Pachmann Article By Kurt Welling He said I am the world s greatest pianist and placed leopold godowsky aboveBeethoven as a composer. Born In Odessa. De Pachmann was born in Odessa. http://users.bigpond.net.au/nettheim/pachmann/welling.htm
Extractions: This web version is dated 3 December 2000, revised 29 January 2003.] DE PACHMANN'S BEQUEST TO PIANO ART by Kurt Welling "BRAVO de Pachmann!" Thus in stentorian tones and with a grandiose gesture did Vladimir de Pachmann, addressing himself as well as his audience, proclaim his supremacy as the master technician and revealer of Chopin. He cavorted about the platform. He mumbled to the front row. Once I saw him persuade a reluctant Leopold Godowsky, who was in front, to get up and make a bow while the invincible de Pachmann eulogized the master composer-pianist as the greatest musician since Beethoven. But de Pachmann's eccentricity had become a part of him. In his younger days he may consciously have assumed certain mannerisms. When he grew older they blended with his personality, so his unusual platform behavior did not seem out of keeping with his make-up. Certainly not with his appearance. He was a short man with long arms which swung to and fro as he tripped out on the platform. He made one think of a gnome with his fantastic white hair and whimsical manner.
Extractions: Heres a question: What do you do once you have polished the most difficuly pianistic studies? Only Marc-Andre Hamelin knows the answer to that question! Godowskys arrangements are really fantastic. He really makes them sound totally different, afresh and alive. This task has been pulled off easily by Mr Hamelin, as if he has been playing them since 13. I am a Chopin fan and I really enjoyed listening to how different they can be! If you are a bit weary of buying this disc because maybe you think Chopin cant get better, well you are wrong. This really provides an interesting approach to the studies and it is a phenomenal achievement. The true Chopin is still in the studies, but certain things are given a more prominent role here and there.
ArkivMusic Great Pianists Of The 20th Century - Leopold Godowsky When leopold godowsky spoke, pianists listened Fortunately, godowsky s greatness shonethrough for the fire and refinement that made him the pianist s pianist. http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=9035
Marston Records - Jorge Bolet In Concert: Vol. 1 Chopin decided that Bolet would study not with Hofmann or Vengerova but with David Saperton,pianist and pedagogue extraordinaire and sonin-law of leopold godowsky. http://www.marstonrecords.com/bolet/bolet_liner.htm
Extractions: Emil Gilels, 1988. am after Thus, the Curtis Institute came to enshrine and disseminate the very best of Russian musical traditions directly through these faculty members. This connection to their homeland was not lost on Soviet musicians behind the Iron Curtain. Pianists Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels idolized Bolet and saw him ( not me When I think of Bolet and Chopin I think of the B minor sonata and the Scherzi. He programmed the sonata in his Curtis graduation recital (in 1934) and played it regularly thereafter. He recorded it, shortly before his death, at his final recording session for Decca, in California, in 1989 (together with the B-flat minor sonata). These recordings have not been issued, so we are fortunate to have this performance. This is Bolet the grand seigneur Albert McGrigor is a publisher, journalist, writer, editor, scientist, and musician who studied conducting with Igor Markevitch. As a child, he met Jorge Bolet, the beginning of a lifelong friendship and, later, collaboration. He fondly recalls accompanying Bolet on concert tours throughout the United States, with Bolet and his personal manager, Tex Compton, sharing the driving of a Lincoln Continental and with a Baldwin grand piano in tow. Jorge Bolet
PMC ESSAYS: Zakrzewska - Pianists 100 Years Ago (1) leopold godowsky gave his first concert in the other composers, and, sometimes godowsky sown compositions. the Chicago Conservatory, the pianist performed his http://www.usc.edu/go/polish_music/essays/zakrzewska_100years1.html
Extractions: Polish Pianists in the U.S. (Part 1) by Barbara Zakrzewska In 1898 several famous Polish musicians performed in many American cities. In this two reports from 100 years ago, we will present musical activities of these musicians, beginning from selected events in the career of Leopold Godowsky (b. in Soshly near Vilnius, 1870, d. in New York, 21 Nov. 1938). Leopold GODOWSKY gave his first concert in the U.S. in 1884. He was only 14 years old at that time, but he was already a concert-stage veteran: he began concertizing at the age of nine with a tour through Germany and Poland. In 1890 he took the position of a lecturer at the New York College of Music. In 1891 Godowsky married a singer, Frieda Saxe, and received American citizenship. In the following decade he focused on teaching and concertizing. In 1894-95 Godowsky taught at the Broad Street Conservatory, Philadelphia. For five years, 1895-1900, he served as chairman of the piano department at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. During that time he gave many piano recitals at the Conservatory, which brought him great fame. His third recital on January 6, 1898 had the following program:
Welcome To Piano.com godowsky, leopold (1870 1938) - provides information on the legendary pianist.Goldstein, Gila - native of Israel residing in New York City. http://www.piano.com/pianist/pianist_classical.cfm
Robin Zebaida, Pianist - Repertoire Sonata in C minor, op. 179, Carl Reinecke. Two Studies on Chopin Etudes, leopoldgodowsky. Meditation, leopold godowsky. Etude, op. 36, Felix Blumenfeld. http://www.pianistuk.com/repertoire.htm
Extractions: Repertoire Equally comfortable in an intimate salon or in a large concert hall, Robin Zebaida is happy to tailor a programme to suit your specific requirements regarding length and repertoire. Drawing on many years experience as a music broadcaster (including several contributions to 'Music Review' on BBC World Service), Robin Zebaida will, by request, present an informative and entertaining commentary on the works performed. A small selection of Robin Zebaida's repertoire is contained in the following sample programmes. PROGRAMME 1 Rhapsodies and Fantasies Fantasie in C minor, K396 Mozart Rhapsody in G minor, op. 79 no. 2 Brahms Fantasie, op. 17 Schumann Hungarian Rhapsody no. 6 Liszt Fantaisie-Impromptu, op. post. Chopin Rhapsody in Blue Gershwin PROGRAMME 2 Russian Romantics (i) Sonata no. 4, op.30 Scriabin Two Poems, op. 32 Sonata no. 5, op. 53 Two Poems, op. 63 Sonata no. 6, op. 62 Six Preludes from op. 23 and op. 32 Rachmaninov Sonata no. 2, op. 36 (original version) PROGRAMME 3 Russian Romantics (ii) Three Waltzes Tchaikovsky Grand Sonata in G, op. 37
Classical Net Review - Godowsky - Studies On Chopin's Études went anything like as far as leopold godowsky (18701938 be composed for the keyboard- indeed, godowsky also went of warm up studies, for the pianist to use http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/h/hyp67411a.html
Extractions: Leopold Godowsky Hyperion CDA67411/2 2CDs DDD 153:02 Those of us who enjoy older recordings, originally on 78s, are well aware that ultimate fidelity to the text was not always considered a necessary attribute of great playing. Many pianists from the "Golden Age" were particularly fond of "improving" Chopin by, for example, playing tricky passages in thirds (Josef Hoffman's 1930s recording of the "Minute" Waltz is a good example). Godowsky was not attempting to improve Richard Wagner described Chopin as "a composer for the right hand" and Godowsky would probably have agreed with him. Which is doubtless the reason why no fewer than 22 of them are for the left hand alone - including the transcription of the famous Revolutionary The resulting music is some of the most fearsomely difficult ever to be composed for the keyboard - indeed, Godowsky also went so far as to compose a number of "warm up" studies, for the pianist to use beforehand. Many of the studies are fairly straight transcriptions, particularly the left hand ones, but most of them either add extra subjects in counterpoint, transpose the function of the hands in the original - as in the first of all, a majestic reworking of Op. 10 #1 with the right hand arpeggios given to the left hand - or emphasise rhythmic features in subtle or not-so-subtle fashion. Godowsky published 53 studies, although there are 54 recorded here (there are two versions of the third study based on Op. 25 No.2). Obviously a number of the originals feature more than once (and one, Op. 25 #7 doesn't appear at all), but Godowsky really let himself go with the famous
Classical Net Review - Virtuoso Strauss Transcriptions - Piers Lane leopold godowsky Concert Paraphrase on Die Fledermaus ; Moriz Rosenthal Fantasyon Johann Strauss And in an age when the pianistcomposer was far more common http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/h/hyp66785a.html
Extractions: Hyperion CDA66785 DDD 73:37 In what is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of pianism - roughly, depending on who is doing the referring, the first four decades of this century - no self-respecting virtuoso was without his (or her, but usually his) selection of outrageously difficult encore pieces. And in an age when the pianist-composer was far more common that today, many of these pieces were transcriptions of the pianist's own devising. The primary target of their zeal for transcription was that most popular of Viennese composers, Johann Strauss II. In fact, as is clear from this CD, the term "transcription" is really something of a misnormer, and the composers themselves make this clear, using varying terms - including "arabesques", "humoresque" and "conc ert paraphrase" - for their elaborations.
Fritz Reiner Papers 2 pages als Note Regarding NY Philharmonic recommendation and pianist positionfor 1, 29, godowsky, leopold Programs and menus Astor Hotel, 13 February 1935 2 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/guides/Reiner/main.html
Extractions: RLIN ID : NYCR02-A BIOGRAPHY Conductor Fritz Reiner was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1888. He graduated from the Budapest Academy of Music in 1908 where he studied with Bela Bartok. Various conducting and directing appointments followed in Budapest and Dresden followed including chief conductor of the Royal Opera House in Dresden 1914-1922 An acquaintance of Richard Strauss Reiner was influenced by conductor Arthur Nikisch and Hungarian composer Leo Weiner. In 1922 Reiner left Europe to become the appointed director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra a post he held until 1930. In 1928 he became an American citizen. He married his second wife Cincinatti actress Carlotta Irwin in 1930. From 1931-1941 Reiner served as head of the orchestra and opera departments at the Curtis Institute of Music where Leonard Bernstein was his student supervised activities of the Philadelphia Academy of Music and was a frequent guest conductor at the Philadellphia Grand Opera. During that time he also participated in opera festivities at Covent Garden in honor of King Edward VIII's coronation and Wagner performances at the San Francisco Opera from 1936-1938.
Extractions: Works include Bach's Sinfonia No. 2 in C minor and Sarabande from French Suite No. 5 in G major; Rameau's "Le rappel des oiseaux" (Bird Calls) and an "Elegy" derived from two fast "Gigues en rondeaux" by Rameau - a masterful "transcription" by Leopold Godowsky; Scarlatti's Sonata in C minor; Beethoven's Andante Favori; Schumann's Intermezzo in D minor, Op. 4, No. 5; Chopin's "Moja pieszczotka" (My Darling), Op. 74, No. 12, transcribed by Liszt; and Liszt's Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104. Also: Grieg's Lyric Piece, Op. 65, No. 1; Debussy's "Hommage à Rameau" from "Images"; Gottlieb Muffat's Fugue in G minor, transcribed by Bartok; Albéniz's Tango from "Suite España," Op. 165, No. 2, transcribed by Godowsky; Borodin's "In a Monastery," No. 1 from "Petite Suite"; Tchaikovsky's "Dialogue," Op. 72, No. 8; Scriabin's "Two Poems," Op. 32; and Shchedrin's Humoresque.
Famous Piano Teachers Page 1 Cecile Genhart. Links Matthay Association. leopold godowsky (18701938).godowsky was a phenomenal pianist and colorful person. He had http://www.pedaplus.com/famous_a.html
Extractions: listen! There is a large amount of information on the web about the great piano teachers of the past . This article is an attempt to organize some of that information. It is nowhere near being complete, but by browsing through this information you should be able to get a good idea of who some of the teachers were, and who some of their students were. I have not tried to go into any detail about methodology or technical approaches except in the broadest sense where appropriate. Liszt studied with Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven. He concertized all over Europe, composed, and taught many pianists, including the Americans Amy Fay and William Mason. Students
Sleeve Notes - Godowsky: The Complete Studies On Chopin's Etudes Background When leopold godowsky completed his first group of on 13 February 1870,godowsky remains unique Saëns, who befriended the young pianist three years http://www2.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/67411.html
Extractions: on Chopin's Etudes Excerpts from the sleeve notes From Leopold Godowsky's Preface to his Studies on Chopin's Etudes: Introductory remarks Special remarks on the studies for the left hand alone Widely spread arpeggios weaving a net of sound about some simple melody were in many cases the only means used to attain a superficial effect, while in this particular set of left-hand studies it has been the author's intention to assign to the left hand alone a task commensurate with the demands made by the modern evolution in the means of musical expression. The pianoforte, being, apart from its strongly individual character, in a sense a miniature orchestra, should in the author's opinion benefit by the important strides which modern composition and instrumentation have made in the direction of polyphony, harmony, tone colouring and the use of a vastly extended range in modern counterpoint. If it is possible to assign to the left hand alone the work done usually by both hands simultaneously, what vistas are opened to future composers were this attainment to be extended to both hands! Godowsky: 53 Studies on Chopin's Etudes Background These factors - his success as a piano pedagogue, his interest in resolving technical problems and developing pianistic vocabulary, his ambition to perfect his own mechanism, his encyclopedic knowledge of piano literature, the need to extend his own repertoire, his unusual fascination in arranging piano works - all played a part in inspiring the extraordinary collection of work that would become the 53 Studies on Chopin's Etudes.
Godowsky: The Complete Studies On Chopin's Etudes leopold godowsky (18701938). Obviously, Hamelin was born to make godowsky live forus It is impossible to think of another living pianist who could have carried http://www2.hyperion-records.co.uk/details/67411.asp
Extractions: Godowsky's Studies on Chopin's Etudes have achieved a legendary status among piano enthusiasts. Few areas of the repertoire have such a notorious reputation for technical difficulty and audacious compositional invention. Far from being disrespectful maltreatments of Chopin's masterpieces, Godowsky's elaborations aim to extend the limits of modern piano technique. Some recast Chopin's right-hand passagework for the left hand while introducing new contrapuntal ideas; some treat the originals more freely, inverting, imitating or combining two Etudes; others are character pieces or variations based on Chopin's originals; and twenty-two of the Studies are for the left hand alone. Taken as a whole, these Studies revolutionized piano writing and expanded the polyphonic and polyrhythmic capabilities of the instrument. They remain among the most daunting challenges of the piano literature, their difficulties not always fully apparent to the listener. Pianists brave enough to tackle this music have often been content merely to get through the notes. Marc-André Hamelin, renowned for his superhuman technical control, injects them with the required range of character, colour and musicianship, as well as breathtaking virtuosity. Uniquely available on 2CDs, this will surely be the benchmark recording for all time.
WHPK Playlists It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his godowsky,leopold. Prelude and Fugue BACH for the Left Hand. MarcAndré Hamelin http://home.uchicago.edu/~ckrubin/021202.html
Extractions: Pierre Boulez, conductor Deutsche Grammophon This was one of the first pieces to be scored for a one-handed pianist. It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I. Since then, a great number of composers have gone on to write music for the left hand alone. Oh, and this also happens to be an extremely wonderful piece of music. Godowsky, Leopold Prelude and Fugue "B.A.C.H." for the Left Hand CBC Godowsky pretty much only wrote piano music, and a great deal of it is for the left hand alone (I have no idea why). This piece is a tribute to J.S. Bach, since the first four notes of the fugue subject spell out B-A-C-H (using the German lettering system). I am absolutely amazed that it is possible to play all of the parts of a fugue with only one hand. Rorem, Ned
GODOWSKY ETUDES The Complete Studies on Chopin s Etudes MarcAndrÈ Hamelin, pianist HYPERION CDA byHamelin of the complete set of leopold godowsky s incredibly difficult http://classicalcdreview.com/hamlin.htm
Extractions: Harold Schonberg of the New York Times described this music as "probably the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano. These are fantastic exercises that push piano technique to heights undreamed of even by Liszt." No question about it; the G# minor Etude of Op. 25 is hard enough to play as originally written, but to play all those double thirds with the left hand! Very difficult, indeed! Leopold Godowsky (1870 - 1938) was born in Sozly near Vilnius (Wilno, now in Lithuania). Considering his achievements both on the concert stage and in writing for the piano, it is remarkable that he achieved all this with minimal formal training. After rudimentary instruction as a child, when 13 he studied for three months in Berlin and that was it; the rest was self-taught. He always was experimenting with new techniques. Godowsky had enormous interest in the technical side of playing the piano, focusing on different fingering and development of left hand performance. Little music had been written that was a true challenge for the left hand. Some composers wrote left-hand concertos for Paul Wittgenstein, including Prokofiev, Britten, Korngold and Ravel (Wittgenstein didn't play most of them and struggled with those he did). Blumenfeld's Etude for the Left Hand (spectacularly recorded by Simon Barere) and Georges Cziffra's transcription of Flight of the Bumble Bee
Extractions: Passacaglia , giving up on the work while he was preparing it for performance. We probably shouldn't take Horowitz too seriously; he doesn't seem to have cared for Godowsky's music at all - unlike Marc-André Hamelin, who has the phenomenal technique and razor-sharp musical intellect to succeed with this music where others usually fail, or at best give up in the attempt. "My music is not difficult", Godowsky said himself. "Too many pianists were too indolent mentally and physically to make the supreme effort."
Target : Entertainment : Piano Serenade A fine pianist. Works by Glinka Target Entertainment Styles Classical Featured Composers, AZ ( G ) godowsky, leopold Target Entertainment http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html?asin=B0000005ZT
Joseph Banowetz - Editions leopold godowsky Miniatures, Volume 3 Miscellaneous, For One Piano/Four Hands Editedby The pianist s Book of Early Contemporary Treasures Edited by Joseph http://www.maggieworld.com/jb/editions.htm
