The Louis Diémer Tradition

Piano Traditions Through Their Genealogy Trees

© 2022, by Daniel Pereira

Doctor of Musical Arts | www.daniel-pereira.com

 

 

 

Aimard, Pierre-Laurent

French (Lyon, September 9, 1957)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a pianist. He studied at the Lyon Conservatoire and Paris Conservatoire where he obtained four premiers prix. Subsequently, he became a pupil of Yvonne Loriod and Maria Curcio. In 1973, he won the first prize at the Messiaen Competition. Aimard is particularly associated with twentieth century and contemporary music. His recording of Oliver Messiaen´s Vingt regards sur l´Enfant Jésus was highly praised as well as the complete piano works by Ligeti. He also performs the music of Boulez, Ives, Webern and Berio, and has a keen interest in computer music and techno music. Aimard is a professor at the Paris Conservatoire and Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.

 

Béroff, Michel

French (Epinal, May 9, 1950)

Michel Béroff is a pianist and conductor. He studied at the Conservatory of Lyon and later, with the help of Oliver Messiaen, he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study with Yvonne Loriod. He was awarded first prize at the 1967 Messiaen Competition. Béroff is a champion of the music of Bartók, Boulez, Prokofiev, Messiaen and Stravinsky. He was appointed professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1989.

 

Boieldieu, François-Adrien

French (Rouen, December 16, 1775 — Jarcy, Seine et Oise, October 8, 1834)

François-Adrien Boieldieu was one of the most important opera composers in France during the early nineteenth century. He studied organ, piano, harmony and composition with Charles Broche, organist at the Rouen Cathedral. Boieldieu was appointed organist at the church of Saint André de Rouen in 1791. He achieved some success as a concert pianist. From 1798 to 1803, he taught piano at the Paris Conservatoire.

 

Casadesus, Gaby [Gabrielle]

French (Marseilles, August 9, 1901 — Paris, November 12, 1999)

Gaby Casadesus was a pianist. She was a student of Marguerite Long and Louis Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire. She taught at the Mozarteum Summer Academy of Salzburg, Schola Cantorum in Paris and at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. Casadesus edited the music of Debussy and Ravel, published Ma technique quotidienne in 1992 with Philip Lasser, and the recollection book Mes noces musicales. She was the wife of Robert Casadesus with whom she formed a legendary piano duo and founded the International Piano Competition in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975.

 

Casadesus, Robert Marcel

French (Paris, April 7, 1899 — Paris, September 19, 1972)

Robert Casadesus was a pianist and composer. He studied with Louis Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire where he obtained the premier prix in piano and harmony. In 1021, he married Gaby Casadesus with whom he formed a legendary piano duo. He taught at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau and, during the World War II, he settled with his family in America. His students included Monique Haas and Claude Helffer. One of his best recordings is the one he made of the complete Ravel piano works. Casadesus composed eight piano concertos and a number of pieces for the instrument.

 

Casella, Alfredo

Italian (Turin, July 25, 1883 — Rome, March 5, 1947)

Alfredo Casella was a composer, pianist and conductor. He firstly studied with his mother and at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his friends at the French capital were Enescu and Ravel. In 1915, he started teaching at the Liceo di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Casella founded the Società di Musica Moderna (SIMM), which published the controversial magazine Ars nova, and the Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche (CDNM). Casella´s works for piano include Pavane op. 1, Toccata op. 6, Sonatina op. 28 and 6 studies op. 70.

 

Castro, Juan José

Argentine (Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, March 7, 1895 — Buenos Aires, September 5, 1968)

Juan José Castro was a composer and conductor. He studied piano and violin with Manuel Posadas. Thanks to the Europa Prize, he went to Paris to study piano with Risler at the Schola Cantorum. He was the conductor of orchestras such as the Havana Symphony, Melbourne Symphony or the Argentine National Symphony. He taught at the Puerto Rico Conservatory and at the National Music Academy in Argentina. He was one of the founders of the group Renovación in 1929. Castro composed sonatas and tangos for piano among other works. His brother was the composer, conductor and cellist José María Castro.

 

Ciampi, Marcel

French (Paris, May 29, 1891 — Paris, September 2, 1980)

Marcel Ciampi was a pianist. He won the Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatory. He played in trio with Maurice Hayot and André Hekking, and frequently appeared in concert with Casals, Enescu and Thibaud. Ciampi played once for Debussy and his recordings of the French composer´s works are noteworthy.

 

Collard, Jean-Philippe

French (Mareuil-sur-Ay, January 27, 1948)

Jean-Philippe Collard is a pianist. Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatory and winner of the Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes and the Georges Cziffra Competition, his discography includes the complete works of Ravel, the major works of Fauré and the complete concertos of Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns and Ravel. He is also an active chamber musician, collaborating frequently with violinist Augustin Dumay, cellist Frédéric Lodéon and pianist Michel Béroff.

 

Cortot, Alfred Denis

Swiss-French (Nyon, September 26, 1877 — Lausanne, June 15, 1962)

Alfred Cortot was a pianist, conductor and teacher. He studied with Chopin´s pupil Émile Decombes and with Louis Diémer. At the Paris Conservatoire, he won the premier prix in 1896. He conducted the Parisian premiere of Wagner´s Götterdämmerung in 1902 and the first French performances of Parsifal, in concert form, Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis and Brahms´s German Requiem. He formed a trio with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals. Cortot made editions of the music of Chopin, Liszt and Schumann for Éditions Durand. Cortot taught at the Paris Conservatoire and founded the École Normale de Musique. In March 1925, Cortot made the world´s first commercial electrical recording of classical music for the Victor Talking Machine Company with Chopin´s Impromptus and Schubert´s Litanei. His first cousin was the composer Edgard Varése.

[See the Alfred Cortot Tradition]

 

Curcio, Maria

Italian (Naples, August 27, 1918/19 — Porto, March 30, 2009)

Maria Curcio was a pianist and teacher. She was born to and Italian father and a Jewish-Brazilian mother who had been a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni. She studied at home and at the Naples Conservatory and, later, with Alfredo Casella, Carlo Zecchi, Nadia Boulanger, Artur Schnabel and Fritz Busch. During World War II, Curcio suffered from malnutrition and tuberculosis and took her many years to recover from both. She served in the jury panel of the Leeds and Santander competitions and was a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her numerous students included Barry Douglas, Martha Argerich, Evelyne Brancart, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, Leon Fleisher, Rafael Orozco and Christopher Elton. She performed in duo with Clifford Curzon and Benjamin Britten. Curcio spent the last few years of her life in Porto. BBC Scotland produced two films about Maria Curcio in the 1980s: Music in Camera: Maria Curcio – Fulfilling a Legacy and Maria Curcio – Piano Teacher, and her student Douglas Ashley made the documentary Music Beyond Sound.

[See the Maria Curcio Tradition]

 

Cutner, Solomon

English (London, August 9, 1902 — London, February 22, 1988)

Solomon Cutner, known professionally as Solomon, was a pianist. He studied with Mathilde Verne in London and with Lazare-Lévy and Marcel Dupré in Paris. At the age of 8, he made his debut performing Tchaikovsky´s First Piano Concerto. He performed in trio with Francescatti and Fournier. He was the dedicate and premiered Bliss´s Piano Concerto. In 1965, Solomon suffered a paraplegic stroke which impeded him to appear again in public.

 

Dalberto, Michel

French (Paris, June 2, 1955)

Michel Dalberto is a pianist. He was a student of Vlado Perlemuter at the Paris Conservatoire and also studied with Raymond Trouard, Nikita Magaloff and Jean Hubeau. He obtained first prizes at the Clara Haskil and Leeds competitions. Dalberto frequently performs chamber music with Augustin Dumay, Boris Belkin and Viktoria Mullova. He teaches at the Paris Conservatoire since 2011. His recordings include the complete cycle of the Schubert sonatas and the music of Schumann and Brahms.

 

Demus, Jörg

Austrian (Saint Pölten, December 2, 1928 — Vienna, April 16, 2019)

Jörg Demus was a pianist, composer and lecturer. He studied at the Vienna Music Academy between 1940 and 1945 and also with Walter Gieseking, Yves Nat, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Wilhelm Kempff. Demus frequently performed with such renowned musicians as Schwarzkopf, Fischer-Dieskau, Suk, Janigro and Badura-Skoda. He had a keen interest on historical keyboards and published Abenteuer der Interpretation and, with Badura-Skoda, Die Klaviersonaten Ludwig van Beethovens. Demus recorded the complete piano works by Schumann and Debussy, Schubert´s Impromptus and several of his own compositions.

 

Diémer, Louis-Joseph

French (Paris, February 14, 1843 — Paris, December 21, 1919)

Louis Diémer was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied with A.F. Marmontel at the Paris Conservatoire where he obtained premiers prix in solfège, piano, harmony and accompaniment and counterpoint and fugue. Since 1887, he started teaching at the Conservatoire where his pupils included Cortot, Risler and Robert Casadesus. As a composer, Diémer wrote the Concert piece, op. 31 and the Concerto op. 31, both for piano and orchestra, Méthode supérieure de piano and over 70 piano piece and transcriptions.

[See the Louis Diémer Tradition]

 

D´Indy, Vincent

French (Paris, March 27, 1851 — Paris, December 2, 1931)

Vincent D´Indy was a composer, conductor, teacher and editor of early music. He came from a military aristocratic family. Co-founder of the Schola Cantorum in Paris in 1894, he composed a number of piano works including sonatas, Nocturne, Promenade and Menuet sur le nom d´Haydn.

 

Espinosa, Lía Cimaglia

Argentinian (Buenos Aires, August 30, 1906 — Buenos Aires, November 1, 1998)

Lía Cimaglia Espinosa was a pianist, composer and teacher. She studied with Alberto Williams, Celestino Piaggio and Jorge de Lalewicz. Subsequently, she obtained a scholarship which enabled her to study in Paris with Yves Nat, Alfred Cortot and Isidor Philipp. She premiered in Buenos Aires Brahms´s Concerto no. 1, Rachmaninov´s Second Concerto and Britten´s Concerto, among other works. Lía Espinosa taught at the National and Williams conservatories. Maurizio Annunziata was among her students. Her compositions include Improvisación, Suite Argentina and Recuerdos de mi tierra. She recorded the music of such Argentinian composers as Aguirre, Buchardo and Williams.

 

Février, Jacques

French (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, July 26, 1900 — Epinal, September 2, 1979)

Jacques Février was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Edouard Risler and Marguerite Long at the Paris Conservatoire where he obtained the Premier Prix in 1921. He premiered Poulenc´s Concerto for two pianos with the composer and was the first French pianist to play Ravel´s Concerto for the left hand in France and the United States. Frévier´s recording of the complete piano works of Ravel was awarded with a Grand Prix du Disque in 1963.

 

Frey, Emil

Swiss (Baden, canton of Aargau, April 8, 1889 — Zürich, May 20, 1946)

Emil Frey was a pianist. He was a student of Otto Barblan, Joseph Lauber and Willy Rehberg at the Geneva Conservatory, and of Louis Diémer, Gabriel Fauré and Charles-Marie Widor at the Paris Conservatoire. Frey gave masterclasses in Moscow from 1912 to 1917 and, subsequently, he taught at the Hochschule der Künste in Zürich. He composed concertos, piano works, études and Bach transcriptions. Enescu dedicated his Piano Sonata no. 1 to Emil Frey.

 

Genhart, Cécile [née Staub]

Swiss (Basel, 1899 — 1983)

Cecile Genhart was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Ferruccio Busoni, Eugen d´Albert, Emil Frey, Josef Pembauer and, from 1929, with Tobias Matthay. She taught at the Eastman School of Music for over 54 years and her students included Barry Snyder. She married pianist and conductor Herman Genhart.

 

González, Guillermo

Spanish (Tejina, Tenerife, 1945)

Guillermo González is a pianist and teacher. He studied in Tenerife, in Madrid with José Cubiles and, in Paris, at the Conservatoire and Schola Cantorum with Vlado Perlemuter and Jean Paul Sevilla. In 1974, he was appointed professor at the Real Conservatorio of Madrid. González was the first Spanish pianist to perform the complete Suite Iberia at the Central Conservatory in Pekin. His recordings include Iberia by Albéniz and works by Scriabin, Ernesto Halffter, de Falla and García Abril. His recording with the piano works of Teobaldo Power received the Premio Nacional del Disco in 1980.

 

Gordon, Stewart Lynell

American (Kansas, August 28, 1930)

Stewart Gordon is a teacher, pianist, editor and composer. He studied with Olga Samaroff, Walter Gieseking, Cécile Genhart and Adele Marcus. His teaching experience includes positions at the USC Thornton School of Music, Claremont Graduate University, University of Maryland, Queens College and Wilmington College. Gordon recorded works by Beethoven, Chopin, Freitas-Branco, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. He founded the William Kapell Competition in Maryland and the Cultural Heritage Competition in New York, among others. Among his publications are Etudes for piano teachers, A history of keyboard literature for the piano and its forerunners and Mastering the art of performance.

 

Haas, Monique

French (Paris, October 20, 1909 — Paris, June 9, 1987)

Monique Haas was a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Joseph Morpain, Lazare-Lévy and, privately, with Rudolf Serkin and Robert Casadesus. She taught at the Conservatoire from 1967 to 1970 and at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Her recordings include the complete works of Debussy and Ravel. Monique Haas married composer Marcel Mihalovici.

 

Haskil, Clara

Romanian (Bucharest, January 7, 1895 — Brussels, December 7, 1960)

 

Clara Haskil was a pianist of Sephardi descent. She studied at the Bucharest Conservatory, with Richard Robert and at the Paris Conservatoire with Alfred Cortot, Lazare-Lévy and Mme. Giraud-Letarse. Haskil was hospitalized for four years due to the curvature of her spine and, later in her life, she had a tumor in her optic nerve. After a fall at a train station, she was unable to recover and died shortly after. In a 2013 interview, Pope Francis mentioned her as one of his favorite musicians, particularly performing Mozart. The documentary Clara Haskil, le mystère de l´interprète, was released in 2017.

 

Heidsieck, Éric

French (Reims, August 21, 1936)

Éric Heidsieck was a pianist. He won the Premier Prix in 1954 at the Paris Conservatory and. enjoyed a successful career performing with major orchestras an appearing at the most important concert halls all over the world. His rendering of Beethoven´s 32 sonatas is one of his most noteworthy recordings. He also made recordings of the Mozart concertos, for which he also published cadenzas, and most of the piano works of Fauré. Heidsieck frequently appeared in concert with Paul Tortelier.

 

Helffer, Claude

French (Paris, June 18, 1922 — Paris, October 27, 2004)

Claude Helffer was a pianist. He studied with Robert Casadesus and also classics at the École Polytechnique. He was a champion of twentieth-century music and recorded the complete solo piano works of Schoenberg, Debussy and Ravel as well as Boulez´s sonatas.

 

Hewitt, Angela

Canadian (Ottawa, July 26, 1958)

Angela Hewitt is a pianist. She received her first piano lessons from her mother and then studied at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto with Myrtle Rose Guerrero, among others. Subsequently, she studied with Jean-Paul Sévilla at the University of Ottawa. She won first prize at the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition. Hewitt lived in Paris and London, where she settled in 1985. She was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006.

 

Johannesen, Grant

American (Salt Lake City, July 30, 1921 — Berlin, March 27, 2005)

Grant Johannesen was a pianist. He studied with Robert Casadesus and Egon Petri. His records include the complete piano music of Gabriel Fauré. His first wife was Juilliard-trained composer Helen Taylor, whose piano works he recorded. She died in car accident in 1950. His second wife was cellist Zara Nelsova.

 

Lasser, Philip

American (New York City, August 4, 1963)

Philip Lasser is a composer, pianist and music theorist. He studied at the École d´Arts Americaines in France, at Columbia and Harvard universities and at the Juilliard School, where he currently teaches. Among other works, Lasser composed The Circle and the Child for piano and orchestra, the sonata Les Hiboux Blancs and Twelve variations on a chorale by J.S. Bach, which was recorded by pianist Simone Dinnerstein for Telarc. He is president of the European American Musical Alliance.

 

Lévy, Lazare

French (Brussels, January 18, 1882 — Paris, September 20, 1964)

Lazare Lévy was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire.

He concertized in Europe and Asia and was a champion of Albéniz´s Iberia. He recorded works by Mozart and Schumann. Lévy taught at the Conservatoire between 1914 and 1953 and was one of Cortot´s successors. His pupils included Monique Haas, Clara Haskil and Yvonne Loriod. Lévy also produced a few piano works and edited the music of Bach, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann.

 

Levant, Oscar

American (Pittsburgh, December 27, 1906 — Beverly Hills, August 14, 1972)

Oscar Levant was a pianist, composer and writer. He performed with the major American orchestras and also achievedrecognition as a jazz pianist. As a composer, he produced a piano concerto, popular songs, works for the Broadway stage and film music, including Street Girl and Tanned Legs. He appeared both as actor and musician in a number of films and was the pianist in An American in Paris. He was a friend of George Gershwin and a renowned interpreter of his music. Levant wrote an autobiography published in 3 volumes. 

 

Liszt, Franz

Hungarian (Raiding, [in Hungarian: Doborján], October 22, 1811 — Bayreuth, July 31, 1886)

Franz Liszt was a pianist, conductor, teacher and composer. He is indisputably one of the greatest piano virtuosi of all time and a pioneer in different areas: father of modern piano technique, inventor of the piano recital, the masterclass and of novel concepts in orchestral conducting. He performed complete concerts by memory, performed works from the entire history of the keyboard literature and always opened the lid of the piano towards the audience. His compositions envisioned new harmonic paths which greatly influenced Debussy, Ravel or Scriabin. Born in the Burgenland, a region which nowadays belongs to Austria, located at about 100 kms. from Vienna, Liszt´s native tongue was German, and he never became fluent or comfortable in Hungarian. His father, Adam, an amateur musician who worked for a long time at the Esterházy estates and met Joseph Haydn, gave him his first music lessons. During his travels, Liszt met Beethoven, Brahms, Anton Rubinstein, Chopin, Schumann, Berlioz, Alkan, Hiller, Grieg and many other contemporary figures. A student of Czerny, Salieri, Reicha and Ferdinando Paër, he went on extended concert tours in Europe, England, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, Spain and Portugal, playing numerous and populated recitals such as the one he offered at La Scala in Milan for 3,000 people. At the age of 35, he decided to abandon the stage and devote his time to mostly compose, teach and doing a great deal of travelling, especially to Weimar, Rome and Budapest. Always interested in the live of the saints, religion and spiritual life, he received the four minor Catholic orders in July 1865. He lived at the Vatican for a time and became friends with Pope Pius IX. His compositional output for piano is enormous. His large-scale works include the Sonata in B minor, Dante Sonata and the piano concertos. He went beyond the Romantic concept of the étude with the 12 Transcendental Études, 6 Paganini Études or the several Études de Concert, and wrote numerous Hungarian Rhapsodies. He produced many sets of pieces including the Années de Pèlerinage, Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, as well as the Ballades and the Mephisto Waltzes. Liszt also made a number of transcriptions of Bach´s works, Schubert lieder and Beethoven symphonies, and paraphrases on operatic themes such as Rigoletto, Don Juan and Norma. In the late pieces, he explored new harmonic devices, the exploitation of the limits of tonality and atmospheric effects in Nuages Gris, La Lugubre Gondola, Unstern! and Bagatelle sans tonalité. He produced editions of the Beethoven complete sonatas, Field´s nocturnes, Chopin´s complete works, and of pieces by Schubert and Weber. The most authoritative catalogue of Liszt´s works was compiled by British composer Humphrey Searle, hence the use of the letter “S” following the titles of Liszt´s works. Liszt had three children, two of them died during his lifetime, and his daughter Cosima was married to Hans von Bülow before she left him for Richard Wagner. By the end of his life, Liszt suffered from dropsy, fevers and cataracts. He likely died of heart infraction at the age of 74.

[See the Franz Liszt Tradition]

 

Loriod, Yvonne

French (Houilles, Seine-et-Oise, January 20, 1924 — Saint-Denis, near Paris, May 17, 2010)

Winner of six Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatory, she was Oliver Messiaen´s second wife, with whom she premiered Visions de l´amen for two pianos in 1943. Since then, she premiered and recorded all of Messiaen´s works featuring the piano. She also introduced Boulez´s second book of Structures and recorded the Barraqué´s Sonata and Boulez´s Second Sonata at a time when this kind of compositions were rarely performed. François Monceaux filmed a documentary on Loriod which was released in 2011.

 

Lortat, Robert

French (Paris, September 12, 1885 — Paris, May 5, 1938)

Robert Lortat was a pianist. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Diémer. He championed Chopin and Fauré piano works which he frequently performed in monographic cycles. During World War II, Lortat served in the French army. He was exposed to poison gas which was to have a fatal consequence to his health.

 

Luboschutz, Pierre

Russian (Odessa, June 17, 1891 —Rockport, April 17, 1971)

Pierre Luboschutz was a pianist. He was a student of Konstantin Igumnov at the Moscow Conservtory, and also took lessons from Felix Blumenfeld and Edouard Risler. His sisters, Lea and Anna Luboschutz, were professional string players and formed a piano trio with their brother Pierre. He frequently appeared in concert with dancer Isadora Duncan, violinists Efrem Zimbalist and Paul Kochanski, and double bassist Serge Koussevitsky. Luboschutz fled Russia in 1925. Subsequently, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire, Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory and Michigan State University. He married pianist Genia Nemenoff in 1931 and formed the renowned Luboschutz-Nemenoff piano duo. They premiered numerous works including Martinu´s Concerto for two pianos and were the only piano duo to perform in concert with Arturo Toscanini.

 

Maissa, Nella

Italo-Portuguese (Turin, May 7, 1914 — Lisbon, November 26, 2014)

Nella Maissa was a pianist of Shepardi ascent. She studied at the Milan and Pesaro conservatories with Bufaletti, Alfredo Casella and Vianna da Motta. She also studied law at Parma University. Maissa championed the compositions of Portuguese composers and premiered such works as the concertos of Coelho and José Fernandes. She also gave the first performances in Portugal of Hindemith´s Ludus Tonalis, Frank Martin´s Preludes and several works by Messiaen, among many other pieces. Her recordings include the complete sonatas and concertos of Domingos Bomtempo, and works by Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Freitas Branco, Lopes-Graça and Cláudio Carneyro.

 

Marmontel, Antoine-François

French (Clermont-Ferrand, July 16, 1816 — Paris, January 16, 1898)

Antoine-François Marmontel was a pianist and teacher. Winner of the Premier Prix in 1832 at the Paris Conservatory, he taught there solfège first and then piano, succeeding his former teacher Pierre Zimmermann. His son Antonin-Emile-Louis Corbaz was also a pianist and became also professor at the Conservatory. Marmontel published a number of books on music including Les pianistes célèbres, Histoire du piano et de ses origins and Virtuoses contemporains, and composed piano studies, sonatas and other piano works. He edited a large number of compositions for the École classique du piano.

[See the Antoine-François Marmontel Tradition]

 

Menuhin, Hephzibah

American-Australian (San Francisco, May 20, 1920 — London, January 1, 1981)

Hephzibah Menuhin was a pianist. She studied in San Francisco with Judith Blockley and Lev Shorr, with Marcel Ciampi in Paris, and with Rudolf Serkin in Basel. She was the sister of violinist Yehudi Menuhin with whom she frequently performed and recorded. Hephzibah Menuhin had a keen interest in social issues and founded the Center for Human Rights and Responsibilities. In 1998, Curtis Levy produced the documentary Hephzibah, and in 2008 Jacqueline Kent published the biography An Exacting Heart.

 

Nat, Yves

French (Béziers, December 29, 1890 — Paris, August 31, 1956)

Yves Nat was a pianist and composer. He studied with Louis Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire, where he received the Premier Prix in 1907. He often performed with Ysaye, Thibaud and Enescu. From 1934, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. Nat composed a piano concerto, songs and a symphonic poem, among other works. He recorded the complete sonatas of Beethoven.

 

Nemenoff, Genia

French (Paris, October 23, 1905 — September 19, 1989)

Genia Nemenoff was a pianist of Russian descent. She studied with Wager Swayne and also with Isidor Philipp at the Paris Conservatoire. Nemenoff taught at the New England Conservatory and Michigan State University. She married pianist Pierre Luboschutz in 1931 and formed the renowned Luboschutz-Nemenoff piano duo. They premiered numerous works including Martinu´s Concerto for two pianos and were the only piano duo to perform in concert with Arturo Toscanini

 

Novaës, Guiomar

Brazilian (São João da Boã Vista, São Paulo, February 28, 1895 — São Paulo, March 7, 1979)

Guiomar Novaës was pianist. She studied both in Brazil and in France, receiving the premier prix at the Paris Conservatory in 1911. In 1922, she married civil engineer Octavio Pinto, who was also a pianist and composer. Novaës made piano rolls and recordings for Victor and Vox, including Chopin´s F minor Concerto and Schumann´s Carnaval. She had a stroke in January 1979 and died shortly after.

 

Ousset, Cécile

French (Tarbes, January 23, 1936)

She gave her first public recital at the age of five and entered the Paris Conservatory when she was only 10. She has appeared with many orchestras in Europe and in the United States, also concertizing in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa. Her recordings include monumental works such as Brahms´s Second Concerto, Liszt´s B minor Sonata, Rachmaninov´s Third Concerto and Ravel´s Gaspard de la nuit. In 2006, she retired from the concert stage due to back problems. Her BBC appearances include the performance of the complete Debussy Preludes.

 

Paderewski, Ignacy Jan

Polish (Kursk, Podolia, November 18, 1860 — New York, June 29, 1941)

Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a pianist, composer and statesman. He was mainly self-taught during his early years and became an extraordinary improviser. Subsequently, he entered the Warsaw Conservatory and graduated in 1878. After a few years striving to make a living, he begun lessons with Leschetizky and shortly after was appointed professor at the Strasbourg Conservatory. Gradually, Paderewski´s pianistic and musical personality became well-known all over Europe and America. By the 1890s, his wealth had increased considerably. Due to his extravagant lifestyle and the numerous concerts, his health rapidly declined and Paderewski commenced to take an active interest in politics, what resulted in his brief appointment as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He resumed his performing activities in 1922. Paderewski composed a number of piano pieces including Chants du voyager op. 8, Piano concerto op. 17 and Variations and Fugue op. 23.

 

Perez de Brambilla, Marie

French (Nice, November 30, 1841 — 1931)

A student of Anton Rubinstein, Clara Schumann and Theodore Ritter, who was a Liszt´s pupil, she was professor at the Marseille Conservatory.

 

Perlemuter, Vlado

Lithuanian-French (Kowno, now Kaunas, May 26, 1904 — Paris, September 4, 2002)

Vlado Perlemuter was a pianist. He studied with Moszkowski and later with Cortot at the Paris Conservatoire where he received the Premier Prix, Prix d´honneur and Prix Diémer. He also took lessons from Robert Lortat and Maurice Ravel. Perlemuter was one of the first pianists in performing the complete works of Ravel. He taught at the Paris Conservatoire such eminent students as Michel Dalberto and Jacques Rouvier. He co-authored Ravel, d´après Ravel.

[See the Vlado Perlemuter Tradition]

 

Perry, John

American

John Perry is a pianist and teacher. He studied at the Eastman School and with Cecile Genhart and Frank Mannheimer. After winning a Fulbright Scholarship, he went to Europe and became a pupil of Wladylslav Kedra and Carlo Zecchi. Perry was awarded at the Busoni, Viotti and Long competitions. He has served as faculty at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, California State University at Northridge, USC Thornton School of Music, Lake Como International Academy, Banff Center and many others. Perry made numerous records for Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA and Fox.

 

Pommier, Jean-Bernard

French (Béziers, August 17, 1944)

Jean-Bernard Pommier is a pianist and conductor. He studied with Mina Koslova, Yves Nat, Pierre Sancan and Eugene Istomin. In 1960, he won first prize at the Berlin Young Musicians International Competition. He teaches at the École Normal de Musique in Paris and at the Academie Musiké Association.

 

Risler, Edouard

French (Baden-Baden, February 23, 1873 — Paris, July 21, 1929)

Edouard Risler was a pianist. He was of Alsatian and German descent. He won the Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatory in 1889. He carried Liszt´s tradition into the 20th century French pianism through his studies with three of Liszt´s most important pupils, and also as an heir of Chopin via Émile Decombes. He worked in Bayreuth as a stage manager and vocal coach. He was admired as a Beethoven interpreter and offered his first complete cycle of the sonatas in Paris in 1905. He also played contemporary music and is the dedicatee of Dukas Piano Sonata. He enjoyed giving monographic recitals including Bach´s entire Well-tempered clavier and concerts featuring the works of Chopin. He made a piano version of Strauss´s Till Eulenspiegel and played in concert Liszt´s piano version of Berlioz´s Symphonie fantastique. He taught at the Paris Conservatory and produced acoustic recordings for Pathé around 1917.

[See the Edouard Risler Tradition]

 

Rouvier, Jacques

French (Marseilles, January 18, 1947)

Jacques Rouvier is a pianist. He studied in Paris with Aline van Barentzen, Vlado Perlemuter and Pierre Sancan. In 1970, he founded a trio with violinist Jean-Jacques Kantorow and cellist Philippe Muller. Rouvier´s recordings include the complete piano works of Debussy and Ravel. In 1979, he was appointed professor at the Paris Conservatoire.

 

Ruiz-Pipó, Antonio

Spanish (Granada, April 7, 1934 — Paris, October 24, 1997)

Antonio Ruiz-Pipó was a pianist, composer and musicologist. He studied with Alicia de Larrocha at the Granados Academy in Barcelona and with Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat in Paris. As a musicologist, Ruiz-Pipó recovered numerous works for the harpsichord from the 17th and 18th centuries and collaborated with the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He taught at the École Normale de Musique and at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his compositions are the Suite grotesca, Tres danzas del sur and Variations on a Galician theme.

 

Sancan, Pierre

French (Mazamet, October 24, 1916 — Paris, October 20, 2008)

Pierre Sancan was a pianist and composer. He studied in Morocco and Toulouse and then at the Paris Conservatoire with Yves Nat. In 1943, he was awarded the Prix de Rome of composition. He taught at the Conservatoire between 1965 and 1985 where his pupils included Michel Béroff, Jean-Philippe Collard and Jacques Rouvier. Sancan´s recordings include Ravel´s concertos and Beethoven´s cello sonatas. As a composer, he wrote two piano concertos and piano pieces.

 

Sevilla, Jean-Paul

French-Canadian (French Algeria, 1934)

Jean-Paul Sevilla is a pianist of Spanish ancestry. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire where he won the Premier Prix and Prix d´honneur. He won first prize at the Geneva International Competition in 1959. He taught at the University of Ottawa, at the Schola Cantorum and, as a guest professor, at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Among his students were Angela Hewitt and Guillermo González. Sevilla premiered works by Gabriel Pierné and Soulima Stravinsky which he recorded in a cd.

 

Snyder, Barry

American (March 6, 1944)

Barry Snyder studied with Vladimir Sokoloff and Cécile Genhart. He was a member of the Eastman and Meadowmount trios. Snyder was awarded the Diapason D´or for his recordings of the complete cello and piano works by Fauré with Steven Doane. He taught at Georgia State University and Eastman School.

 

Soriano, Joaquín

Spanish (Corbón del Sil, January 5, 1941)

Joaquín Soriano is a pianist. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Vlado Perlemuter and Heuclin and in Vienna with Alfred Brendel. He was awarded the first prize at the Viotti and Jaén competitions. He taught at the Real Conservatorio of Madrid from 1980.

 

Sousa Pedroso, Elisa de

Portuguese (Vila Real, July 10, 1881 — Lisbon, April 18, 1958)

Elisa de Sousa Pedroso was a pianist. She studied with Alexandre Rey Colaço, Vianna da Motta, Pedro Blanch, Ignaz Friedmann, Edouard Risler, Conrado del Campo and Pau Casals. In 1934, she founded the Círculo de Cultura Musical. She published Musica Espanhola Contemporânea among other articles and books.

 

Stojowski, Zygmunt

Polish-American (Strzelce, May 14, 1869 — New York, November 5, 1946)

Zygmunt Stojowski was a pianist, teacher and composer. He studied composition with Zeleński and Delibes. After he concertized in Europe, he moved to the U.S. in 1906, where he became head of the piano department at the New York Institute of Musical Art and at the Von Ende School of Music. Stojowski became an American citizen in 1938. His compositions include two piano concertos, Danses humoresques op. 12, 2 Orientales op. 10 and Aspirations op. 39. His works were performed by such piano virtuosos as Hofmann, Friedman and Grainger. Stojowski also published numerous books on piano teaching.

 

Swann, Jeffrey

American (Arizona, November 24, 1951)

Jeffrey Swann is a pianist. He studied with Alexander Uninsky in Dallas and with with Beveridge Wesbter and Joseph Bloch at the Juilliard School. Subsequently, he obtained a doctoral degree in musical arts with Adele Marcus. He was awarded at international competitions such as the Young Concert Artists International auditions, Dino Ciani, Queen Elisabeth, Chopin, Van Cliburn, Vianna da Motta and Montreal. Swann has made records for such labels as Ars Polona, DG, RCA Italy, Replica and Agorá. He regularly offers masterclasses in the U.S., Italy and Germany.

 

Tomšič, Dubravka 

Slovenian (Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, February 7, 1940)

Dubravka Tomšič is a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Music High School in Ljubljana and at the Slovene Academy of Music with Zora Zarnik. Upon Claudio Arrau´s advice, she went to the USA to study at the Juilliard School with Katherine Bacon and Alexander Uninsky. Subsequently, she studied with Arthur Rubinstein and became his protégée. Since 1967, she teaches at the Slovene Academy of Music in Ljubljana. Tomšič has performed over than 3,500 concerts and recorded 90 LP´s and CD´s. She was married to Slovenian composer Alojz Srebotnjak.Their son, Martin Srebotnjak is a film director.

 

Tunis, Andrew Logan

Canadian (Fredericton, April 30, 1956)

Andrew Tunis is a pianist and teacher. He studied at the University of Ottawa and at the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers included Douglas Voice and Jean-Paul Sevilla. He is a founding member o the Alexandria Trio. Tunis is a professor at the University of Ottawa since 1981. His recordings include Patrick Cardy´s Dances and Dirges and Music of Harry Somers.

 

Uninsky, Alexander

Ukrainian-American (Kyiv, February 2, 1910 — Dallas, Texas, December 19, 1972)

Alexander Uninsky was a pianist of Polish, Russian and Ukrainian descent. He studied at the Kiev Conservatory with Sergei Tarnowsky and at the Paris Conservatoire with Lazare Lévy. He was awarded first prize at the 2nd International Chopin Competition in 1932, after a draw which was resolved by the tossing of a coin. He joined the French Army during the World War II and later emigrated to South America where he performed extensively. In the early 40s, he moved to the United States and, in 1955, he became a professor at the Conservatory of Toronto in Canada and also taught at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He made numerous recordings, particularly of the music of Chopin.

 

Vered, Ilana

Israeli (Tel Aviv, December 6, 1943)

Ilana Vered is a pianist. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Vlado Perlemuter and Jeanne-Marie Darré, and at The Juilliard School with Rosina Lhévinne. In 1961, she was awarded first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Vered has recorded for Decca the Études op. 72 of Moszkowski, Beethoven´s five piano concertos, Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto and Brahms´s Second Concerto, among other works. She has also been a TV and radio broadcaster including shows for PBS and BBC or the film series Looking at music, in collaboration with Swiss producer Adrian Marthaler.

 

Volodos, Arcadi

Russian (Leningrad, February 24, 1972)

Arcadi Volodos is a pianist born to professional singers. He initially focused on singing and conducting. Subsequently, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Galina Eguiazarova, with Jacques Rouvier at the Paris Conservatoire and with Dmitry Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía Madrid. Volodos has recorded works by Schubert, Mompou, Brahms and Liszt, and a cd of transcriptions and arrangements, among others.

 

Zacharias, Christian

German (Jamshedpur, India, April 27, 1950)

Christian Zacharias is a pianist and conductor. He studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe with Irene Slavin and at the Paris Conservatoire with Vlado Perlemuter. He received prizes at the Geneva, Van Cliburn and Ravel competitions. His recordings include Mozart´s concertos and sonatas, Schubert´s sonatas and Beethoven´s concertos, frequently featuring his own cadenzas.

 

Zimmermann, Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume

French (Paris, March 19?, 1785 — Paris, October 29, 1853)

Pierre Zimmermann was a pianist, teacher and composer. His father was a Parisian piano maker. Zimmermann entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1798, where he became a student of Boieldieu and won the Premier Prix in 1800, surpassing Frédéric Kalkbrenner. He started teaching at the Conservatoire in 1811. Charles Gounod was his son-in-law. He published the Encyclopédie du pianist in 1840.

[See the Pierre Zimmermann Tradition]

 

© 2022, by Daniel Pereira