In the Fire

Perched on the edge of his chair, the man at the piano glanced nervously about the orchestra, as if sure that something was about to go wrong. Robert Casadesus has played 100 times in Manhattan. But last week he had a special worry on his mind. This was the first time the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra had ever played one of his own pieces. Only when white-maned Conductor Leopold Stokowski got the orchestra safely through the opening bars did Composer Casadesus turn back to the keyboard and seem to relax, as he gave Manhattan its first hearing of his third Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.

Like Fellow Pianist Artur Schnabel and many another performer, Robert Casadesus has an itch to prove to the world that he can write as well as read music. "Since 15," says he, "I am composing all the time. Everywhere--on trains, airplanes, boats." He has written three symphonies, three concertos and about 35 other compositions. The new piano concerto, 20 minutes long, was written during two summers in the Berkshires, and has already been played by Casadesus in Minneapolis and St. Louis.

"My music," says Casadesus, "is clean music. It is classical, like Mozart. Mozart is my god." His concerto was indeed clean: sharp and clear as good glass, with only patches of dissonance and agreeable smatterings of syncopation. Composer Casadesus still had some distance to go, however, before he would be on the same plane with his god.

The Carnegie Hall audience greeted the piano concerto warmly. But bowing and beaming, Composer Casadesus had more on his mind than the applause. He had a half-finished cello concerto waiting for him at home. Said he backstage: "I know I will compose tonight. I never rest. I am always in the fire."

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