For pianist Bernard d'Ascoli, blind since birth, there is no distance between himself and the music. While sighted pianists inevitably have the score mediating between them and the music, d'Ascoli takes in the music directly as sound and reproduces it directly as sound. This unity of apprehension and execution as two sides of the same process gives d'Ascoli's playing a clarity and purity that most trained musicians intrinsically lack. Thus, although his virtuosity is not only astounding in and of itself, it is merely the ...
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For pianist Bernard d'Ascoli, blind since birth, there is no distance between himself and the music. While sighted pianists inevitably have the score mediating between them and the music, d'Ascoli takes in the music directly as sound and reproduces it directly as sound. This unity of apprehension and execution as two sides of the same process gives d'Ascoli's playing a clarity and purity that most trained musicians intrinsically lack. Thus, although his virtuosity is not only astounding in and of itself, it is merely the conduit through which the music passes, transformed from sound to sound by d'Ascoli's heart and soul.In this disc of Chopin's Scherzi and Impromptus, d'Ascoli's performances are as thrilling as Horowitz's and as refined as Rubinstein's, but, unlike with Horowitz, one never gets the sense that d'Ascoli is intent on proving his technique, and, unlike with Rubinstein, one never gets the sense that d'Ascoli is determined to demonstrate his tone. While the listener is left gasping at...
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