Steve Schwartz ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Tim Mahon:
>
>>...  What of Borodin's comment on meeting Liszt in 1881 that "...Liszt
>>is a real Balakirev." I make no case that Liszt's technique wasn't awesome,
>>thrilling, stupendous, memorable etc....  merely that perhaps history has
>>colored the extent to which it differed from others.
>
>Since neither he nor his contemporaries recorded, we'll never know.  The
>only thing we have is the contemporary account from people who heard them
>all.  Honestly, all I know is what I read in Harold Schoenberg's The Great
>Pianists and various other second-hand accounts.

This is undoubtedly true, although I tend to believe the legend:  many
of the people who claimed that liszt was the greatest pianist living had
actually heard most of the competition.

Boridin's comment I don't find surprising:  Balakirev was a Russian and
probably far-better known, especially to a non-professional like Borodin
who IIRC was a chemist by profession.

FWIW I have read that there was only one person Liszt felt nervous about
playing in front of:  Charles Valentin Alkan.

Deryk Barker
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