When Rachmaninov met Walt Disney

Here's a great photo I came across the other day, of Sergei Rachmaninov, Walt Disney and Vladimir Horowitz. Shame it's so grainy but you get the idea. It seems that Rachmaninov went on a tour of the Walt Disney studios in 1942 with Horowitz, both pianists being a fan of Disney's films.

I wonder what they were talking about here? Answers on a postcard please.*

Perhaps one of the topics they discussed was Rachmaninov's famous C sharp minor Prelude, the dramatic piano piece of 1892 for which audiences clamoured, and which the composer himself came to detest. Why might they have been talking about this? Well, I came across an anecdote in a book by Ivan Raykoff about the Sergei-Walt-Vladimir encounter: 'In Walt Disney's early animation short The Opry House (1929), Mickey Mouse performs Rachmaninov's famous Prelude. "I have heard my inescapable piece done marvelously by some of the best pianists, and murdered cruelly by amateurs," the composer reportedly told Disney, "but never was I more stirred than by the performance of a the great maestro Mouse."'

Here is that performance. Perhaps Rachmaninov had a twinkle in his eye behind that famous scowl after all...

Festive hillside

Just in case you were wondering, the bus-stop-to-nowhere is looking festive:

A penguin and a bagpiper

Readers of this blog might recall that I have a bit of a soft-spot for penguins (here too). And for Antarctica, and unusual photos in that snowy wilderness. Bagpipes, well... In any case, here's a fantastic picture of a penguin and a bagpiper in Antarctica. Really. I love the way the penguin is standing to attention. This picture was, I believe, taken in 1902 or 1903 during William Speirs Bruce's expedition. As a bit of a sideline, the ship's bagpiper (this story sounds less and less likely as I write it) decided to see how the penguin reacted to different sorts of traditional music. Apparently, he was indifferent. As for the bagpiper, I hope there's some warm underwear under that kilt.

'Neither rousing marches, lively reels, nor melancholy laments seemed to have any effect on these lethargic, phlegmatic birds; there was no excitement, no sign of appreciation or disapproval, only sleepy indifference.'Reports of the penguin's reaction.