Word: johansen
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...worked in London for three years, then came to the U.S. In 1938, he accepted the post of chairman of Harvard's Department of Architecture, and the school quickly became the focus of young talent, including such now famous architects as Philip Johnson, Paul Rudolph, Ulrich Franzen, John Johansen and I. M. Pei. Gropius insisted that their work meet society's needs and that they move ahead alongside industry-until then largely overlooked by architects as a partner in their art. A technical innovation like the prefabricated glass-and-plastic facade, he knew, could be used as excitingly...
Monday, 10 p.m.: Johansen arrives in Manhattan, barely making a 6 p.m. flight from Madison. On the plane, he has made his first real study of the score. He has had plenty of experience. Trained in Berlin by Egon Petri, he played concerts in Europe for four years before moving to the U.S. in 1929. He has made five previous New York appearances, notably a 1966 performance of Busoni's challenging Piano Concerto. But now the magnitude of what he has undertaken overwhelms him. At a hotel, he recites "a prayer to Ludwig for help," and drops...
Tuesday, 9 a.m.: Johansen arrives at Philharmonic Hall to check the piano, decides that he needs a different one. He goes to the nearby Steinway building, chooses a piano, has it sent to the hall, then settles down for five solid hours of furious practicing. Then back to Philharmonic Hall for rehearsal, on the way gulping down a luncheon of carrot juice at a health-food store...
Tuesday, 4 p.m.: Johansen and Ormandy meet each other for the first time. "Did you practice the cadenzas?" asks Ormandy. "What cadenzas?" replies Johansen. His score does not happen to include them. At this point, Ormandy says that he is having a heart attack. But the one-hour rehearsal goes on, with Ormandy concentrating on the passages where piano and orchestra play together. A messenger is dispatched to obtain a score of the cadenzas. Later Johansen practices backstage, then hurries to the hotel for his tails, which are due back from the valet. No tails. Back to Philharmonic Hall...
Tuesday, 9:30 p.m.: Johansen strides coolly onstage in a grey business suit. After the orchestral opening, his first solo entrance is firm, clean and smoothly phrased. He reads carefully from the score, but otherwise nothing in his playing betrays the tension onstage. After the first movement, Ormandy leans over to whisper: "Bravo." Johansen ripples out silvery pianissimos in the slow movement, builds the finale with structural logic and power. At the finish, the audience-which has been told only thai Peter Serkin is "indisposed" and knows nothing of what has gone on-gives Johansen a warm ovation. Ormandy...