Why great pianists don’t drive cars
Daily Comfort ZoneThe wonderful pianist Peter Frankl has spotted very few keyboard artists in our series on maestros and motor cars. He writes:
I was happy to read that Horowitz did not drive a car. What could be the reason that so many pianists don’t drive. beside myself, I can name Brendel, Perahia, Lupu, Schiff, FouTsong, Annie Fischer, Tamas Vasary, but I am sure many more. It would interesting to make a survey.
I think we could tentativelty add to that list Arthur Rubinstein, Sviatoslav Richter, Martha Argerich, Clara Schumann and Artur Schnabel (not sure about one or two of these). Feel free to add your own.
There are exceptions, of course.
On a documentary about him I have seen Rudy Buchbinder driving his Mercedes on the hills of Vienna and he’s more than a great pianist!
I play with him in 2 weeks . I will ask about Mercedes.
Those cars are most definitely not what they used to be – even a few years ago!! Tinny and with screens where ergonomic dashboard design would seem to be a minimum requirement. OK if you’re 15, I suppose.
My favorit man pianist.
Reminds me of a story about H K Andrews (who died while giving the inaugural recital on a new organ in Trinity College, Oxford). In a discussion about how organists tend to be good drivers, he said: “Hang on, that can’t be right. Tommy Armstrong’s the worst driver I know.” Then, after a moment’s refection: “Come to think of it, he’s the worst organist, too!”
Anyone has a picture of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli with his Ferrari?
Didn’t he race?
You are completly right he liked to drive it in Switzerland.
My question is, were these conductors with fast cars actually good drivers, or did they go 30 miles per hour in their Lamborghinis on city streets, just revving their engines?
Men and their mid-life crisis, who knows what conductors were trying to compensate for.
why is it always a ‘mid-life’ crisis if someone has a passion for something, even a racy automobile? as freud opined, ‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.’
“why is it always a ‘mid-life’ crisis if someone has a passion for something, even a racy automobile?”
They are having a mid-life crisis when they are driving a car you can’t afford.
Spot on!! Kleiber was a fast driver and nearly wiped himself out in Switzerland in the early 70s.
It could be that they are middle aged before they finally have the money for it.
Are you age-shaming people? A man has the right to renew and redefine himself at any age. Women have better options to cope with the changes, what do we men have?
Hang on there Dan! This is 2024 not 1964! I’m 75 and a Grandmother (3 sons, 2 grandsons) & I still dream of owning & driving a fast car that would cause heads to turn. I have done so since I was a science student in the 60’s & had a car mad boy friend. He went on to own a Lamborghini. I own a Subaru now. C’èst la vie!
Clara Schumann!
Do we really know that she didn’t drive a four-in-hand?
There are the ones who don’t drive and there is at least one of the world’s worst drivers : Glenn Gould.
haha! Where did you get that information from? Very curious
He drove an old land yacht. Like an old mobile toronado. Someone know ….but I never heard he was a bad driver. Probably a distracted driver for sure.
Michelangeli drove a Ferrari!
Now we’re gettin’ warm!!
Well, one reason that Lupu, Fou t”song, Annie Fischer, Rubinstein, Horowitz, Richter and Schnabel don’t drive is because they’re dead. And Clara Schumann? I don’t believe motor cars were a ‘thing’ back in her day.
Arthur Rubinstein wrote about his driving in LA scaring mean conductor. Read his memoire.
Didn’t Michelangeli enjoy race cars and competed in Mille Miglia?
Aloso, I knew a pianist who studied with Bolet at Indiana. He supposedly had a collection of race cars, too.
Sviatoslav Richter definitely did drive a car! He was in fact often known to drive himself to concerts in cities around the USSR, including my native Minsk. Out of this generation of Soviet artists, Richter, and especially Leonid Kogan come to mind as avid motorists.
If I am remembering the story correctly, violinist and conductor Harry Ellis Dickson was driving Leonid Kogan to a rehearsal or recording session at Symphony Hall in Boston, and Kogan remarked “Your car is nice, but mine is nicer.” Dickson asked him what kind it was, expecting to hear a Soviet bloc make. Kogan said proudly, “It is a Buick Special!”
I suspect financing courtesy of the KGB
Not only did Michelangeli own a Ferrari, he had a brief career as a racing driver.
Krystian Zimerman used to drive himself and his hand built piano in a van across Europe to concerts.
Anton Kuerti used to have a specially adapted van with a hump in the roof to accomodate the piano he took on his excursions to smaller Canadian centres where they didn’t have adequate pianos. I saw pictures of this van back in the 1980s or 90s but can’t find one anywhere on the internet. He also tuned the piano himself and fixed it when it needed repair.
Sergei Rachmaninov loved fast cars.
So did Herbert Von Karajan. And yachts. And private planes. And skis!
And Nazis!
I’m pretty sure Clara Scumann had a 2 horsepower wagon.
By all accounts, Glenn Gould was a very bad driver.
Yes. GG badly drove a Lincoln Continental. Once he was pulled over and he told the officer that he was driving under the influence of Mahler.
LOL!
They didn’t drive because they didn’t have to. I’m sure many of them had a chauffeured car clause in their contacts.
Simon Rattle once said in an interview that he doesn’t drive
Dear Peter Arthur Rubinstein did drive and I quote from his memoir My Many Years which refers to the time he was living in Hollywood with his family during the war:
“With all the comfort and pleasure we derived from our house in Brentwood, I was not wholly satisfied; I badly needed a driver’s licence. Our house was in a secluded part of Brentwood and a considerable distance from shops and cinemas. Sometimes I had bitter thoughts about being my wife’s prisoner. “Could you drive me to the barber?” I would ask her. “Can’t you go there tomorrow?” Nela would say. “I am very busy.” After a few of these “postponements” I decided to act. Bronek Kaper recommended a driving instructor to me. He was a German American who took his job seriously; he made me repeat every manoeuvre ten to twenty times. After two weeks of lessons, I was ready to face the most difficult test on my driving and knowledge of the Highway Code. I passed my exam brilliantly and clutched with emotion the precious driving licence which finally gave me the freedom of the land. But this was not enough for me; I wanted to give the family the surprise of their lives.
At that time the outskirts of the city was full of secondhand-car dealers and we noticed many places advertising fabulous reductions on cars only two or three years old. My instructor took me to one of these places where we found a dazzling white convertible Cadillac looking as fresh as if it had just left the factory.
I bought this beautiful instrument of power on the spot, took my seat at the wheel, and drove proudly home. Turning slowly into the entrance of the driveway, I gave a few strident hoots and my whole family, plus the servants, came running out of the house and gaped speechless while I drove majestically into the second space of the garage. My driver’s license changed my life considerably; the friendly coffee shop at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, far away cinemas, shopping centres and visits to friends were now wide open to me.”
A few pages on, he describes how he terrorised Thomas Beecham after a particularly disagreeable rehearsal of Beethoven G major Concerto. Beecham asked Arthur to give him a lift and once they started, Arthur turned to him and said how delighted he was to share his first drive after picking up his licence that day. He then proceeded to drive quite erratically pretending to miss a red light and poor Beecham was rigid with fear during the 45 minute ride!
I think his driving was limited to those years in California and I never saw him driving later on.
AR told T.Beecham that he just got his licence. After this scary ride TB left in disgust not saying good buy.
That part of his book was so funny
I’m sure Cherkassky didn’t drive.
If Martha drives…………in Buenos Aires………..my hat is off to her!
Peter Donohoe’s ‘blog tells a rather interesting story about how he managed to persuade a magistrates’ court to allow him to keep his driving licence after having “been caught speeding over the motorway limit once too often” in 1981. See footnote 2 in https://www.peter-donohoe.com/post/archive-the-leeds-piano-competition-part-1
Pianists are more intellectual and refined and less susceptible to the status anxiety of middle-class tastes (see conductors, ex. A. )
I love Peter Frankl! Best live Brahms 1 I ever heard!
Stephen Hough was in a bad car accident, as the driver I believe.
Rachmaninoff loved cars!!
Oh, but Brendel has horses!!
When a person has money they have to spend
It. But some have money and they do not spend
It.
I believe Rubinstein had a brown Rolls in Marbella, but not sure if he drove it himself
No it wasn’t a Rolls and he wasn’t driving by the time he had the house in Marbella.
The great New York based pianists of old, mostly were chauffeur driven.
I wonder how many race car drivers play the piano.
Clara Schumann’s a fairly safe bet. Not too many people had cars in 1896, the year she died.
I’m pretty sure Richter drove.
Quite a few musicians, not only pianists, have a tendency to be driving resistant. I think it may have to do with their emotional sensitivity. Of course, as a pianist gets older he or she may prefer to avoid the stress. But there’s lots of exceptions (Rachmaninov had no problem with driving and seemed to enjoy it).
Arthur Rubinstein drove he had a passion for Cadillacs
My father drove (fast), Michelangeli drove (fast), Rachmaninoff drove, Gavrilov drives (fast), but perhaps they are the exception. Happy that Horowitz and Martha stayed away from the steering wheel!