BERLINER MORGENPOST
December 7, 2005

The fine fellow thinks lastly of himself
My Stories

by Klaus Geitel

Marriages are said to be made in heaven. Friendships, though, on earth. That means that one has to bother about them. Look after them. Secure them. Serve them. Then maybe they last a lifetime, which is more than can be said of every marriage.

I used to know an old gentleman who regularly celebrated New Year's Eve alone. With relish he would uncork a bottle of wine, drink it little by little and dedicate every single sip to a friend, either living or already dead. Sadly most of us need no more than half a bottle to do so. Real friendships are growing rare.

Here one of them is to be my theme today: my friendship with Craig Urquhart, the pianist and composer from New York, about whom I never knew for years that he is a pianist and composer. I'm not even quite sure when and where I met Craig for the first time. But I am absolutely sure when and where I'm going to see and hear him again. Craig will be giving his Berlin concert debut on the piano this coming Saturday at 20 hours in the Schwartze Villa, Grunewaldstrasse 55 in Steglitz.

I have also heard a concert of his in the Klavierhaus in New York. He has performed in Paris and in many cities in the United States. He has done so at the invitation of UNO. Leonard Bernstein once said of him: 'Craig Urquhart is a really gifted composer.' He might also have added: 'He is a really gifted pianist too - at least in his own sphere.' His records have made him popular.

Urquhart is a loner with his very own approach to music: a daydreamer at the piano who knows how to dream while wide awake. He plays along his life's path, exploring it with all ten fingers, speaking through them about his memories, his gratitude, his zest for adventure - and he frames it in his compositions. This is something which concert music has been lacking for a long time.

While I was getting to know him, be it in Tel Aviv, in Munich, in Sapporo, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, or even at the Berlin reunification festivities, Craig was in Bernstein's retinue, his colleague, his assistant, a maker of good weather, helpfulness in person, always full of understanding for the varying moods of the master. An honest, selfless promoter of the master's contentment. 'The fine fellow thinks lastly of himself,' says the poem. Craig has lived it out.

His help has been a great boon to us journalists. Recently Craig's discretion led him into the office of Amberson Inc., the New York Leonard Bernstein Society, in which as vice-president he is now supervising the media-interests of Bernstein's oeuvre. At a very late point Craig Urquhart got round to whispering his experiences, his insights into his own music and to revealing himself not only as a manager but also as an artist. His life took a decisive turn: I at least bid him a warm welcome.