agree to play a few piec-es from the solo piano repertoire. Our duo performances may include Brahms “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” Schubert “F Minor Fantasy,” and Ravel “La Valse,” which have been recorded on our Four Hands CD. (Sony)

We played our first performance of the “Liebeslieder Waltzes” at the Aspen Music Festival quite a few years ago. During one of the waltzes, I felt Leon’s arm around me, as if he were about to sweep me onto the dance floor! It didn’t happen that time, but who knows for the future? In the past we both have taken ballet class as well as Viennese Waltz lessons. I encourage my students at Peabody to take dance lessons as it helps in defying gravity in music and encourages the music to be air-born rather than earth-bound. As my husband is fond of saying, “Music is an adventure in anti-gravity.”

JL: Mr. Fleisher, you turned 88 last July.LF: That’s right—I am as old as there are keys on a

grand piano! My next goal is to become a Bösendorfer!JL: Wonderful, because we’re all rooting for you, of

course! You’re still incredibly active with performing, teaching and conducting. How do you do it at your age?

LF: Well, I don’t know, really. I had a pacemaker put in, and that has made me feel like a butterfly again. Now, I have to find a way to sting like a bee again!

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Room 4-1-3. For some students who earned their performance degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland, this room number evokes a very special, powerful memory. It compels us to stop for a moment in response to a spark of enlightenment that remains, for many of us, a continual daily inspi-

ration. Room 413 is a corner room on the top floor of the Conservatory’s 1857 structure, perched aloft, high above the daily activity at one of the country’s most prestigious institutions of music education and performance develop-ment. For more than 50 years, Leon Fleisher has made his way to this private sanctuary several times weekly to nurture and guide those fortunate enough to be invited into this room and into his world. Within these walls he shared his experiences, his insatiable love of music and the piano, and created a pedagogical culture focused on respect for the score, the instrument and the student.

Lessons with Mr. Fleisher were unique in every way. Each was a two-hour event shared by three students. These afforded students an exposure to more music, different playing styles and the greater gift of hearing him teach—absorbing his perspectives, his techniques, his visions and incomparable, inspirational pedagogy. It also created won-derful friendships that have lasted a lifetime. The energy created in each lesson routinely poured out of room 413 in lengthy conversations, rolling down four flights of stairs, through the courtyard and into the cafeteria. Over several tall cups of coffee, they continued to inspire and develop creative thinking among lesson partners for hours. To this day, when I meet another of Mr. Fleisher’s students, we are instantly reconnected by the same feeling of partnership that began so many years ago in that corner room on the top floor at Peabody.

The gifts of working with Leon Fleisher are almost too numerous to mention and are both personal and profes-sional in nature. Listening to the thoughts of a musician of his stature deeply enriches ones understanding and expe-rience of creating music. Listening to him speak about his experiences with the many musical icons with whom he has worked throughout his life, notably his own teachers Artur and Karl Schnabel, offered an unparalleled perspective and wealth of influence, which he shared without constraint. Working with him, we all felt part of an important historic legacy, holding hands with Schnabel, Leschetizky, Czerny and Beethoven.

Lessons LeArned In Room 413

Sheila Vail holds BM and MM degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Leon Fleisher. She is managing partner of the Indian Springs Academy of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. A teacher, author and clinician, she is a regional leader for the Music Development Program.

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Leon Fleisher is a powerful musical force of nature. His masterful pianism is instantly apparent when he touches the keyboard, and his understanding of the music, style and intent of the composer in his selected work is conveyed so uniquely, performed so impeccably, it momentarily stops the world around you. His experience of rhythm and pulse underpins all of his music and creates an irresistible drive that propels everything he plays. He sees rhythm as an interpretation of human experience, and its underlying pulse is its emotional channel of human expression. Over the intelligence of pulse organization, all else can be crafted with meticulous molding of phrasing, the most judicious

pedaling, effective textural definition and layered tonal col-oring. And then there is his sound. A defining sound that, when combined with a driving pulse, transforms a piano into a kaleidoscope of colors and textures—untethered by the constraints of an instrument. To this day I often pull over while driving or remain in the car to be able to clearly hear—and feel—a performance of Mr. Fleisher’s that I am listening to.

The first lesson learned from Leon Fleisher, one learns immediately. The lesson of humility. Being in the presence of such enormous talent, of such phenomenal, innate abil-ity and understandings that reach far beyond one’s own,

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is instantly and permanently humbling. Equally humbling is his own genuine respect for both the music and the art of teaching—creating a perfect partnership of a respectful approach for the composer, the score and the student.

As a teacher, Mr. Fleisher was the consummate model. Totally and completely professional, he never brought the anxieties of his life into the sanctuary of inspirational learning and teaching. Despite the minimal use of his right hand, he was able to demonstrate everything on the piano and was committed to achieving the results he wanted to hear in our hands. After reading his biography a few years ago, I learned for the first time how difficult and extremely painful his life was at the time I was working with him. That pain was never apparent in our lessons. Not once. He conducted each and every session as if it were the focus of his day and spoke to each of us as if we were equal partners in our mutual exploration of the score. This lesson I keep with me every single day.

Mr. Fleisher’s ability to evoke an image, create an expe-rience and develop specific physical abilities in his students gives each student the precise tools needed to cultivate their own individual performances. His ability to verbally describe the warmth of tonal colors, fine pedal gradation, textural clarity, pacing and tonal sonority takes one far beyond the experience of playing the piano. His ability to craft a human experience through the molding of sound and meticulous management of the instrument permanently changed us as musicians. He once summarized his thoughts to me as simply, “The goal of the whole is your soul.”

His three-dimensional approach to teaching gave us concrete imagery, clarity of the score and broadened our perspectives in creating our own performances. In every les-son he created a deeper, more defined relationship with the sound and explored greater variety of physical approaches to its creation. Some examples will never leave me. In Copland—evoking images of skyscrapers, steel, glass, cylin-drical shapes and hard corners. In Debussy—“Glide your fingers across the keys as if it was wet ice.”

(Play it) “like a fast paced walk.”(A forte passage) “Find your output without shouting.”(Chordal passage) “Think of your hand as if it were a

giant paw.”(Bach) “Articulate your fingers like bubbles in boiling

water.”(An ascending chromatic scale) “like water rising”And so many, many more.

Mr. Fleisher’s total respect for and allegiance to the score was clear and present in every lesson. His awareness of detail, particularly of the inner voices and connecting tissue between phrases and sections, often left us wonder-ing if even the composer himself had considered the same possibility. Approaching a work from the macro-vision, working his way to the micro-vision, he was able to explore all aspects of both the score and the performance in the greatest detail. His own talent and rich musical heritage has led to his perfect comprehension of each composer’s writing style, even peculiar to specific compositions. In Bach—

Katherine Jacobson, Leon Fleisher and Sheila Vail were recently reunited

when Fleisher performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

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lucidity, contrasts of subject, color and contoured intensi-ties. In Mozart—the underlining poetry, sectional framing and presentation, and impeccable execution. In Beethoven’s piano sonatas, Mr. Fleisher has an unparalleled understand-ing of the composer’s writing, the organic evolution of the content and the ability to “speak” a phrase as if he him-self were its author. His understanding and command of Brahms is unequaled, evidenced by his recordings of both Brahms concerti.

His work with his students was no less respectful. He consistently demonstrated consummate professionalism, inexhaustible patience and the never ending pursuit of per-formance excellence. Once accepted into his studio, each student was afforded equal respect and affection. I clearly remember one Tuesday morning leaving his room following a lesson. The next student was making his way down the hall toward room 413. We had met several times previously when his lessons were scheduled right after mine. His name was Yefim Bronfman. A month prior I heard Fima perform all 24 Chopin etudes in recital and was aware that we were all watching the launch of a world class career. We said our brief hellos, and he went in for his lesson. My feet would not take me down the stairs that day. I sat in the stairwell across the hall and listened to what was, even at his young age, a stunning performance of a Prokofiev sonata move-ment. Listening to the pyrotechnical splendor, the sheer power, the personal and tender poetry, and the tapestry of sound and color simply took my breath away. Later that day, I ran into Leon and mentioned that I heard Yefim that morning. I had also played a Prokofiev sonata movement that day, nowhere near the level he heard from Yefim—not even close! Before I could say another word, Leon gave me warm words of encouragement and offered an additional thought for me to consider in my own approach. Need I mention I learned several life altering lessons this particular day? Many years later I took a young student of mine, 12 years old, to him for coaching. I was honored that he would accept this student on my recommendation and privilege to join them for the lesson. I sat in admiration watching him approach her with respect for her understandings at

this point in her very young life. His language, his physical work with her—molding her hand, demonstrating on her arm—was remarkably gentle, in difference to her youth, but nonetheless committed to the uncompromised end result. He was focused on the learner that day, as all days, taking the path she needed for her success. This great lesson I embrace every moment I teach.

Another lesson I learned from Mr. Fleisher is that musi-cians live in service to something far greater than ourselves, and this truth bonds all musicians, regardless of their stature or professional path they have chosen. I recall an evening I was invited to attend a casual dinner with Leon, his former student and good friend André Watts, and a few other friends. Over a table of Baltimore’s great seafood, we all enjoyed a conversation that about conductors, traveling, Beethoven and backyard gardens. We also enjoyed watching André blow perfect smoke rings which, for hours, hovered over the table like a finely woven tapestry. The warmth of their per-sonal friendship glowed. Fifteen years later I briefly caught up with André at a function in Cincinnati, and he remem-bered me, the dinner in Baltimore—and the smoke rings.

Mr. Fleisher has shaped several generations of some of our greatest pianists and musicians, and cultivated excel-lence in the teaching world through his own practices, consistently demonstrated for more than 50 years. Mr. Fleisher may never know just how deeply he is loved by the many of us who were so fortunate to have been with him for the brief periods of time that we were. But we certainly do. When we reacquaint at various functions or occasions, the first words we share reference the magic of the time we shared in the shadow of greatness. Every day as I walk into my studio I remain grateful for the gifts given to me by my teacher and mentor, Mr. Fleisher, and the musical enrich-ment shared with me by my friend, Leon. “Music makes life worth living,” he once told me. Thirty-seven years later, I still embrace that reality and carry with me those many life changing lessons I learned from a phenomenal musi-cian, one of the greatest American pianists, in a corner on the 4th floor marked room 4-1-3.

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Lessons Learned In Room 413