Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 7

ECAUSE INTERVIEWS with classical artists almost inevitably cover such music-related subjects as fa- vorite compositions, stylistic evolutions, or upcoming engagements, it’s easy to forget that they are more than just performers and have other interests in their lives. A case in point is Richard Goode, the esteemed -year-old American pianist who will present a solo recital July in Ravinia’s Martin eatre. While music is, of course, a central part of his life, much less known is that he is an avid fan of ne art, especially European painting. Although has acquired some small paintings, sculptures, and original prints, he considers him- self more an admirer than a collector. He makes a point of visiting the art museums in the dozens of cities he visits each year as part of his international touring schedule. “It’s a continuing love of mine,” Goode says. e pianist has no idea how many di erent museums he has toured, but it could be as many as . ey range from regional institutions like the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, NE, to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, with its renowned collection of Dutch art. Some he has seen only once, but others, like the National Gallery in London and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he returns to repeatedly. Legendary pianist Mieczysław Horszowski, one of his teachers at the Curtis Institute of Music, was also what Goode calls an “inveterate observer and lover of paintings,” and he had the ability to remember everything he saw and even recall where in museums the artworks were positioned. “I happily or unhappily don’t have that gi ,” Goode says, “so, consequently, if I visit a museum and I haven’t been there for years, I don’t necessarily remember what’s there. What I’m trying to say is that I get a new shock of surprise when I go to a museum that I haven’t been to for a while and have a new, fresh experience.” Two of his favorite institutions are in his hometown of New York—the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he quickly points out is just ve blocks from his residence, and the Frick Collection, blocks away. e latter houses the extraordinary art collection of Henry Clay Frick ( – ) and is located in the once-powerful industrialist’s Gilded Age mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Other favorites include the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO, and Milan’s Museo Poldi Pezzoli, which includes masterpieces by such artists as Sandro Botticelli and Andrea Mantegna. Richard Goode brushes with painters’ pale es in his pianism B STEVE RISKIND 32 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 15 – JULY 28, 2019