Vladimir Ashkenazy Retires From Piano Concerts Due To Joint Disease; Will Concentrate on Conducting and Studio Piano Recordings

One thing Opera Chic wanted to do, was to one day see the great maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy play the piano -- OC dreamt of basking in his sound, in the emotional power and the frightening pulse of his playing.

It won't happen.

In today's Corriere della Sera, Ashkenazy (who's in Rome for Peer Gynt with Santa Cecilia) explains that degenerative joint disease in three fingers of his hand makes it too hard for him to mantain his standards for live concerts and recitals; he will henceforth concentrate his efforts  on conducting and on piano studio recordings:

"My hands don't hurt, but if I played in public I wouldn't be satisfied. I'll work in the studio, where you can stop and start all over again... It is my choice, I'm not acting on doctor's orders, it's my life".

^^^update^^^

Our dear Jessica "Mighty Jess" Duchen links us, and gives a shoutout to Murray Perahia -- here's our Perahia proxy-post from a few months ago -- Murray is back in form, yay!