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FRIDAY, AUGUST 25:1989
"So I played some Chopin
waltzes and other pieces, and
he took my whole family into
first class. I had to play one or
two pieces each evening at
dinner, but it was much bet-
ter to be in first class than
down in the hold."
As a child, Kottler was
forced to practice the piano
for many hours. He said he
didn't know much about
clocks, except that he could
stop practicing at 4 p.m. each
day. So he used to climb up on
a chair and move the hands to
- 4 p.m. while his uncles were
at school. And he'd get the
razor strap for that.
"In the old country, they
don't treat children the way
they do here,"he said. "I used
to get a good beating with
that strap. Maybe that's why
I'm so tough on my pupils. I
yell at them and they say
`Don't go to Kottler. He yells
too much.' "
In Chicago, Kottler had 'a
teacher who gave him 25
cents after each lesson so
Mischa could go to the
movies. "Instead of me paying
him, he paid me. And that's
how I first saw Charlie
Chaplin," he said.
Kottler then studied at the
American Conservatory. A
young girl named Nellie Wolf
asked him to accompany her
when she auditioned to study
with Leopold Auer, whom
Kottler described as the
greatest violin teacher who
lived.
"I asked him if he knew my
uncle, Boris Nakutin," Kot-
tler said. "He said Nakutin
was his accompanist in St.
Petersburg, and then asked
me if I would like to accom-
pany his class in New York. I
went.
"The hours of 12-1 p.m. or
12-2 p.m. each day were his
and mine alone. He was
already in his 70s, but he
loved to play," Kottler said.
"We would play Beethoven
and Mozart sonatas, and he
told me I shouldn't be an ac-
companist; I should be a con-
cert pianist.
"One day in 1919, after
working with the class for
three or four years, I came to
him as usual, and he greeted
me with 'Mischa, tomorrow
you play for Rachmaninoff.'
And I got a little scared. I
asked him why he hadn't
prepared me, and he said
there was no time because
Rachmaninoff was leaving on
tour."
The next day, Kottler
played a piece by Bach, then
some Beethoven and Chopin.
Rachmaninoff asked if Kot-
tler played "anything of my
own?" "Yes, your Second
Piano Concerto — all three
movements," he answered.
1
•-∎
•
At 90, Kottler still wants to score a musical.
Rachmaninoff was pre-
vented by his own concert
schedule from taking Kottler
as a student. At Rachman-
inoff's urging, Kottler went to
study in Paris, then Vienna
where he met Malinka, who
would become his wife of 55
years.
When Kottler returned to
Chicago he was contacted by
a young pianist from Moscow,
who had moved from Chicago
to Detroit. It was during the
Depression, and Kottler
couldn't get a manager, so he
decided to join his acquain-
tance in Detroit. He played
for Ossip Gabrilovitch, then
conductor of the Detroit Sym-
phony Orchestra.
"He was very nice and
friendly and after I played
about five concertos, he asked
me what else I wanted to play.
I said, 'Mr. Gabrilovitch, what
pianist wouldn't love to play
the Tchaikovsky Concerto?'
And that's what I played in
1931 at Orchestra Hall.
"Then in 1933, I played the
Rachmaninoff Piano Concer-
to Number Three, probably
the most difficult ever writ-
ten. Right after that I was
named musical director of
WWJ Radio and later WWJ
Television."
He also organized a
chamber group which in-
cluded Mischa Mishakoff,
Joseph Gingold and Georges
Miquelle. They toured the
United States and were called
one of the finest chamber
groups in the country by the
New York Times and honored
by NBC. They soon became
the Chamber Music Society of
Detroit.
When the DSO disbanded,
Kottler approached the
Scripps family at the Detroit
News in an effort to get the
musicians working. "Kottler
Conducts" came into being.
Kottler later joined Wayne
State University as director of
the piano department and
also became the official
pianist of the rejuvenated
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
for nearly 25 years.
"I've got some good
memories," Kottler said. "You
see I've outlived everybody,
probably because I'm not a
pusher. I don't go out after it,"
he said. "I'm like Arturo
Rubinstein. The only thing
that he did, which I never did,
is run away at 94 with his
40-year-old nurse. So," he
laughed, "I'm looking for a
40-year-old nurse."
Even at 90, Kottler still
plays, daily, both on the silent
and regular piano. He still
teaches on a regular basis.
When his wife was alive, she
once fired 40 of his 65
students. "I teach a full hour,
and she felt that was too
much."
He has taught and influ-
enced a number of national-
ly and internationally ac-
claimed pianists, including
Ruth Laredo, David Syme,
May Jurasik, Catherine
Rollin, Cynthia Raim, Neal
Eisenstein, Sheila Stephen-