Krystian Zimerman's shocking Disney Hall debut

Poland's Krystian Zimerman, widely regarded as one of the finest pianists in the world, created a furor Sunday night in his debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall when he announced this would be his last performance in America because of the nation's military policies overseas.

Before playing the final work on his recital, Karol Szymanowski’s "Variations on a Polish Folk Theme," Zimerman sat silently at the piano for a moment, almost began to play, but then turned to the audience. In a quiet but angry voice that did not project well, he indicated that he could no longer play in a country whose military wants to control the whole world. 

“Get your hands off of my country,” he said.  He also made reference to the U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  

About 30 or 40 people in the audience walked out, some shouting obscenities.  “Yes,” he answered, “some people when they hear the word military start marching.”

Others remained but booed or yelled for him to shut up and play the piano.  But many more cheered.  Zimerman responded by saying that America has far finer things to export than the military, and he thanked those who support democracy.

For the first half of the recital, Zimerman had played a Bach Partita and Beethoven’s last piano sonata, Opus 111, with firm determination.  After intermission he made a last minute substitution, exchanging late Brahms works for a 1953 sonata by Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz.  The Szymanowski variations, which closed the program, was played with an astonishing ferocity that brought nothing but tumultuous cheers.  There was no encore.

The pianist was not available after the concert for further comment.

Zimerman has had problems in the United States in recent years.  He travels with his own Steinway piano, which he has altered himself.  But shortly after 9/11, the instrument was confiscated at JFK Airport when he landed in New York to give a recital at Carnegie Hall.  Thinking the glue smelled funny, the TSA decided to take no chances and destroyed the instrument.  Since then he has shipped his pianos in parts, which he reassembles by hand after he lands.  He also drives the truck himself when he carries his instrument from city to city over land, as he did after playing a recital in Berkeley on Friday.

MONDAY UPDATE: Review: Krystian Zimerman's controversial appearance at Disney Hall 

TUESDAY UPDATE: What led to Krystian Zimerman's surprising comments, walkouts

-- Mark Swed

Photo: Krystian Zimerman in 2005. Credit: Kasslara.

Comments

[csnyder]

Apparently Zimerman has no problem distinguishing between America and Americans. I see no hypocrisy there. From the news coverage it would seem that there were as many, if not more, in the audience who agreed with his comments. When Americans travel abroad we often benefit from the ability of other nationalities to distinguish between our policies, which are almost universally condemned, and our people, who are generally welcomed. Having his Steinway D confiscated and then destroyed by the TSA because it smelled funny? That might strike some of us an amusing comment on the paranoia that gripped this county in the wake of 9/11, but to Zimerman it would have most likely seemed to typify the overweening ignorance and arrogance that make us such a convenient target for every third world tyrant hoping to deflect attention from his own deficiencies. In the wake of WW ll, we have seen Europe and Asia rise from the ashes as they achieved economically what they could not do militarily. Meanwhile, Russia has cratered into a third-world kleptocracy and we seem to be on a slippery slope of economic decline and political polarization. The military is a blunt instrument ill-suited for policing the world, and the most lasting wounds it leaves are upon the users.

[JohnRJ08]

A lot of ignorance here. We have troops and bases in Europe because of treaty obligations, not because we want to dominate Europe. For centuries, Europe was one big bloody battlefield. World War II, which led to the creation of NATO, has made Europe more peaceful and prosperous for a longer period of time than at any previous time in modern history. The United States constitutes the bulk of NATO's power and resources. This Polish piano player needs to study his European history a little and get his facts straight before he starts trashing anyone. If Europeans had been willing to carry more of the weight in preserving NATO and honoring its treaties, it wouldn't have been necessary for the U.S. to maintain such a large presence there at such great expense. Beyond that, if the U.S. hadn't sent its kids to fight and die in Europe back in 1942, then this clown would be speaking German if he was alive at all.

[TradeMark310]

If my girl somehow convinced me to go to this, I would have been one of the guys yelling "shut up and play the piano".

[Dude]

He has lived in Geneva for many years and

belives in the Geneva Conventions

but this only for small counties

[READBOOKS]

jOHNRJ08

If you think U.S. was so righteous during world war II, why did they enter the was 3 years after it started? Where they selling weapons to the wrong people maybe? The War started in 1939 not 1942, millions of people died before U.S. finally decided to do anything.

[Edward Roth]

Why is it that people get so threatened and upset when someone speaks their mind. He is an artist and he is entitled to his opinion. Bravo!

[Kristian]

I am more incensed by the people who stood and cheered him.
The arts are for the elite and the effete. I have no time for that nonsense. If I had been there though I would have probably been arrested. He is not fit to insult my brothers.

[Steve]

I agree with Zimerman's endgame, but for a different reason. It costs a lot of money to support the rest of the free world's military. Because the US taxpayer bears the majority of that cost, the EU is free to spend money they should be spending on their own defence, on the welfare of their citizens. I suggest the US close ALL their overseas bases, bail on NATO, the UN, the IMF, and ANY other "imperialistic" tendencies that our taxpayers fund. Let those that love to bash us step up and do a better job (including the present administration). No complaints here. Let those that think we're the REAL evil take a crack at stepping up to North Korea, Iran, Russia. We'll keep our tax dollars here to pay off the Chinese and find sources of fuel besides oil because in about 10 years without our support, we won't be able to get it at ANY price. Look at Russia using gas to manage their politics.

[Mike--a Non-American on American Soil]

To all those that posted your view in support of this nut's view on America. It must be nice to be able to post your disdains for this country while living in it and enjoying its freedom. Surely, you wouldn't dare come out of your "caves" let alone be afforded the means to even breathe your views if you're actually living elsewhere in the world.

~"Don't bite the hands that feed you"

[night]

Quote: [TradeMark310: If my girl somehow convinced me to go to this, I would have been one of the guys yelling "shut up and play the piano]

Your girlfriend wouldn't even try to convince you to go because she knows you're too shallow to understand real music judging by your comment of what you would do.

[AA]

I agreed in part with what he had to say, but I saw it more as a case of an entertainer entering a realm in which he truly does not belong, i.e. politics. He should spend more time criticizing Polish foreign policy and the Polish government, and do so from Poland, not from the Walt Disney Concert Hall in the middle of a concert. Military activity in Poland by the US is not without an open invitation by the Polish government. What he did is akin to a con-job. He lured an audience in under the pretext of a concert, an audience who for the most part had no interest in his political views, and used the stage as a pulpit. I agreed with one guy in the audience who said, "[..shut up and play, we paid for a concert, not for you to talk]..."

[The Kitchen Dispatch]

Well, fine. He can say these things because over here we have freedom of speech. Lucky for him, in other countries he'd be tossed out or worse.

As for the military ...the military GOES where the governments sends them. The men and women do a thankless job, and they do so whether or not they agree with the government.

If he does not want the military presence, then he has to get to the citizenry that elects officials and is responsible for crafting public policy.

Believe me, the men and women of the military would like nothing more than having bases over here, being here, and protecting our country here. But that's not how politics plays out, and I"m afraid Mr. Zimmerman will find himself working with a very short list of countries who do not have soldiers in other countries.

[AA]

and, by the way, Poland is no stranger to human rights violations

[judith davidson]

As a member of the audience last night, I was unable to hear most of what he said from my seat. I DID hear him tell us to get our hands off his country, though, since he said that somewhat louder. I was confused when he said that, because I had read the program notes which informed us that he is now living in Switzerland, so I kept wondering what we were doing in Switzerland. From my vantage point, at least 30 people walked out. My problem was that his speech created so many bad vibes in the hall and in myself that it was impossible for me to settle down and become involved in the last piece, amazingly played as it was. And, I think that his own private sturm and drung impacted his performance of the Beethoven, which was far less immediate than that of Andras Schiff a few weeks earlier at Disney. But at the end, stupid me, I thought everyone was cheering because of his playing during the last half of the concert and not his politics.

[Adrian Masters]

As Zimerman said... stay out of other people's businesses, keep your military to yourself, go play slave to the racists and bigots, and stop considering yourself as a special species that exists to rule the world, nobody gave americans the role they took upon themselves!
When people would have stood up to the liars and bigots that ruined the world the present disasterous state of the world would not have happened!

Besides, what are americans anyway?
Decendants of religious terrorists and fanatics, criminals, racists, intolerants, bigots and homophobes...... so what can one expect from present day americans?

[Argonaut]

Well, that headline brought out the mouth-breathers. Since they certainly did not attend the concert, perhaps a bit more information is in order.

Mr. Zimmerman said he reached this decision 3 years ago, the implication being he chose not to cancel concerts, but to stop booking them. I agree with Pupster that his decision seems ill-timed but with that in mind, and the fact that Guantanamo remains open, it is more understandable.

His remark about getting the US out of Poland no doubt is in reference to the CIA persuading the conservative government in Poland to host one of their "black sites". If Andrew thinks Zimmerman's exercise of free speech is a stain on Disney Hall, think how such an illegal CIA operation affects the Polish people.

There were a few audience members with the same misunderstanding of history ("We saved you from the Russians!"), and some who walked out (the pair in my row walked out *after* the Szymanowski began; I wished they had walked in front of me so I could accidentally step on their toes, but such is life). However, even considering this is Los Angeles where everybody gets a standing ovation, the applause and cheers after the concert were the loudest and longest I can remember. Mr. Zimmerman was obviously emotional about the evening and the response. If I could say one thing to him it would be that a benefit concert for the ACLU might be a way he could return to the US. That would be positively Paderewskian.

[john]

Mike--a Non-American on American Soil

Grow up Mike, show me a country in Europe that doesn't have the same freedom of speech that US has. Why do Americans think they're the only ones with freedoms of speech, press, religion and others? Ignorance... again?

[David]

It's so amusing how simple the liberals think the world is. Just hug a dictator and they'll leave us alone and be our friend. After all, no one is as evil as the US under Bush. Bush is gone, but the real baddies are still there. The EU were pissed because we were powerful before and whined to us about Guantanomo. When are you stepping up to take those prisoners and why is no one whining to Obama about Bagram? Why do you complain about "torture" when the current commander in chief hasn't banned it yet from SEAL training? Are you going to protest him or is it OK to torture US citizens. It's all Liberal word play. Make it sound bad to make them feel good. Can't wait to see the EU and US liberals protesting China, Iran torture now that Bush is gone. FAT CHANCE.

[rob]

I have no problem that he expressed his opinion, bully for him.

I'm just shocked he did it on the way out the door, fee already paid and after the TOURING THE U.S. FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.

So...what?
Did he finally make enough cash that he could bite the hand that feeds him?

I would have been more impressed has he done this in 2001 after the TSA fiasco.

To do it now is grandstanding and political tomfoolery.

Good riddance, don't come back,
AND KEEP YOUR PROMISE THIS TIME!

[tom]

you know, he and most of the rest of the world, do agree.

maybe we should open up our ears -- it could keep us from wasting trillions more

capital that we need to save life with -- not threaten life with.

to all those that walked out -- I'd ask you to read Eisenhower's farewell address.

The general made the same point -- now would you get up and walk out on him?

They destroyed his priceless piano?! That is Nazi stupid, isn't it?

Many people can become a Jesus and many people can become a Hitler.

Rove was Goebbels -- and Cheney was unser fuhrer, nich wahr?