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See Talk:Nikolai Medtner for a discussion about whether any one pianist has ever recorded all of Medtner's piano works. Tozer and Hamish Milne might have come close, but each has some minor gaps. JackofOz 00:54, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
Referring to this:
- I don't think Tozer was the first Western artist to perform the Yellow River Concerto in China. I don't feel quite confident enough of this to actually change the article, and I can't come up with a definite reference. But I do have an L.P. record from the 1970s featuring Daniel Epstein performing the Yellow River Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, plus one or two short Chinese orchestral works and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" on one side, and Respighi's "Pines of Rome" on the other side.
The L.P. is currently in storage and I can't access it now to check; but I'm pretty sure the notes on the back state that Epstein performed the Yellow River Concerto in China on tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy - the L.P. seemed to be intended as a commemoration of that tour.
The article on Daniel Epstein lends support to this, and suggests that Epstein, after performing the work in America, went on to play it in China, but doesn't quite say that he did. (It states that this was the plan, but fails to mention whether this was actually done - but doesn't suggest that the plan was changed, either.)
Can anyone confirm from more reliable sources that Epstein performed that concerto in China back in the 1970s? If so, then the mention that Tozer was the first to do it could be changed simply to state that he performed it in China. M.J.E. ( talk) 18:10, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
I wish to refer to this passage in the article:
Was not the 1962 performance Tozer's concert debut? If so, then why is his 1964 performance described as his concert debut?
Perhaps the 1962 performance was a limited or private performance (well, televised nationally, but perhaps a private audience physically present); if so, this would then make the 1964 performance his public debut in a live capacity, as against being televised.
But, one way or another, this vagueness needs clearing up. I don't know the facts about these performances to do it myself; but perhaps someone who knows might care to do so. Thanks. M.J.E. ( talk) 16:57, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
CLARIFICATION OF DEBUT
Geoffrey Tozer's first concerto performance was on national (ABC) television at the age of eight when he performed Bach's concerto in F Minor. The reason it is NOT referred to as his concert debut is because it was not performed in front of an audience in a concert hall, but for television in a studio. In fact his concert debut, by which is meant a performance in front of a live audience in a concert venue, took place in February 1963 at the Myer Music Bowl when Geoffrey Tozer performed a Haydn Concerto at the age of nine. This performance can be heard on a disc that was issued to coincide with Geoffrey Tozer's (incorrectly-named) 'Celebration Forty' to celebrate his forty years as a concert pianist. That celebration should have taken place in 2003, if his concert debut is counted from February 1963. The disc containing the Haydn performance, and several other performances, including his live improvisations from a theme by Dr Floyd, performed on ABC radio at the age of eight (1962), is available from various record stores. Mstroh ( talk) 07:04, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
Can anyone verify the claim that GT played all the Beethoven concerti by the age of 15? It's a claim that has been challenged in the past and I would be interested to know whether it's true or not. I suspect that he did but it would be good to know. I don't think the Medtner citation is clarification enough. MagnusMuir ( talk) 23:19, 25 October 2009 (UTC)
Hey JackofOz, please leave the placing of the video link as it is. Thank you. There are reasons for this. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me via wikimail. User:Mstroh ( talk) 9:05:05, 15 Feburary 2009 (UTC)
Well, the reason I have added the link at the start of the biography is that it shows firstly, quite clearly what calibre of pianist he is. It adds to the statement above it that he is a classical pianist of some renown. Feel free to undo this change. It's quite easy to "undo the undo".
You must admit that this edit is far better than your "cut and paste" effort from the Age article from which you used to create this page initially. User:Mstroh ( talk) 11:20:10, 15 Feburary 2009 (UTC)
The Herald-Sun piece is now gone. It said he died on "Thursday" = 20 August. There's been no journalistic coverage of his death in The Age so far, but in today's edition there's a death notice from his family. It gives his full name "Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer"; his parents' names (Veronica Tozer and Geoffrey Conan Davies - both deceased); the names of his siblings (Peter, Stephen, Bliss, Meredith and Tim); and the date of death - 21 August. I'd rather believe this date than whatever the Herald-Sun said. -- JackofOz ( talk) 21:34, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
I have removed any reference to criticism of the awards he received, on the grounds that the references were newspaper reports and not of an objective encyclopaedic nature. This man had done a lot of good for the community. Without these awards, he would not have been able to, in the past and the future, provide enjoyment to those who listen and understand his work.
I am, however, open to criticism about my beliefs in this regard. But rest assured that I will make every effort to remove any future references to criticism about these awards. Give the guy a break, for God's sake. He can't hurt you now!!
Mstroh ( talk) 13:32, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
I am referring to this statement in the article, taken from Paul Keating's eulogy:
With due respect to Mr. Keating, whose entire eulogy I read with interest, and who clearly knows a lot about classical music, I do believe this statement is incorrect and should be changed.
The statement is referring to Medtner's three piano concertos, all of which Geoffrey Tozer recorded. His recording of the 2nd concerto is the only one that may be a premiere recording. Both the other concertos were recorded well before Tozer's recordings: No. 1 with soloist Igor Zhukov, and No. 3 with soloist Michael Ponti. (Sorry, I don't recall the orchestras or conductors of those performances.) Neither of these is the recording alluded to from the 1940s, which I haven't heard. I believe both are from either the 1960s or 1970s.
I know this, because I heard both those recordings broadcast on the A.B.C. a few times in the 1970s. I will change this statement in the article if I can find a definite reference somewhere to these recordings. I realize the statement is simply reporting accurately what Mr. Keating said; but Mr. Keating is actually incorrect on this point. M.J.E. ( talk) 13:01, 3 October 2009 (UTC)
I've tried checking on other recordings, particularly the dates - there seem to be quite a few recordings now of all three concertos, but it's not always easy to find out when they first came out. Amazon.com often gives dates, but I often find them inaccurate, so they may be dates of reissues, not original issues, although they don't say that. So I wouldn't trust Amazon.com as a reliable source of dates for anything for use here.
I think I saw a mention somewhere of an early recording possibly by Medtner himself of Concertos 2 and 3 - so if that is true, then *none* of Tozer's recordings would be world premiere recordings. I may wait and see if I can confirm all this before changing the article. But I am in no doubt that at least two of Tozer's concerto recordings are not world premiere recordings. (I'm not trying to downplay Tozer's achievements in saying things like this - just raising things that I think the article may in fact be incorrect about.)
The L.P. you mentioned conducted by Pierre Cao is the one I was thinking of - I recognized the orchestra and conductor once you mentioned them. Listen to it; it's great stuff - Medtner's music is just out of this world: subtle, complex, yet utterly magical and entrancing. These concertos are amongst my favourite piano concertos.
Just one other unrelated thing, which doesn't deserve a new section here: I changed the spelling of Reuben Fineberg's surname which you put in - hope you don't mind. It is spelled with an "e", not a "u". I knew Reuben when he ran Fine Music during the 1970s, and I was always in there from my teens onwards buying scores of all the wonderful composers I was discovering for the first time: Debussy, Scriabin, lots of others. I met Geoffrey Tozer once or twice there when he and I were both in our teens - probably in 1971 - he was 8 months younger than myself. I didn't know who he was at the time, and just knew him as this fellow Geoffrey who came in occasionally and played the piano. I didn't know Reuben was Geoffrey's manager until I read it in Paul Keating's eulogy. So this might have been one of the very earliest meetings between Geoffrey and Reuben. M.J.E. ( talk) 16:05, 3 October 2009 (UTC)
Paul Keating in his eulogy of Tozer talked about the arts establishment, especially the main orchestras in Sydney and Melbourne, ignoring Tozer for more than a decade at the end of his life, resulting in him getting less public exposure in Australia than he should have got, and left us with the image of Tozer merely playing to himself in a rented suburban house towards the end of his life because almost no-one else wanted his playing.
Does anyone know what the story is behind this? If it is true that the music world snubbed him, there must surely be a reason for it. Is there any kind of faction fighting involved here or any kind of musical politics? If anything can be verified, it would be good to include it in the article. While Paul Keating said it had happened and Tozer had been the victim of it, he didn't say why. He seemed to assume his audience would already know why.
Or might it be the case that it was not as deliberate as Keating suggested (despite his use of strong words such as "indifference", "contempt", "malevolence", and "bitchiness"), and that there are more soloists of high calibre available than orchestras or other organizations can accommodate? If this is the case, then someone would have to miss out on engagements, and it was bad luck that it often happened to be Geoffrey Tozer - and who knows what the reasons for that might be? I'm just wondering, anyway.
Can anyone clarify this further? I would like to know more of what was behind this, and it would certainly be good to add to the article. M.J.E. ( talk) 13:24, 3 October 2009 (UTC)
I just found a passage in a newspaper article which may throw a little light on why Tozer was snubbed, although the connection is probably too tenuous to be used as a definite reason to be mentioned in the Wikipedia article. From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25985836-16947,00.html:
So if he had a habit of being outspoken and aroused controversy, maybe he did put a few noses out of joint - and the owners of those noses might not forget in a hurry. If he thought Melbourne was "provincial", there might have been influential musical figures in Australia who might have resented this attitude. Interesting anyway, but probably too diffuse a connection to write into the article. But it gives me a possible and tentative picture of why Tozer may have been snubbed.
As for the media not reporting important events relating to important people (Britten's death, reviews of important Tozer recitals), maybe Australia (outside the arts community) is just not all that interested in culture and high art. Now if it had been the most trivial event concerning Brendan Fevola or Ben Cousins or Shane Warne, we would never hear the end of it. But the idea of the media being interested in anything about Nikolai Medtner is almost laughable. Australia just doesn't seem to operate that way - regrettably.
(And by the way that same article gives the "u" spelling to Reuben Fineberg's surname ("Fineburg"), which may be where you got the spelling. I do feel sure it is wrong, though, although I am open to correction.) M.J.E. ( talk) 16:23, 3 October 2009 (UTC)
TOZER THREE POINTS OF CLARIFICATION:
There has been no mention in any of the commentary, obituaries or talk here of one significant factor, and I think the reasons for that are perfectly understandable. It is no secret among those who knew Geoffrey and worked with him that he was an alcoholic. It's a sad fact, and it surely contributed to his illness. Whether he began drinking to excess as a result of the death of his mother I do not know, but at some point it happened and contributed greatly to the breakdown of his health. At least one newspaper was pushing for the reporting of this aspect of Geoffrey's life but so far all commentators have resisted. The alcoholism, naturally, affected his ability to play at his best on a number of occasions, and it is not necessary to develop complex theories concerning the duplicity of the music business in Australia to comprehend the situation. In fact, it is a pretty disgusting slur on many of the good people in the industry to bang on as if they were all out to denigrate and cheat Geoffrey. Many, if their opinions were canvassed, would share stories of empathy and frustration and the Manichean angle of some commentary is simply naïve, at best. M.J.E. is right to question the fact that the obituary by Carman in the Age was written in consultation with Peter W Johnston ("Peter Johnston, Geoffrey Tozer's executor, assisted in preparing this tribute."). Johnston is Tozer's executor, yet in that article the date of death is given as 20 August. Presumably, the date was clarified after a medical report but so far there has been no explanation given as to the initial error. MagnusMuir ( talk) 03:50, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
I've now read the Weekend Australian piece (Stuart Rintoul, "Diminuendo: The Life and Death of Geoffrey Tozer"), and I think we need to include some of the things he writes about. I don't normally read it, but the Oz is a reliable source, and we need to consider balance, and avoid drifting into hagiography. It may be "lurid" as Magnus Muir states, and some of it may well be exaggerated, but it's on the record now. If there's anything to counter what he says, that would be welcome too.
Firstly, I'd heard suggestions Tozer was gay, but Rintoul is vague about it. He does talk about two specific relationships with men, but he also says Tozer was "a man who loved both women and men". I honestly don't know how to interpret this. Is he saying Tozer was bisexual? Or was he just saying he was just as comfortable around women as he was with men, but chose to have sexual relationships only with men?
Then there was his drinking, which was apparently an enormous problem. For example, he arrived drunk for a concert at Federation Square in 2005. And "he more than once had lost his sight from alcohol abuse" (!), which is something rather more serious than just being "blind drunk".
Trevor Green and John Harding also rebutted some of what Keating had to say in his eulogy. Harding was so "incensed" by it that he contacted Keating to complain. Green was "appalled" by Keating's comments.
Then there was his unreliablility and improvisational tendencies (which, if true, could well explain why he was ignored by the Australian musical establishment in his latter years in favour of more conventional players), and his almost disastrous final concert with David Pereira in Bendigo.
There's too much to just ignore. The question is, where to draw the line. -- JackofOz ( talk) 08:17, 26 October 2009 (UTC)
If Tozer was born in 1954, then this: "Tozer also championed another Melbourne prodigy, pianist Noel Mewton-Wood, who died in 1953" is impossible. Someone who knows might like to correct it. PiCo ( talk) 05:46, 29 August 2010 (UTC)
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