Monday, May 15, 2006


On April 8 I listened to Russian pianist Nikolai Maloff play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 Opus 15 C Major with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra. I was five ft away and from my perspective I thought the piano was soon to collapse. My instincts were based on the fact that I had seen him work on the piano the day before. I had attended the dress rehearsal with my wife Rosemary and granddaughter Rebecca. During a moment, when the cellos were not playing, I watched one of the players play "air" piano with a smile on her face. I was surprised to see Jane Coop in the audience. She told me that Maloff was in her UBC piano program and that indeed he was as good a pianist as I thought.

Sunday I listened to a taped recording of a January 22, CBC Radio Two Westcoast Performance, hosted by Michael Juk. The program featured Daniel Chow on the piano. Early on Chow played Felix Mendelssohn's Allegro brilliant in A, Op. 92 for four hands. Chow played with a mystery partner whose initials Juk informed us were JC. The mysterious pianist was Jane Coop. It seems Chow had lots of fun playing the piano with her.

But it was his interpretation of the Bach / Busoni - Chaconne (from Partita no.2 in D minor for violin), BWV 1004 that made the hair on my arm stand up. I have a live performance of the Chaconne by Monica Huggett on baroque violin. I found Chow's version (also live and recorded in CBC's Studio One) no less "religious".

Busoni
Jane Austin Coop