Back in 1979, as the 10th anniversary of HAI approached, I had been thinking of some way to celebrate. One idea kept coming up: to be able to have a concert in which I would be a soloist with an orchestra. The "karma" seemed appropriate; for years I had been giving concerts on psychiatric wards on beat up funky pianos. Here was a chance to do it right. There were two problems: I had not been at the piano for some time, and even if I were able to get in shape, where would I get an orchestra? I approached the Musicians Performance Trust Funds, whose Trustee, Martin Paulsen, had been allocating funds to HAI. Marty gave me a present...money to assemble an orchestra for an anniversary concert. I decided to perform the formidable Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto, known for its technical difficulty and physical demands. (I had been studying and performing this work since I was a kid.) Over the next six months, I was in training, like Rocky facing the big fight. In April 1979 I was ready for the bout, and had to rent a concert grand piano. The place to do this was Steinway, in whose basement on 57th Street were dozens of fine concert grands. To help in the selection I asked Elizabeth Wright, an outstanding pianist/accompanist to join me, for she had performed this work with me over the years, playing the orchestra part on a second piano, a feat as demanding as the soloist on the first piano. With me were Ruth Spencer and my parents who had come from Los Angeles for the big match. I also brought along a cheap tape recorder, just for the hell of it. I quickly selected a piano for its brilliance and the ease of its action. We sat down and did a run through, taking a few shortcuts in the orchestral interludes. I recorded the performance and always felt that it was my best playing ever, better than the concert in which I played with an orchestra a few weeks later. I recently decided to transfer the recording from tape cassette to CD, and to share it with friends and colleagues. The playing astounds me even more today, having heard many other artists’ recordings since then. It is a nice legacy to share, an insight into the spirit, which has been the engine for my life and work.
Michael Jon Spencer—December 2002