Margaret Ann Ireland, pianist

Morawetz and Margaret Ann Ireland, 1994

Our lifelong friendship began in 1943, when I was 15. Five years later, Oskar presented me with his beautiful Fantasy in D minor.  When I received the leather-bound manuscript, thick with his notations for tempi, dynamics, phrasing  -even fingering! – I avoided playing the Fantasy for him.  This is just one example to circumventing the well-known interpretive struggle between composer and performer.  However, I did take the work on tour, mostly in the 1950s, in Canada and Europe where it was well received by critics in seven countries.  I now regret that I never gave Oskar the opportunity to hear me play the Fantasy for him alone.

When I was still a teenager, Oskar gave me the first startling experience of hearing myself play, in a recording he had made for me of a CBC broadcast of Bach’s Concerto in F minor for piano and strings. And in 1956, he chose a poem by William Blake to compose a Cradle Song for my first-born child, decorating the manuscript cover himself with pink ribbon and silver stickers. The books and manuscript he sent, the clippings and photos, the blue leather carrying case for my first trip abroad, are all tangible reminders of a devoted friend; and we continued to enjoy rare visits together in Toronto, New York and New Brunswick.

In retrospect, Oskar was the giver and I the recipient. His greatest gift to me was his enduring and undemanding affection which I have always cherished.

Margaret Ann Ireland, February 2005