The success, however, further increased the pressures. That film, after winning both the Prague and Monte Carlo prizes, was shown in 18 countries within 12 months of its first broadcast and attracted, for both artists, an international public that might otherwise have taken them 20 years or more to build. It had been boosted, dramatically, by the international success of our film Double Concerto in which he and Daniel Barenboim had appeared together for the first time. After moving to the West, Ashkenazy's career had taken off at an almost alarming rate.
The title comes from a statement which he makes in the film. And so we went with him to Iceland to film him and his family during their first days there. It seemed to us an ideal moment to make a film about this Russian-born master pianist, with his very particular personal appeal, adapting to life and music in the Western world. He felt strongly that while he was totally at home with Russian music he was not close enough to the great traditions of the West.Īs subsequent events have proved, those anxieties say more about his earnestness than about his abilities, but the worries were real enough at the time. He nevertheless felt that he had been inadequately prepared by the Russian educational system. In his teens Ashkenazy had won several major prizes including the Chopin International Prize in Brussels in 1956 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962.
VITAL JUICES PROFESSIONAL
They had left the Soviet Union, with the help of Nikita Kruschev, in 1963 and for five years had lived in London.Ĭoming to terms with living in the West and with the pressures of a high level international concert career had proved difficult however and they felt that they needed more space and more time, both for their private and for their professional lives. On the 8th of June 1968 Vladimir Ashkenazy, with his Icelandic wife Thorunn and their two children, arrived at their new home in Reykjavik in Iceland. The Daily Telegraph VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY: THE VITAL JUICES ARE RUSSIAN A retiring man who comes vividly to life when at the keyboard.
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