Andre Watts

Possibly one of the most interesting pianist:

-the first Black concert pianist to achieve international superstardom.

-Born in Nuremburg, Germany, he was the son of an African American career soldier, sergeant Herman Watts, and a Hungarian mother.

-he loved to play, but hated to practice. When his habit persisted, his mother began relaying stories of her countryman, pianist and composer Franz Liszt, emphasizing the fact that he practiced faithfully. Liszt soon became Watts's hero, and he even adopted Liszt's bravura playing style.

-Watts entered his first competition at age nine, competing with 40 other gifted youngsters for an opportunity to appear in one of the Philadelphia Orchestra's Children's Concerts. Watts won the competition and launched his career. He performed a Franz Joseph Haydn piano concerto.

-At 16 years old Watts played Liszt's E-flat Concerto at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. A Young People's Concert, the program was taped and shown on CBS television on January 15, 1963. Bernstein introduced the young pianist to the national audience. Less than three weeks later Bernstein asked Watts to substitute for an ailing Glenn Gould, who was the scheduled soloist for the New York Philharmonic's regular subscription concert on January 1, 1963.

-Unlike many other proteges, Watts lived up to his early promise and was a greater sensation as time moved on. In 1964 the National Academy of Recording Artists and Sciences presented Watts with a Grammy Award and in February 1973 he was selected as Musical America's Musician of the Month. Other honors and awards include honorary doctorates from Albright College and Yale University, the Order of the Zaire from that African country, and a University of the Arts Medal from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

-Currently Watts remains one of the world's "greatest in demand" pianists, both as recitalist and concert soloist. He continues to perform on the world's most important concert stages and with the world's most celebrated orchestras and conductors.

source: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_ameri ... ical_piano
*note the publishing date--1993.

I am listeninging to his recording of Rach's Piano Concerto No.2 op.39. It is well played. How come this is the first time I heard of him?

-JG

:x back to finishing my Shakespeare essay. This site is too powerful for me. Must get away!

 

Andre Watts has always been a favorite of mine. Here's Andre performing Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood". I vividly remember the day I saw it on PBS. Yay, PBS! (Without it, I would have missed the joy of making music.)

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IdH2167qWM

 

Look below for an hour with Andre Watts, PCN Profiles.

Pete

 

wow. His chopin is also impressive.

 

Rach's Piano Concerto No.2 op.39

his second piano concerto is op.18......

woww that movie on youtube was awesome don't like the revollutionary etude but this was awesome lovely technic

 

sorry No.3 Op.30 Don't bother asking me how I came up with No.2 op.39

 

I thought his second sonata is op.39 maybe.....


-----------------------------------edit------------------------------

its op.36

hmzz I will search for you the op.39 hihi

----------------------------------edit-------------------------------

op.39 is etude tablaux

 

A chat with Mr. Watts.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... ndre+watts

Pete

 

Listen to the 34:30....who could that be? Who could learn a concerto in 3 days?

 

I don't know, someone with eidetic memory and an I.Q. of 300? Mozart could've done it in two! :lol:

A Prokofiev Concerto in three days? I spent three days doing the harmonic analysis of the Chopin op11. Working 8-10 hours a day, I managed to memorize it in about three months. Three days?!? That's beyond comprehension. :shock: :? :x :cry: :lol:

 

Wibi soerjadi did rachmaninoff's 3th in 5 days

and J. Oshry learned beethoven 5th in 1 week of of head

so what I mean with this is that much pianist can do that IF THEY WANT!

 

The human mind is capable of astounding feats, indeed! I think we all have a bit of the savant tucked in some far corner of our head; finding it is the hard part :lol:

Peter

 

I've always enjoyed Watts' playing. I have a recording of him playing all of Liszt's Paganini etudes and they're all fantastically played.

One thing that makes me laugh is that he tends to grunt while he plays. I can hear him go "ungh" a lot when he's really laying into the instrument. It's glorious.

 

the man is awesome.

if you look at the message I gave in the rach concerti
http://pianosociety.com/new/phpBB2/view ... 1&start=15

you see 2 links both played by watts that man is ........ I really need this recording haha He is something else really!

 

talk about fast octaves. :shock:

 

haha ja

its a ossia but nobody plays it because it should be to difficult

 

New for your viewing/listening pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ry3Fm51aPU


Mr. Rogers is perhaps the nicest man of the modern era

 

foot tapping

I saw Watts perform Rach II in Manchester in 2001, it was an excellent performance with not one wrong note (I know every single one - believe me!). The funny thing was, that at certain times in the piece he would stamp his foot in difficult passages when not pedalling, it wasn't really distracting but added a sort of intensity to the performance, as his soles made a loud clicking sound on the wooden floor.
At the final short cadenza in the 3rd movement before the final recapulation of the main theme, he stamped his foot so loud and grunted as he hit those A and G octaves - almost like a cry of success that he had pulled it off without making a mistake, and then *WACK* onto the C with the rest of the orchestra! It was phenonemal!

 

Liszt sight-read the Grieg Concerto. I think Grieg said he played the Cadenza too fast. :shock: