Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand - such wonderfulness!

[Rabrrrrrr]

I pulled out another old piece of vinyl, and this was it - a performance by Alicia de Larrocha and the London Philharmonic, 1974.

[Monk06]

1. OK here's the ultimate obscure trivia question. Who commissioned it?

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Of course, I know that answer, so I'll put it inside

and white it out:

Paul Wittgenstein, pianist who lost his right arm in WWI. Also commissioned piano pieces from Hindemith, Britten, Korngold, Prokofiev, and Richard Strauss, as well as arranging a lot of other music for a left hand piano

[Monk06]

3. Good man. Let the trivia pretenders try to figure it out. It's the why tha

that's the kicker.

[Suich]

4. I think that's the one that was featured on an episode of M*A*S*H.

A soldier, who was a concert pianist, had lost the use of his right hand and was going to give up playing altogether. Charles got a copy of the sheet music and convinced him that his life was not over and he could still play.

:)