Roslyn Tureck interview: pivotal experience just before 17th birthday?

September 1, 2022 10:19 PM

I was listening to an interview with the pianist Roslyn Tureck. At one point she mentions experiencing something just before her 17th birthday that profoundly altered the way she played Bach, but frustratingly she does not describe the experience, saying only that it's been written about in many books. Well, if anyone here has read those books, please fill me in! Link to the relevant point in the interview: https://youtu.be/EQ5aYxlAobo?t=128
posted by mpark to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: Tureck had an out-of-body experience where she fell into a coma during her first year at Juilliard (at 16), and had a kind of sublime moment of insight into Bach and playing with each finger independently — it’s briefly described here and here.
posted by warriorqueen at 11:36 PM on September 1, 2022 [6 favorites]

I would have said that no one could actually frighten me simply by talking about piano music, but Roslyn Turek did (link is to the video linked in warriorqueen's first link).
posted by jamjam at 3:29 AM on September 2, 2022

She was quite a personality. I never met her but she attended a few scientist-heavy dinner parties that my grandparents were at and every time my grandfather played one of her albums my grandmother would go on about it. My grandmother was also a personality so hard to say whether the grudge was justified. I’d take Glenn Gould’s admiration more seriously, but Tureck was legendarily snippy after he died. Just a small note if you’re searching that it’s Rosalyn with an a.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:37 AM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you, warriorqueen! What an interesting life!

I can't believe I misspelled her name. I thought it looked funny. Embarrassing.
posted by mpark at 8:04 AM on September 2, 2022