Maria Yudina plays Mozart Concerto No. 23 in A Major (1/3)

Part I
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
1. Allegro
Recording 1943
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There was an interesting story behind this recording. I'm copying the translation made by one of MySpace users:

The great Russian 20th century composer Dimitri Shostakovitch said in his
memoirs that living under Soviet rule was like living in an insane asylum. To illustrate the point he told the following story about his friend and classmate in the conservatory, the piano virtuouso Maria Yudina.

One Sunday afternoon during the war Yudina was the featured soloist in a live broadcast over Radio Moscow of Mozart's piano concerto .. 23. It just so happened that Stalin was listening to the broadcast that afternoon and was most favorably impressed. The following day he phoned Radio Moscow and
"requested" that they send him the recording of the Mozart piano concerto with Yudina they had just played. Of course, having been a live performance, no such recording existed, but nobody at Radio Moscow was going to risk Stalin's wrath by telling him that. So, they frantically summoned the entire Radio Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the conductor and Yudina to an emergency recording session that night.

It was already after 10 p. m. before everyone showed up, and the original
conductor was so nervous about making a "mistake" and incurring Stalin's ire
that he could not beat time effectively. After several false starts, he was sent
home and another conductor was summoned in his place. The second conductor arrived so drunk that he kept conducting sections of movements out of sequence.
After about 20 minutes of this, the orchestra members rebelled, put down their
instruments and refused to play for him. He was sent home.

To everyone's great relief, the third conductor summoned knew the score
perfectly by memory. It was well after 1:30 a. m. when he arrived and was informed of his mission. He took off his coat, walked to the podium, rapped his baton on it and declared: "Alors, Mozart!" and proceeded to whip the musicians through the entire concerto in a single take! The tape was replayed, everyone nodded their assent, and a single disc was pressed and sent to Stalin.

About two weeks later Yudina received a note from Stalin himself congratulating her on a marvelous performance and expressing how much he approved of her interpretation of Mozart. Enclosed with the note was
a personal check from Stalin to Yudina for 20,000 rubles!

Now, Yudina was a devout (some would say fanatical) Russian Orthodox Catholic who did not allow the official ban on religion in Soviet Russia deter her for a single second from practising and promoting her beliefs. Indeed, her public tweaking and avid annoying of the authorities in this matter had earned her the reputation of being one of Russia's foremost "gifted eccentrics." Good Christian lady that she was, she sent Stalin a thank-you letter which went
something like this:

"Dear Josef Vissairyonovich,

"I wish to thank you for your most generous gift and express to you how much it touched my heart. I will continue to pray for you and your soul every day and every night for the rest of my life. Please remember that
God's love for you is as infinite as His mercy, and if you but confess and repent He will forgive your many sins against our homeland and our countrymen.

"Once again, I wish to thank you for your gift. I have donated it in its entirity to the church which I regularly attend.

Most sincerly,
Maria V. Yudina"


When this letter arrived at Stalin's dacha it was opened and read by Stalin's secretary, who promptly informed Moscow's police chief of its contents. The police chief, in turn, passed it along to Beria, the head of the KGB. Together, all three of them showed it to Stalin, scrutinizing
the leader's face for the slightest sign of disapproval, which would have meant that Yudina was to "disappear." Stalin read the letter, and without so much as arching an eyebrow, crumpled it and tossed it in the trash.

As the Russian author Gogol once said: "In an insane society, the sane person must convince his keepers that he is more insane
than they."

On March 5, 1953, Stalin died in his bed. Spinning on his record player was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, performed by Maria Yudina.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• yudina
• mozart
• concerto
• piano
• classical

[dosgardenias1]

Please correct one thing-Maria Yudina was Russian Ortodox and Stalin while listening her performance was crying. He never liked very much thats kind of performance, but Maria touched him so deeply with her playing that he sent her a gift.

Fantastic performance! Thank you!

[truecrypt]

@dosgardenias1

Yes, she was converted from Judaism to Russian Orthodox Christianity.

Stalin greatly appreciate Yudina as a musician and strong-willed human being. He didn't cry over her performance (he didn't cry even when his son was killed by Germans), but something definitely has touched him in this music. BTW she returned his gift (10 thousand rubles) and sent him a very "dangerous" letter. God only knows why Stalin didn't punish her... probably respected her courage...

[swaddywell]

Truecrypt, I would like to add my thanks to you for all the wonderful postings of the two Marias, Grinberg and Yudina. You refer below to one of Yudina's letters. Is there an English language edition of the letters and if so could you post the details? (Otherwise I'll have to learn Russian!)

[truecrypt]

I hope somebody will translate and publish her letters and essays... but for now there is not much. I sent you some links though...

[paulostroff99]

Truecrypt-First off I would like to thank you for your postings which are among the best on you tube. Now,not to take issue on this point,but rather to set the record straight.According to both Wikipedia as well as a list of the Russian Jews in music-she is clearly referred to as being Jewish and not Christian.

[clodio97]

Quel dommage qu'on ne puisse la voir jouer en vidéo!!!  ELLE AVAIT BIEN DU ËTRE FILMEE? POURTANT!

[Classicfan94]

@acortot agree, shes so genial

[sonny19xx]

Oh terrific terrific...Dance to the tune. Thanks

[acortot]

She is in the top 10 recorded pianists of all time!! no doubt..!!!

[otsirk17]

Beautiful music. Maria excels. Thanks

[Quatarsys]

Можете меня ненавидеть за мой комментарий... Этот убожеский Моцарт, со своей музыкальной прыгающей инфантильностью, меня просто переворачивает... А воспринимать могу только Его Большую Мессу (Great Mass in C minor)

Однако в Исполнении Великой Юдиной, Его музыка вдруг обретает ту необходимую каждому произведению искусства вечность, константу истинного и непередаваемое ощущение вечной гармонии и красоты.

У меня ей Богу просто душа возвысилась от Её исполнения!!!

[gurthgirth]

I truly adore this woman

[Tryndets]

@Irinailiana "Когда записывали этот концерт, срочно ночью на пластинку , потому что Сталин захотел иметь эту запись..." А зачем было врать Сталину, что есть пластинка с этой записью, хотя на самом деле её не было? Дядя Джо просто спросил Радиокомитет - есть такая пластинка? А там с перепугу решили прогнуться, и наврали, что есть, вот и пришлось ночью записывать.

[BachHarmony]

without shy I say: "this is the only good thing that Stalin made"

[Irinailiana]

@ TrueCrypt

Мария Вениаминовна написала Сталину в письме , что она будет молиться за его грехи : " Бог милосерден , Он Вас простит , хотя Вы много нагрешили ". А премию 10 тысяч она отдала на ремонт церкви , которую посещала . Она была очень честным человеком и мужественным . Когда записывали этот концерт, срочно ночью на пластинку , потому что Сталин захотел иметь эту запись, у дирижеров тряслись руки , а Мария Вениаминовна спокойно играла . Только с третьим дирижером удалось довести запись .