In 1970, Garrick Ohlsson became the first American to win the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. More than 30 years later, the pianist is considered one of the world's experts in Chopin — and much more.

        Mr. Ohlsson will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra this weekend in Music Hall.

IF YOU GO

What: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Garrick Ohlsson, pianist.     When: 8 p.m. Fridayand Saturday.     Where: Music Hall.     The program: Ravel, Rapsodie espagnole; Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major; Dvorak, Symphony No. 8.     Tickets: $12-$51; $10 students; $8 extreme seats. 381-3300.     Read the review: Saturday on Cincinnati.Com, keyword: symphony, and Sunday in Tempo.

        We caught up with Mr. Ohlsson, 53, who had just returned to his home in San Francisco from a three-week concert tour of Asia.

        Question: Has it been difficult to travel as a concert artist since Sept. 11?

Answer: It's less convenient than it was before. The last thing I needed in my life was an extra hour at an airport somewhere. . . . The paradox is that most planes now are on time. It's almost surreal to get to a big airport like O'Hare in Chicago, and look at those dozens of flights and have them all say “on time”!

        I did notice that security in the Asian airports was handled better. ... I was glad for that.

        Q: Tell us about the benefit concert you performed for the victims of the attacks.

        A: I did one which was related to 9-11 with Robert Spano and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, on Columbus Day. It was all-American, all New York composers: Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein. It was broadcast live. It felt like my small contribution.

        I'm from White Plains, N.Y. When I went back to Manhattan for the first time in November, I felt incredibly restless. I took the subway down to SoHo . . . where there was a view of the towers. I kept looking up, and they weren't there. You know (they're gone) — but you can't put it together with reality.

        Q: You recently finished recording Chopin's complete solo works for the piano (for Arabesque). Which performances do you like the best?

A: There are certain works I feel more identified with; pieces that have been closer to your heart for longer. I'm particularly fond of the G Minor Ballade and the B-flat Minor Sonata. I rediscovered those two pieces when I was reworking them. It was like a private revelation.

        (The recording) was a total joy, but incredibly hard work. I did it over a period of 10 years, because I wanted them to be performances, not readings.

        Q: Your career was launched when you won the Chopin Competition. But, are the days of launching a career by winning a contest over?

A: I have wondered about that. In The Ivory Trade by Joseph Horowitz (out of print), I was struck by one sentence: “The last major international career launched by a competition was Krystian Zimerman's in 1975.” I realized he was right. (Ivo) Pogorelich got launched by not winning the Chopin Competition. Of the really famous pianists today, Evgeny Kissin, (Arcadi) Volodos and Lang Lang have not entered them.

        There is another problem: there are too many competitions. . . . I knew in 1970 if I won (the Chopin) it would be probably on the front page of most newspapers in the world, which it was. There was a little note even on the front page of The New York Times. That surely doesn't happen anymore.

        Q: What are you working on that's new for you?

        A: Right now, the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 4 and a piece by John Adams, which he's writing for me to play at Carnegie Hall at the end of February.

        I'm preparing for next season at (New York's) Lincoln Center, a series of three recitals based around (Ferruccio) Busoni, in the company of Liszt and Bach. So that will be a fascinating look at an important, but not top-of-the-charts composer.

        Next season brings a new piano concerto by the American composer Michael Hersch, written for me, (to play in) St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

        Q: You have to adjust to a different piano everywhere you go. Have you ever had any piano disasters?

A: In Minneapolis once, during summer, I was playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto, (sitting on) a new hydraulic piano bench. . . . I played the opening crashes of the Tchaikovsky. Then, in that transitional moment where you're waiting, the hydraulic suddenly failed. It went down with a big clunk, and I was suddenly six inches lower.

        It was really loud, like dropping a French horn on the stage. (Conductor) David Zinman looked around and mouthed, “Are you all right?” I was still on the bench; I kept going and played the rest of the movement from a Glenn Gould height. (The virtuoso who sat very low at the piano.)

        The hydraulic fluid had leaked all over the floor. . . . (Later), I said to the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want you to think I was capable of all this moisture!”
       

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