Piano Concerto for One Hand – Seeing Opportunities Instead of Obstacles
The pianist Paul Wittgenstein lost his right arm while serving in World War I. That did not stop him from becoming a world-famous pianist.
The Austrian Wittgenstein was shot in the elbow during the Battle of Galicia and had to have his arm amputated. He was only 27 at the time. He was taken prisoner by the Russians and decided, even while in the prison camp, that he would continue his career as a pianist, even though he had only one arm.
He maintained his piano skills in his left hand by “playing” on marked keys that he had scratched into the keyboard with a piece of charcoal. He was later moved to a camp where there was a rickety piano that he was allowed to play.
Concerts for a Hand
When the war was over and Wittgenstein was able to start playing again, he quickly realized that it would be problematic to play well-known piano pieces that had been adapted for one hand. It would never sound as good as the original. The only way to get around this problem was to commission pieces from composers that were written to be played with just one hand on the keys.
Takagi performs Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Maurice Ravel’s brilliant Piano Concerto in D major for the left hand is the best known of the concertos commissioned by Wittgenstein. It is precisely this famous piano concerto that the talented pianist Ryoma Takagi will perform with one hand at the Kilden Concert Hall.
This is far from a piece of cake. The young Japanese pianist is 27 years old (the same age Wittgenstein was when he lost his arm), but Takagi has already won a number of awards, including the Edvard Grieg International Piano Competition.
This season, he will perform at renowned concert halls such as the Musikverein in Vienna and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, but on Thursday, March 5, it’s Kilden Konsertsalen Kilden .
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