Pumping up the keys

Pumping up the keys

Courtesy “The demands of body-building and playing the piano are quite the same,” says Bates.

By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
4/8/2007

Pianist uses his body building to hone his performance skills

Leon Bates spends a good part of his time in what might appear to be two different worlds.

Bates is an internationally known pianist, acclaimed as an interpreter of Rachmaninoff's music, and a tireless advocate for bringing classical music to new audiences.

He also is a dedicated body-builder, who has spent years and countless hours in gymnasiums, carefully sculpting his physique into optimal shape.

"Actually, the demands of body-building and playing the piano are quite the same," Bates said, in the course of a telephone conversation. "The mindset you have to have in the gym -- the focus you need to train a specific muscle -- springboards back to what I do on with the piano, as I work at developing the best way to play a certain passage."

Bates began lifting weights as a teenager. "And it was strictly for vanity's sake," he said, laughing. "I wanted to look good. But over the years, it's become something more health-related, and more related to my work with the piano.

"My workouts help not just with endurance and energy, but they're also great in terms of keeping my focus, both mentally and physically," he said. "One feeds off the other."

Bates will be in Tulsa this week as the guest artist for the final concert in the 2006-2007 Classics series of the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College.

Bates will perform Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The evening also will feature the orchestral adaptation of Liszt's popular Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

"I've had a long relationship with this piece," Bates said of the Rhapsody. "I've not played it a lot in recent years, but early in my career I was playing it constantly."

The theme on which the piece is based is taken from the last of the 24 Caprices for solo violin by Paganini. It was a popular tune among composers -- Brahms, Schumann and Liszt wrote their own variations of it.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody is made up of 24 variations of this theme.

"Some composers aren't as accomplished at using variation techniques," Bates said. "I've heard some pieces where you come away thinking you could have written better variations.

"But Rachmaninoff was so creative and inventive that he was able to give this piece a sense of movement, of direction and adventure," he said. "It gives the whole thing the feel of a traditional concerto."

But unlike some concertos, Bates added, the piano is well-integrated with the orchestra.

"You are practically a member of the orchestra with this piece," he said. "Of course, there are moments when the piano emerges out of the fabric of the music and you're definitely alone in the spotlight, so to speak.

"But for the most part, there's no adversarial relationship between the soloist and orchestra, the way there is in things like the Chopin concertos," Bates said. "In fact, the orchestra has to work just as hard as I do in this piece."

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James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com