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MENAHEM PRESSLER 19
You left Germany on the eve of the Second World War and, like
many musicians from Europe, you passed on your art to others in
the United States. Do you claim the influence of a specific musical
tradition?
Of course. What you call tradition is the history of which we are part, following in
the footsteps of interpreters who played and recorded the works featured on this
disc before we did. Artur Schnabel, Wilhelm Kempff, Edwin Fischer were not ‘great’
because they played the piano, but because they sought beauty and grandeur in
music. In this recital, the tradition isViennese. The city plays a big role in thismusic,
as was later to be the case in Leipzig with Mendelssohn and Schumann.
So what do you think of the maxim attributed to Gustav Mahler,
‘Tradition ist Schlamperei’ (Tradition is sloppiness)?
I thinkwhat Mahler meant is that slavish imitation of what you hear is likewearing
somebody else’s jacket! We all have to find our own way.