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More info on Tozer's passing. Very sad stuff.

Tozer Passing

Or you can use this clickable link to get there.

Thanks, I didn't realize that the link was not clickable. I'm not used to posting links on this forum.

What a sad story. I've owned and loved his complete Medtner recordings for years but knew little of his personal life. It seems almost unthinkable that an artist of his talent could waste away.

Thanks for posting the link.

At any rate, thanks for pointing out the article. It is very sad and almost incomprehensible that his life took the course it did.

I have a number of his cd's. I had no idea... Very sad.

Heartbreaking. I wish his story was uncommon among those musical geniuses who are fabulously gifted, but...

I see about ten of his CDs listed on Barnes. I wish someone would share: if you could pick out one or two, which would they be?

It takes more than talent to make a career. I tell the school I tune for that their students need some business background. However, some people do not have the personality for a performing career.

Thank you for posting this. His passing is sad, the circumstances of his final years shocking and disturbing.

Does Australia not have a Department of "culture" or an Endowment for the Arts, or any government official that can appreciate the "value" of supporting a citizen with a talent of Tozer's caliber?
No offense to Austalian citizens who might read this. But perhaps enough noise could be made and at least a scholarship that supports "starving artists" could be established in Tozer's name.

Never heard of or heard him & I live in Sydney. Will check out his recordings. Sadly I struggle to believe anything churned out by a Murdoch rag and wonder whether this talent may have been inflated through connection with "important people".

Fortunately I play all 19 of Liszt's hungarian rhapsodies. Though The Australian failed to comprehend anyone might perform any other than the 2nd [by the description "Liszt's hungarian rhapsody"], if the performance did run for 15 minutes, he either played it very slowly or produced an extreme cadenza - something on the lines of Rachmaninov's famous piano roll performance.

Ah I remember now...I do have Tozer playing something Medtner, maybe one of his sonatas. I shall relisten to it again when I get in by way of homage.

Bragging or complaining?

Tozer recorded (possibly) definitive recordings of the Medtner concertos. Perhaps those are the recordings you have? I still remain to be convinced that the almost unnecessarily cruel demands Medtner makes on the pianist are fully justified by the musical considerations -some of the technical difficulties seem to exist for their own sake- but I admit I have a long way to go in fully understanding and appreciating Medtner. He's a hard nut to crack.

And BTW, many, many thanks to cherub_rocker1979 for alerting us to the article about Tozer. Much information there -a few issues I suspected- but all in all a very sad read.

Very sad.

i never heard his name before, but just checked youtube, and found some of his videos:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Geoffrey+Tozer&search_type=&aq=f

he's very good.

"Does Australia not have a Department of "culture" or an Endowment for the Arts, or any government official that can appreciate the "value" of supporting a citizen with a talent of Tozer's caliber? No offense to Austalian citizens who might read this. But perhaps enough noise could be made and at least a scholarship that supports "starving artists" could be established in Tozer's name."

The problem is bigger than that--- or of a different nature, to say it more truly. I've just finished bios of Mozart, Beethoven, and Nyiregyhazi (Kevin Bazzana's Lost Genius). Mozart's impairment is notorious; Beethoven managed better but was unable to add a column of numbers, and lived in astonishing squalor as to his quarters, dress and person; Nyiregyhazi was addicted to alcohol, sex, and had a deathly fear of performing in public or being recorded; he was unable to button his own clothes or cut up his own porkchop. And Tozer. I don't know how reliable the article is, but the pattern is starting to sound familiar.

Hollywood has its own roster of actors who were so impaired in their ability to function as human beings that I don't know that any amount of money would have been able to save them, once the spotlight moved on. The contemporary music industry has similar stories. Literary circles, same tale. Not everyone is a crash-and-burn case: others encounter big problems yet manage to save themselves.

Can we pass a law that people have to be able to function as human beings? That forbids bloodsuckers and hangers-on? That forces talented persons with addictions and crippling psychological issues to get well?

I'm not suggesting that nothing should be done, I'm just not so sure what it might be.

Of course, people who pirate recordings and sheet music contribute to the problem.

It's possible (even probable?) that Tozer would have had the same problems no matter what he did as a musician. Depression and addictive tendencies are to some extent hard-wired.

I can understand his friends' frustration, but blaming the Australian government for his death seems like a stretch.

Yes of course personality issues and even real psychiatric disorders often contribute to one's fate. But if you add poverty to the mix, especially if teh subject is a "sensitive" artist incapable of eeking a living other thatn his music and you haev a recipe for worse disaster. Governments are not supposed to fix everything for citizens, but they are supposed to use tax money wisely. Supporting artists should be fairly high on the priority list of civilised and developed countries. All the guy needed was a housekeeper and some sponsored concerts, or even some PR support by some high-ranking official, or someone to sensitize a musicians union group..

Grigory Ginsberg playing a number of Medtner's piano works, not Tozer. I did find a few Busoni recordings which I will check out after I D/L them. I have d/l the score for his Sonata Romantica which looks interesting. I shall keep you posted on progress.

Horowitzian - regards my confession as to playing all Liszt's hungarian rhapsodies, that wouldn't be a boast until I'm heard lol. Currently you can imagine I am as good or bad as you like.

you should get:

ALL ON CHANDOS ---

1.COMPLETE CONCERTOS OF MEDTNER (London Phiharmonic)
2.LISZT CONCERTOS - Tozer with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

also his LISZT TRANSCRIPTIONS is a wonderful recording and, for a complete constrast his recording of ROBERTO GERHARD PIANO CONCERTO (1997). This is a great example of Tozer performing the contemporary repertoire with great brilliance. It won the GRAMOPHONE Recording of the Year in 1998.

TOZER's live recording of the SCHUMANN PIANO CONCERTO (1995) is stupendous - one of the greatest performances ever. It will be releeased in 2012, along with some of his other great live performances.