Incorrigible de Pachmann

Upon these shores has landed once more Vladimir de Pachmann, pianist of legend. This man for many years has been one of the world's renowned musicians, renowned alike for his great musicianship and his personal singularities. His whims, his spirit, his drolleries alike have made him an ideal figure of the eccentric and high talented artist. Now at the age of 75 he demonstrates that his years have not robbed him of his vivacity. Articles in the press laid playful stress upon the circumstance that de Pachmann candidly informed the ship news reporters who interviewed him that he was the world's greatest pianist, that beside him the other virtuosos of the instrument of keys and hammers were sorry fellows. He likewise essayed the unusual thing of giving his critical rating of his fellow artists--Paderewski a good pianist but not a great one; likewise Busoni and Rosenthal; Godowsky a good technician; Rachmaninoff a third rater; Josef Hofmann not a great pianist, although he plays well at times. These divertissements were laid to the man's natural peculiarities, those peculiarities which lead him to make apostrophic speeches while he plays a sonata in concert. Actually, however, they were largely the product of an enthusiasm, perhaps a monomania.

De Pachmann has invented a new technique of piano playing, a technique the characteristic feature of which is a rigidly stiff wrist. He says that until he had reached the age of 70, what he played was trash, as are trash the present performances of other pianists, who use the old technique. De Pachmann embarks upon an extended tour of the U. S. It will be interesting to see how public and critics respond to pragmatic demonstrations of the new technique, which the pianist protagonizes with such spirited phrases.