Sharing beauty of music Pressler's best gift
Renowned concert pianist, founder of Beaux Arts Trio to play in Schoenberg Hall
By Colette Jue
Daily Bruin Contributor
Music has branched into many different forms and styles. But all things that grow must have a foundation, and music is no exception.
"You grow when you hear beautiful music," acclaimed pianist Menahem Pressler says. "A student to whom culture is important needs it because our cultural heritage is a rich one, is a deep one and anything that grows out of it has to come back to the foundation. Classical music is the foundation. If they will listen and if they will find beautiful things, they will benefit."
This Saturday, Pressler will be performing at Schoenberg Hall. The pianist, who has performed a large repertoire with a wide range of musicians and conductors, received his early musical training in Israel.
"I always wanted to play," Pressler says. "I had studies quite early and I showed promise and had very good teaching and soon I started to play. But real hunger does not come from without, it comes from within."
At the age of 17, Pressler, now in his 70s, won first place in San Francisco's first International Debussy Competition. In 1948, he made his concert debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy.
Since this auspicious beginning, Pressler has appeared with many of the world's major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Symphony. Through his travels, Pressler's appreciation for and knowledge of music has grown.
"Those who care (about music) are very sensitive people," he says. "Music speaks to a place in your soul that is keenly aware of refinement. That is what good music should do and does."
"I met many people whose influences, I feel, made me notice things I hadn't noticed before, and who showed me certain beauties I hadn't noticed before."
Pressler is the founder of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio, which has toured for the last 30 years. He also teaches at Indiana University, where the interaction with students becomes a learning experience for him.
"What helps me (become a better musician) is when I teach my students," Pressler says. "I have to become very clear about works. I have to recreate those works within me so that I can give it to them so that they can grow with it. Through teaching, through giving it clearly, putting it into words, they learn and I learn.
"What I like most about (being a musician) is being surrounded by great beauty that these composers have created for us. I love to teach. I love my students. I love to give the ideas that I have to my students and I love to meet people. Through music, you meet many like-minded people who react to the same things, react to the same beauties."
Milton Stern, the Center Stage Lecturer at Saturday's performance, will speak about this sense of beauty which Pressler's music evokes.
"It's not so much of a scholarly discourse as it is to excite the audience as to what they are about to experience," Stern says. "What I do is prepare them for what they're going to hear ... to try to make a bridge for them so they can go from their lives into what this man is doing."
Stern hopes those whose general interests are not in classical music will give Pressler's performance a chance.
"Even if a pebble's worth remains with the person after the concert, just one moment that he loved, it might inspire him to go to another concert," Stern says. "You build that way. You remember a little bit here. The next concert, you'll remember a couple of things and by the time you go to 30 or 40 concerts, you're getting a little more sophisticated. It's the same thing as a building block situation."
With increasing exposure to classical music, a growing appreciation and understanding of the music results, and its message becomes clearer.
"Each composer, in his own way, gives a message," Pressler says, "a message of rhythms, a message of beauty, a message of virtuosity."
Pressler is looking forward to his performance and urges students to come. The program features music by Haydn, Schumann and Debussy, as well as Chopin's famous 24 Preludes.
"I would be happy to play with all the love and pleasure it takes to make great music," Pressler says. "It is with great pleasure and joy that I come to UCLA."
MUSIC: Menahem Pressler, piano, Saturday, March 2 at Schoenberg Hall. TIX: $26.50, $9 to UCLA students with valid I.D. For more info, call (310) 825-2101.
Pianist Menahem Pressler has played with major orchestras around the world, and will perform this Saturday at Schoenberg Hall.
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