Thomas Beckmann
(Duesseldorf/Germany)
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In General
As a student of music THOMAS BECKMANN already composed and revised short cello works, thus compiling his own set of exercises. Because of the attraction that research, composition and arrangement held for him, even BECKMANN's early concerts included pieces he had composed and arranged himself in addition to classical sonatas.
Beckmann first had cello lessons with Jürgen Wolf and Rudolf von Tobel. From 1980 he studied with Pierre Fournier whose comprehensive musical library BECKMANN - Fournier's favourite student - later inherited. This is the source of the numerous short classical works Beckmann introduces to us, verbally and musically, during his concerts. The 1987 CD SHORT PIECES FOR THE CELLO (JARO 4179-2) features a representative selection.
Pierre Fournier praised Beckmann's playing as "a tone of incomparable beauty". With his lithe manner of moving over the instrument, he lends the melodies and phrases a lightness unusual for the cello. Beckmann makes this otherwise often sluggish instrument sing, creating music celebrated by the international press as "unmistakable sound" and "golden tone". The number of copies sold of his recordings have reached six-digit figures in the German-language countries alone; here and abroad they rapidly scaled the highest peaks of success on the music market.
While cultivated cello evenings increasingly exclude the general public, to the regret of many a dyed-in-the-wool classical music fan, THOMAS BECKMANN manages with his imaginative concert programmes to enthuse large culturally-oriented audiences of all age groups in full auditoriums. Extensive tours have taken him, for example, onto the stages of the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras - this celebrated virtuoso is a guest on international concert podiums and in television studios worldwide.
Particularly worthy of mention are two works included on the CD SHORT PIECES FOR THE CELLO. They were part of a programme presented on a tour of the former USSR. The performance in the Cultural Palace of Moscow, having been awaited with great suspense, was broadcast all over the Soviet Union; this unforgettable event sparked the following reacton in the Moscow daily press:
"The German-Japanese duo Thomas Beckmann/Kayoko Matsushita roused the frenetically applauding audience in the hopelessly flooded concert hall to such a degree of enthusiasm that under the massive octave sequences of Chopin's 'Introduction and Polonaise' the Steinway concert grand began to collapse and, on this memorable evening, in front of running TV-cameras, broke its right leg. The Japanese virtuoso finished the last piece of the evening on a tilted grand piano. After the final encore, 'Elegie', the Cultural Palace was a veritable witches' cauldron; the audience jumped onto its seats and tore the programmes to confetti."
The enthusiasm of his audience has encouraged BECKMANN to continue to risk offering unusual programmes. The musician, whom the city of Düsseldorf has honoured by choosing him as the tenant of Clara and Robert Schumann's Düsseldorf home, is presently working on an innovative programme featuring J. S. Bach's Solo Suites, co-interpreted by THOMAS BECKMANN and other artists from the perspective of different artistic directions.
Beckmann plays Cello?
A Portrait of Thomas Beckmann
"Beckmann's singing on the cello is of incomparable beauty. His warm tone is deeply moving and his motions are of a fascinating fluidity. He has developed a new and very personal way of playing the cello, thus building a bridge for the future of this instrument". (Pierre Fournier)
THOMAS BECKMANN comes from a family of music lovers in Düsseldorf. His great grandfather played trumpet in the military band and was awarded a silver trumpet for his beautiful playing by Germany's last emporer. Beckmann's elder brother lives in Munich and is a respected jazz musician.
Already as a student, BECKMANN's talent was evident, and he was invited to perform as section leader with several professional orchestras. In 1980, he became a student of Pierre Fournier, one of the most renowned cellists of the century. Upon Fournier's death, Beckmann - as the teacher's favorite student - inherited his teacher's extensive music collection. This collection is a treasure, not only because of the sheer amount of music, but especially because of the comments and editorial marks in the old master's handwriting. This valueable collection is housed at Beckmann's residence in the historical center of Düsseldorf. This home is of considerable interest in itself, it being the last residence of Clara and Robert Schumann, and honorably leased to Beckmann by the City Council.
After of Pierre Fournier's death in 1986, THOMAS BECKMANN began concertising on a large scale. He performed a tour entitled "Oh! That Cello", in which he performed a unique combination of standard classical sonatas, classical show pieces, and short works by Charlie Chaplin. A recording with the same title was awarded the "German Recording Prize" and received high acclaim in Germany. BECKMANN's CD's became a hit in 27 countries and the most successful recording of the cello repertoire. When BECKMANN's recording OH! THAT CELLO is released in the USA, the American public will then know what is considered common knowledge in Germany: "Every child in Germany knows that BECKMANN plays Cello" (Frankfurter Rundschau).
In his native country, BECKMANN's name is most often related to his interpretation of Bach's solo repertoire. From 1986 to 1991 THOMAS BECKMANN performed extended concert tours in numerous concert halls for enthused audiences worldwide, making his name known as one of the greatest living cellists. The highlight of these tours came in 1989, a year in which he performed 207 concerts, among which was an extended tour in the former Soviet Union. His concert in Moscow's Culture Palace, which was televised nationwide received the following review in Moscow:
"The German-Japanese duo Thomas Beckmann/Kayoko Matsushita received frenetic applause for their performance in a hopelessly overfilled concert hall. As if fated for this evening with live television broadcast, the Steinway grand piano broke one its legs in the middle of a powerful octave-passage in Chopin's 'Introduction and Polonaise'. The pianist ended the concert on a crooked piano. At the conclusion of Beckmann's last encore, 'Elegie', the concert hall turned into a veritable witches cauldron. The audience jumped up on the seats and ripped their programs into confetti."
In December of 1995, BECKMANN performed a concert in Paris' Mac Mahon Theatre on the Champs Elysees with his wife, Kayoko Matsushita. The concert was so successful that it had to be repeated for two successive weeks at two performances per day.
Upon returning from Paris over New Year's, he had a car accident in which he was injured and his Guagdanini cello was seriously damaged. THOMAS BECKMANN viewed this as a key turning point in the nationwide expansion of his project, "United Against the Cold", a project for homeless people, which he had started in Düsseldorf. As a further stroke of fate, the repair of his instrument revealed an inscription on the upper bout, which was not visible from from the outside, and of which had been made mention when he had purchased the cello. It read, "Il Mendicante" (the Beggar). This legendary instrument from the Milan Period (ca. 1750) of Gianbattista Guadagnini (1711-1786) belonged to a Parisian beggar in the last century. After the death of the beggar, this cello was found in his attic room among a number of less valuable violins. Although several dealers had offered him large sums of money for the purchase of this cello, this amateur musician could not bear parting with the full and soulful tone of this instrument, even at the price of poverty. "Il Mendicante" fills the greatest concert halls and cathederals with its broad tone and its penetrating pianissimos. Over the past two years, thousands of people have been drawn into THOMAS BECKMANN's benefit concerts, where he performs Bach's Solo Suites without pay, thus raising over 500,000 Euro for homeless people. Music critics and the media shower his performances with highest praise:
"Casals and Rostropovitch were both intense on their 'Thing', and thus became the best virtuosos of the cello. Beckmann is joining the ranks of extraordinary cellists".
(Frankfurter Rundschau)
"Thomas Beckmann, the German Virtuoso."
(Guardian)
"The embodiment of Mind over Matter."
(WZ)
"The sound of his cello touches one to the core."
(Die Welt)
"As the musician from Düsseldorf began playing Bach's first Solo Suite, a primal and sudden stillness swept over the Opera house as all present were gripped by his playing."
(Mitteldeutsche Zeitung)
THOMAS BECKMANN's name is well known and highly respected in Germany. He appears on the title page of the major newspapers. His projects are supported by former German President Roman Herzog, and his predecessor, Richard von Weizsäcker, both members of the 13-person foundation, United against Cold (Gemeinsam Gegen Kälte). All major social organizations, unions, and both major churches have joined the initiative. It is the wish of BECKMANN to place his cello at the service of the cause. "Bach dedicated his music to the service of God, and now his music and the cello serve the poorest of the poor."
His recording, OH! THAT CELLO portrays the compositions of Charlie Chaplin in a completely new cello sound. With this "golden tone", the artist, THOMAS BECKMANN now presents himself to the US public for the first time.
Portrait Kayoko Matsushita-Beckmann
Kayoko Matsushita-Beckmann grew up in Tokyo and received her first music lessons from her mother, a Koto-player. From her she learnt this classic Japanese string instrument as well as an immense host of Japanese songs. At the age of eight she performed in Japanese music broadcasts as she had mastered 400 of her native songs with up to six verses. Before that she had already had her first piano lessons, and later she studied the piano in her home town Tokyo.
Her love of the German Romantics, especially of Robert Schumann's piano works, prompted her to emigrate to Germany. Her first visit took her to the Schumann's house in Düsseldorf, and for several years now she has been living there, in Clara and Robert Schumann's last home, together with her husband, the cellist Thomas Beckmann.
In Germany the artist completed her studies with the examination as concert pianist. Since then the self-confident pianist, who does not quite fit the German image of a Japanese woman, has been much in demand as a concert pianist and as a partner for chamber music. She has been heard and seen in over 500 concerts, on several CD's and numerous TV and radio programmes.
Having grown up in the Japanese tradition Kayoko is an artist in whose person the European and Japanese worlds of music meet. Her close links to two great cultures has sharpened her sense of sound to the utmost. She is capable of discerning the finest nuances and origins of a piece of music and of bringing it close to the listener. She received decisive impulses from her piano teacher of many years, Jean Micault, himself the favourite student of Alfred Cortot's and a student of composition of Maurice Ravel's. Micault opened up the world of the impressionists for her. It is therefore natural for her as a Japanese pianist to turn to that theme in her own solo programmes with which she has occupied herself intensively for years: impressionism and its roots in Japanese and Asian music. As the artist had close ties with the musical origins in her childhood, she is able to draw a fascinating spectrum of colours and the most sensitive nuances from these filigreed works.
Discography
Short Pieces of the Cello (1988) JARO 4179-2 / Thomas Beckmann
Oh! That Cello (1989) JARO 4125-2 / Thomas Beckmann, Johannes Cernota
Oh! That Cello (2 CDs + Book) (1989) JARO 4167-2D / Thomas Beckmann, Johannes Cernota
Charlie Chaplin (1989) JARO 4143-2 / Thomas Beckmann
Beckmann spielt Cello - Das Berlin Konzert Live (2001) JARO 4445-2 / Thomas Beckmann
Beckmann spielt Cello Vol.2 (2008) JARO 4448-2 / Thomas Beckmann
more info's at THOMAS BECKMANN
