Newspaper Article

DESPITE LOVE FOR CHOPIN, CONTEST HAS HARSH NOTES

Darnton, John

1980

Overview

''Ah, he can play,'' a Frenchman in the audience said, kissing the tips of his fingers. ''But he killed [Frederic Chopin].'' At a private jury session, Nikita Magaloff, the Swiss pianist, rose to say it was unthinkable that such an artist should not make it to the finals. [Martha Argerich], who won the competition in 1965 and is extremely popular here, seconded the motion and said she was ''ashamed'' to be a member of the jury. To make matters worse, she repeated the statement on television, and then promptly quit. Even Trybuna Ludu, the staid Communist party organ, was moved to say that Mr. [Pogorelic] was ''a pianist of such a class and an artistic personality of such caliber'' that removing him before the finals ''must be regarded as a mistake.'' Mr. Pogorelic, meanwhile, was transformed into a cult hero, and when he strode into the audience Saturday night, the television cameras followed his every move, the crowd chanted, ''Ivo, Ivo,'' and he raised his head to cast a cold, contemptuous stare at the jury in the balcony. ''I'm the first to say the boy is very talented,'' Mr. [Eugene List] said. ''But I voted very low for him. This is a special kind of competition. It's only Chopin. He doesn't respect the music. He uses extremes to the point of distortion. And he puts on too much of an act.'' He went on to describe how exquisitely Mr. Pogorelic had played.

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: AWARDS, DECORATIONS AND HONORS / Chopin, Frederic / CONTESTS AND PRIZES / Kentner, Louis / MUSIC