If the desire to achieve something is too big – there is almost no way anything can stand in your way to achieve it. History remembers so many cases of amazingly strong will displayed. And I’ve forever been admiring those people who can proceed with their aims despite even the hardest hardships.
Below is the 1937 recording of the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein playing the Concerto in D Major composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930.
The peculiarity of the piece is that it was written for the left hand only, specially for Paul who lost his right arm during the Second Word War. He was the one who commissioned this music work by his friend composer and the one who premiered it in 1932.
Ravel was deeply dedicated to ‘protect’ the original form AND meaning of the concerto – for left hand players only, for people like Paul. However, ever before the day of premiere, there were attempts to change it. Alfred Cortot made his own arrangement for a regular two-hand piano performance and orchestra. Ravel struggled to not let it get published and performed, and contacted many conductors on the matter. Only after the composer’s death, the two-hand arrangement resumed its public appearances and even got recorded.
Below is the 1937 recording of the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein playing the Concerto in D Major composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930.
The peculiarity of the piece is that it was written for the left hand only, specially for Paul who lost his right arm during the Second Word War. He was the one who commissioned this music work by his friend composer and the one who premiered it in 1932.
Ravel was deeply dedicated to ‘protect’ the original form AND meaning of the concerto – for left hand players only, for people like Paul. However, ever before the day of premiere, there were attempts to change it. Alfred Cortot made his own arrangement for a regular two-hand piano performance and orchestra. Ravel struggled to not let it get published and performed, and contacted many conductors on the matter. Only after the composer’s death, the two-hand arrangement resumed its public appearances and even got recorded.
