5/3/2023 0 Comments Accompanist new york![]() In fact neither of New York's two busiest accompanists ever had such star ambitions. Accompanists themselves behaved with uncommon meekness and selfeffac?ment, lending credence to the notion that they were second‐rate pianists lacking the talent and drive to become soloists. Penny‐pinching managers often chose less than competent accompanists, and soloists-who pay the accompanists from their own fees - acquiesced. The focus was so clearly on the soloist that some singers with inflated egos were known to demand that their accompanists stop playing after the star's final phrase-no matter what the music called for. Programs were dominated by short virtuoso pieces (now usually played as encores) which were largely vehicles for showing off the soloist's technique. In the past, the musical presence of the accompanist was minimal. But I think its up to every accompanist to carry on where Moore left off and to make his musical presence felt.” “There are still times when he is regarded as a necessary evil, a person who gets led onto the stage like a toy poodle. “Before Moore, the singer was aware of the accompanist only if he played a wrong note,” says Martin Isepp, who teaches the art at Juilliard. Moore, who accompanied Feodor Chaliapin, Pablo Casals, Elisabeth Schumann and Kathleen Ferrier, wrote three books on his calling and is credited with making accompanying respectable. “I do no? feel ashamed to call myself an accompanist,” Gerald Moore was compelled to write in 1943, “and yet to many that title is a brand signifying that the owner is of a slightly inferior caste.” These declarations by renowned soloists are a bit startling when one thinks of the accompanist's traditional image: darkly clad men and women who have been hidden behind screens, told to take bows from behind their instruments, consigned to inferior traveling, eating and sleeping quarters, left off the program notes, left out of reviews and expected to keep their musical opinions to themselves. “The kind of accompanist who was available 25 years ago, someone who just played the notes, is not good enough for me.” “A partner with personality, musical conviction and a little ESP,” says violinist Pinches Zukerman. Someone with whom you work hand‐in‐glove to build a repertoire.” “A person who does not let the ego‐inspired frivolities of the soloist take away from the music. “I look for solidly based musicianship,” says violinist Isaac Stern. There has to be rapport more than anything else.” ![]() “The person I work with is a collaborator. ![]() “I don't like the word accompanist,” says soprano Beverly Sills.
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