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[This mention appeared in the discussion following a paper
"The inheritors of Chopin's art performance—Koczalski, Michalowski, Rosenthal"
by Stanislaw Dybowski, presented at the conference
Chopin Works as a
Source of Performance Inspiration,
Warsaw, 24-28 February 1999. The paper is printed in parallel Polish and English in the Book of the Conference
edited by Mieczyslawa Demska-Trebacz et al, published by Akademia Muzykczna im Fryderyka Chopina, Warsaw, 1999.
The article is printed on pages 402-423 and the discussion on pages 424-429.
Ekier's comment on Pachmann is in itself trivial; my purpose in showing it here is to point out the surprising fact
that during whole of the conference no other mention was apparently made of Pachmann.
It is conceivable that Ekier (born 1913) saw Pachmann.
Ekier continues with a comment on Michalowski's memory problem in his old age that is included here because,
though not referring to Pachmann, it is very amusing and the book is difficult to obtain.
However, only a brief extract is given, in order to avoid a copyright problem.
Ekier's discussion continues with instructive comments on early recordings, but those comments are not reproduced here.
This web version is dated 16 November 2008.]
[Passing Mention of Pachmann]
by Jan Ekier
p.424
The fact is that I could hear the three great pianists live. . .
Michalowski whom I heard in a series of concerts in Cracow . . . and late
in Warsaw. . . .
There were quite exceptional concerts.
Apart from the legendary Pachmann, who used to make extraordinary things on the platform,
you must never have witnessed such concerts in your life.
. . . he had
p.426 great trouble with his eyesight.
After sitting down at the piano (to which of course he had been led), he had to feel the shape of the instrument,
the keyboard, where was the middle, etc.
And he had trouble not only with his eyes, but also with his memory.
. . .
please take it as an authentic fact, that he started with a polonaise and ended with
a ballade, at one go. Something had shifted in his memory, he linked it up and the result—the fantastic finale
of the Ballade in G minor after the already begun
Polonaise in A-flat.