#michel block

[musicmakesyousmart]

Maurizio Pollini & Michel Block - Mazurkas • Polonaises • Prélude • Impromptu • Nocturne • Valse

Heliodor

1960

[shanes-comics]

Michael Block photography

[clavierissimo]

[clavierissimo]

What a treasure, this parlando!

[clavierissimo]

In one of the most famous of all competition incidents, Michel Block won the Arthur Rubinstein Award in Warsaw at the 1960 International Chopin Piano Competition. As a contestant in that year's competition, he failed to capture the top prize (which went to Maurizio Pollini). What he did capture, however, was the attention and allegiance of one of the jurors, Arthur Rubinstein, who created the Arthur Rubinstein Award then and there for Block, a dramatic gesture that said plainly and loudly that he believed Block should have been the winner. Two years later, Michel Block won the Leventritt Competition in New York, adding his name to the illustrious list of winners, among which Alexis Weissenberg, Van Cliburn, Eugene Istomin, etc.