As you may have noticed, John Robson has passed away. I am creating this thread to have a place for any reactions or questions you may want to post.

- Chris

In addition to John Robson being a fine and talented musician, he was also classy, well-mannered, kind, caring, funny, strong in character, and sensitive. I got to know him more personally through private correspondences. We confided in each other our thoughts, worries, desires, and he had this uncanny knack of sensing when I needed a shoulder to cry on. He had my shoulder to cry on, as well. I saved all of my personal messages and letters from John, for which I am glad. His encouragement and the wisdom in his words will no doubt continue to give me comfort.

I highly respected John and feel fortunate to have been able to call him my friend. I already miss him dearly.

Yes I can confirm all that (except the crying bit which we never did).

John was that kind of guy - impossible not to like, and hard to not become friends with. I guess many of you had a special relationship with him. He never failed to emphasize how much being part of PS meant to him and how much it helped to give a new meaning to his life. His brother Charles, who brought us the sad news yesterday, specifically thanked us for that. I'm pretty sure John had instructed him to do this, which would seem very typical of him.

It was brought to my attention that non-admin users cannot reply in this forum (thanks juufa72 for pointing this out). Oops. I've reverted that change, at least tempoarrily, so that people can reply.

Please post your reactions if you have any. I'd like to collect these and eventually present them to his brother.

Though I never met John, I can easily say that he is a kind and gentle man. I am quite glad that I sold him my edirol recorder so that he could record a wide variety of pleasing music.


-jG


p.s. Tech, I might have been a bit confusing. What I meant is not to create a separate page for two names, rather to just include a simple text box on the main page.

I always like to think about the funny things and fun times about a friend who has passed away. I briefly went through all of John’s posts and clipped out a few of his ‘funnies’ from the forum.

• My dog, Paco, runs to the bedroom and under the bed whenever I sit down at the piano.

• Actually two "oopses"
But, hey, give me credit for at least submitting a multiple post. LOL

• If you think it sounds OK on the second glass of wine, you should hear how great it sounds on
the fourth!

• John, remind yourself to look up the word "little" in a thesaurus

• OK, I promise not to use "some" for a week. LOL

• For heaven sakes, Pianolady, STAY IN YOUR CAR! You'll be taken to an institution if you jump
out of your car in a car wash and start yelling.

• A "Wow" from Chris Breemer is definitely something I pay attention to.

• Robert, I hope your twelve-year-old neighbor with the long fingers is very ugly!

• Forgive me, friends. I accidentally posted my reaction to the Mozart Sonata. I thought I was still in
the Audition Room..................X@ZZ#@#%$@$%^@$!XXZ#$!@~!!!!!!!!!

• When I heard the very beginning, I answered in a singing voice, "I'm over here-----------."
Doesn't it sound like a child singing, "Where are you"?

• Ha-ha-he-he-he-ho-ho-SNORT-ha-ha............Painolady, your translation reads like the English
directions on a product made in Korea.

• Green schmule rules? I'm totally lost in this trend of thought

• Makes me want to go out with someone special for cocktails and intimate conversation


• What's a "mishit"? (Reminds me of my dog when he was a puppy.)

• When I try to listen the way I always did, it says I have to download a Codex. What the hell is a
Codex on a computer? I think there might be a ghost in my computer fooling around with me.

• For some reason it feels good to have a complete set. I only have a very few of them. I'm no
Chris Breemer!

• Please excuse me for screaming but MONICA, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S YOU PLAYING THIS!



I had forgotten that, J. He had a bit of trouble figuring out how to work it in the beginning. I think you forgot to give him the instruction manual or something like that. Or maybe he was just like all typical men – they never read the instructions first.

Hey. hey. Monica, instructions are useless when they are written overseas. I sent him everything I had. So it was the case of being resourceful to disregard the instruction manual.

We will all miss him but we have all his recordings to listen to and can always read the comments he made on the forum. Take care on the other side John.

I am sad that John passed away and I think that he was still very young. What he just wanted was play piano and now that he retired he had the time but didn't last much.

I have CDs recordings of him in my car that I use to hear every single day and then talking about it with him and I have his advices printed out to me follow when I am practicing. It's hard to read them now...

He was a great guy always with a good word for everybody and a great pianist.

His favorite month was November in Miami.

R.I.P. John.

Thanks Guest. You are very right. I think many people here feel the same and I hope more people will react.

But why don't you identify yourself ? The possibility to post anonymously was an oversight of mine which I've corrected. Would you mind registering and making yourself known ?

Thanks Guest. You are very right. I think many people here feel the same and I hope more people will react.

But why don't you identify yourself ? The possibility to post anonymously was an oversight of mine which I've corrected. Would you mind registering and making yourself known ?[/quote]

I am sorry, I thought I was on line when I wrote about John.

Ah it's you Eliana. I could have guessed, considering what you said in your PM.

I'm a bit disappointed that not more people have something to say. I think he was friends with many here and I hope they all come forward.

John posted a kind reply when I submitted my first recording here two years ago, writing about sensitive phrasing and dynamics. I think this was an important aspect of his own playing, which we can foud both in his recordings of rare piano music, from Honegger for instance, and in the ones of famous works, like these Chopin preludes that he offered to us only two months before he died. At that time, he wrote

We don't mind at all John. Your preludes are precious gifts.

I miss John cordially. He was one of my first listeners here on PS and the first thing I did, when I posted my first recording, was to listen to his recording of the Italian Concerto by Bach. He had submitted it on PS before I began my membership here with my complete recording of the same work. He has written very kind words to my recording and I have admired his because of its great musicality. Since the one and a half year I´m a member here I have listened to many of his recordings and I always have appreciated his musicality and his honest musicianship. I have also admired his brave struggle against the injury of his hand. It didn´t lower the high quality of his musical expression in any way. We all can be glad to have his beautiful recordings saved on this site!

I was shocked and saddened to learn of John Robson's passing, and am glad that Chris started this electronic memorial to him. John had been a member of Piano Society well before I joined about a year ago. Thereafter, John was occasionally absent from the site due to injury and serious health issues, so I did not get to know him nearly as well as some of the other members. But I have greatly admired John's pianistic interpretations and artistry. He played with a beautiful expressiveness and sensitivity.

My own earliest recordings here resulted from an effort to raise awareness of the forgotten composer Sergei Bortkiewicz. John not only listened, but took a personal interest in the project. To my surprise he learned and recorded the complete Pensees Lyriques, Op. 11 of Bortkiewicz. I was delighted to say the least! He served the composer very well and made a fine contribution to the Piano Society archives. I'll never forget John's thoughtfulness in that regard.

John will be remembered and greatly missed. Fortunately we have his very substantial legacy of fine recordings which members and visitors to Piano Society will continue to enjoy. Rest in peace, John.

David April