A BENEFIT FOR CANCER PATIENTS: MARTIN BERKOFSKY PLAYS FRANZ LISZT

CRISTOFORI CF-885: MARTIN BERKOFSKY PLAYS FRANZ LISZT

MARTIN BERKOFSKY-FRANZ LISZT-ASSISTANCE IN HEALTH CARE

In the fall of the year 2000, the pianist Martin Berkofsky was treated at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. He returned from his stay with a suitcase stuffed with rubber noses, monstrous green plastic gloves and other relics of his humor class and a renewed outlook on life; a heightened sensitivity to others and the conviction that caring works, and works at every level. He also returned with a commitment to help other cancer patients. Helping A.I.H.C. is a natural. The founder of the Cristofori Foundation, he too seeks to relieve persons of financial distress. With solo performances, ensemble concerts, and the sales of compact discs such as this, he has helped the homeless, a neighbor pay for a heart transplant, Albanian refugees at the height of their crisis, a blind girl in Macedonia trying to educate herself.

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RETURN TO THE CRISTOFORI FOUNDATION
THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS REVIEWS MARTIN BERKOFSKY
CURRENT AND HISTORIC RECORDINGS, MARTIN BERKOFSKY
ALAN HOVHANESS INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE, YEREVAN, ARMENIA: The world's most extensive collection of Alan Hovhaness research materials.
ALAN HOVHANESS REMEMBERED: Pianist Martin Berkofsky remembers Alan Hovhaness and his music.
ALAN HOVHANESS INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE: Enter site.

In 1982 Mr. Berkofsky broke his right arm so severely that no one ever expected him to be able to play the piano again, least of all himself. When he recovered, miraculously, he vowed that rather than return to the professional career that began when he was eight years old-and that included over 150 radio and television broadcasts, recordings with the London and Berlin Symphonies and performances in twenty-five different countries-he would play not for personal gain, but to help others. Though he is the least pragmatic of men, like A.I.H.C., when he helps, it is in the most practical of ways: with money to pay bills, to help those who need it to have a normal life, hard enough, for far too many , to come by. Losing the use of his arm meant he might never play again. Cancer was a different matter altogether: in 1983 he regained his ability to play music. In 2000, his life.

All of the proceeds from this recording will benefit Assistance in Health Care, in its mission to give financial aid to cancer patients and their families who face unexpected difficulties which arise with extended medical care.

Mr. Berkofsky has chosen to play four works of Franz Liszt, the pianist-composer-abbe for whom Mr. Berkofsky has felt an affinity since childhood. What first captivated him as even a young pianist was Liszt's combination of intellect, emotion, and spirituality. "Liszt wrote for the universe," he says. Liszt's work personifies what Berkofsky considers the ultimate meaning and purpose of art: "Great music inspires one to a higher purpose because it itself is inspired from a higher purpose and vision." A review from one of Berkofsky's many Liszt performances commented that Berkofsky gave "such an expressive and nuanced performance that he held the audience spellbound to the end of the concert. We did not know at which to wonder first: the total concentration, the expressive performance, the mature individuality, the brilliant pianistic technique, or the intimate experience of the music for which, that evening, Berkofsky lived." Says Berkofsky simply, "The job of a musician is to bring beauty and inspiration to others and to do this through the most honest and humble search to find those same qualities within ourselves. How fortunate we are to be part of this life, creating beauty, giving it to others, dedicating our efforts to create a more beautiful world."

-Sue Allison

ORDER CF-885, MARTIN BERKOFSKY PLAYS FRANZ LISZT

CF-885, MARTIN BERKOFSKY PLAYS FRANZ LISZT

May Be Ordered Directly From:

ASSISTANCE IN HEALTH CARE:

Susan Magill, 918-496-5108.