I hear Vladimir Horowitz when I shut my eyes but * * *

What I see is a young wonder

Since 1957, when my Francophone Belgian Mom (from Charleroi) introduced the then 9-year-old Armando to the genre, I have listened to classical music seriously for almost 70 years.

Today, I heard a performance of two Rachmaninoff preludes on the Steinway. When I shut my eyes, the playing was that of Vladimir Horowitz, the very protégé of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff.

Here is the performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9IycJBQAIQ

But when I opened my eyes, the reality was even more wonderful.

A thirteen-year-old girl, Xinran Shi, shivered my spine with musical sensitivity and virtuosity of a senior master.

At ten, Xinran Shi had already won events worldwide, including the People’s Republic of China, where she met her natural, childhood hero, the great pianist, Lang Lang.

It was astonishing, after hearing on Public Radio an interview of the fresh and youthful Xinran Shi beam with girlish glee over meeting the great musician.

When I grew up in the ‘50s, the 76-year-olds of my youthful day told me the young people didn’t have the character of children in their old days (probably referring to their own goodness).

Well, this 76-year-old has long maintained a love and admiration of the gifts of young persons.

The two Rachmaninoff preludes are short.

But the two pieces range a wide field of musical depths and human reflection and emotions that require gifts of spiritual insight.

How remarkable that Mother Nature could endow a child — here a girl — so very young with such depth of artistic, musical insight and expression.

The interview on NPR allowed Xinran Shi to show a whole panoply of her wonderful, fresh, young personality and her powerful, prodigious musical gifts.

I want to keep an eye on this young prodigy’s musical career.

Is this a new phenomenon in music?

No.

But look at the company of those who have been prodigies to become world-class musicians.

In 1937, Josef Hofmann staged his Jubilee Concert at Carnegie Hall with Walter Damrosch, Conductor, who remembered for the audience a little boy (Josef Hofmann) 50 years earlier, in 1887 (11 years old) being introduced into the concert world:

Walter Damrosch: Josef Hofmann was to spontaneously extemporize on a new melody by (the then-living) Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

The young boy heard the opening melodies. Then he asked, “Noch einmal, Bitte!” — Please, repeat this for me again.

And once the young Josef heard the melody repeated, he proceeded on the piano to extemporize with mature musical insight.

(The above is paraphrased and very close to Mr. Damrosch’s words in 1937.)

You can hear the miraculous performances of the circa 62-year-old Josef Hofmann (a close friend of Rachmaninoff’s) at the Jubilee here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rZRJR-lloc

Similarly with the then 20+ something Damrosch in 1887, remembering 50-years later at the Jubilee with the mature Josef Hofmann, with Xinran Shi, we may be at the beginning of a wonderful, world-class classical musician’s career.

Xinran Shi is a wonderful, mature musician at the astonishing young age of 13, a musical genius, and I feel privileged to hear her.

Here is some more about this truly wonderful person:

https://fromthetop.org/musician/xinran-shi/

https://www.hhipc.org/xinran-shi-united-states-age-13/

May you stay strong and happy and spiritually, musically nourished and bless us with a truly long and inspiring Concert career, maybe even as a new composer!