<<  -- 9 --  Bill Newman    AFTER ANTAL DORÁTI

I am interested how you thrust your way into London's concert life. 'I was not always so happy with my London managers. I was taken on by Ibbs and Tillett, an old-fashioned management who I learnt much from, and they arranged my 1954 Wigmore Hall concert which received excellent reviews, to my great fortune. Things took off, and amongst others I appeared with John Hopkins in Manchester, who eventually moved on to New Zealand.'

'I have never regarded myself as a pushy person. As a student, I always had the idea that if I played well that things would develop by themselves. So, I worked my way through, making a round-the-world tour in 1959. With Ozim, I went to Australia, New Zealand and Japan -- some sixty concerts, with twenty-six sonatas performed over five programmes!'

Merging Personalities

'It began to go smoothly, and I didn't want to do too much, as I had a small child. But when Toni came, it changed drastically. We were on the go for ten months of the year. So, my poor boy went to boarding school at the age of thirteen, and luckily he did not blame me. But for a single child, boarding school must be hell. He always spent his whole vacation with us, wherever we were. But Toni wanted me with him as much as possible.'

Yet, he was always gently persuasive with you. Because you could always fire back at him, if needs be. I get the feeling you are quite a dominant personality in what you believe in and feel about your creative art -- in which you are highly involved. You are not going to change your opinion on a lot of things. 'That's true'. So, couldn't he compromise in several ways? 'Well, he did, and he didn't, because he was in the hands of managers who often persuaded him to do too much. As he became older I had more to say about where, how much and what.'

'In America it was very hard. I know the advantages and the disadvantages. It's a great country if you look at it from one side. But very controversial on the other side. We were in Washington for nearly ten years. Washington is not an American city. There are two hundred and twenty embassies and a lot of foreigners. Through the government, it has become very superficial.

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