Word: schumann
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...Ralf Schumann. A mild-tempered and obviously sharp-eyed man of 38, he was born in the former East Germany, where he took up pistol shooting at age 15. The pistol has since become an extension of his right arm, and rapid-fire shooting at 25 m his life. He fires 20,000 shots a year--all in training for a competition that lasts no longer than...
...thrill of those 72 seconds is the challenge of technical perfection," Schumann says. Shooting is not about the one perfect shot but about the perfect copy of the perfect shot 60 times, aiming for the maximum of 600 rings. The world record, set by Schumann in 1995, is 597, a figure that has been equaled--by him. Shooters are "mistake collectors," he explains. "Every hit besides the bull's eye is irretrievably lost...
...weight training and stamina, which he gets from jogging with his wife Anke, also a shooter. "The better your stamina is, the easier you can compensate the adrenaline output, to quiet your pulse and breath," he notes. A shooter must get rid of the adrenaline with almost no movement. Schumann had a lot of adrenaline to get rid of during a 2 1/2-year winning streak that ended in 1997. "Don't remind me of that drama," he sighs. "Every competition was like starting at the Olympics...
Murray Perahia, the reigning poet of classical piano, first made a name for himself in the '70s with his chaste, sensitive interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Chopin. But Perahia didn't bond with the Baroque genius of Johann Sebastian Bach until an injury to his right thumb forced him off the concert stage for five nerve-racking years. "I needed it spiritually," he explains...
...octaves, barnburning virtuosity in the big contrary-motion sweeps, so much that he lifted himself off the bench. The ending, mostly reminiscent of the G minor Ballade, included a final two chords that were so well executed as to seem prophetic. The second half of the program was a Schumann sonata in which all of the details were in place. The F-sharp Minor sonata Op. 11 is a sprawling piece of juvenilia that requires a tight vision of elements that don't necessarily relate organically to each other, as is the case with the greater master-piece, the Fantasy...