Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

György Pauk Violinist Dies at 88

The violinist György Pauk has died.

Pauk, who lost both his parents in the Holocaust, was haunted by memories of lean times, marked by hunger, cold, and fear, living with his grandmother in the Budapest ghetto. For many years after, he always traveled with emergency food.

Early promise on the violin earned him admission to the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of 9. There, Zoltán Kodály was among his teachers. In 1956, at the age of 22, he defected from his Soviet-controlled homeland. It was Yehudi Menuhin who encouraged him to settle in the U.K, which he did three years later. Pauk became a British citizen in 1967.

An important interpreter of contemporary music, he gave first performances of works by Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Maxwell Davies, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, and Michael Tippett. He was also a master interpreter of the music of Béla Bartók.

With pianist Peter Frankl, he recorded the complete violin sonatas of Mozart. Pauk and Frankl had played together since they were children, studying chamber music in Hungary with Leo Weiner. In maturity, they frequently performed trios with cellist Ralph Kirschbaum.

Pauk returned to Budapest for the first time, at the invitation of Annie Fischer, to perform in 1973.

In 1987, he was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He was a renowned teacher, regarded as the foremost living exemplar of the Hungarian violin school, with a direct connection to Joseph Joachim, one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century. Joachim, also born in Hungary, collaborated with Johannes Brahms and his circle. (He gave the first performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in 1879, with the composer conducting.)

Pauk was still teaching as recently as two weeks ago. Reportedly, he took a fall within the past ten days. He died yesterday, in Budapest, at the age of 88.

His instrument was a 1714 Stradivarius, previously owned by the Belgian violinist Lambert Massart. His autobiography, “A Life in Music,” was published in 2021.

R.I.P.

A literal masterclass in how to play Bartók

From a recording of Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2

Brahms’ Violin Concerto from 1959

Pauk talks about his life, with musical interludes

November 19, 2024
Paderewski Virtuoso Statesman Legend

The Polish virtuoso Ignacy Jan Paderewski is one of those rare interpreters from classical music’s past – in the company of Paganini, Caruso, Toscanini, and perhaps a few others – that still flits around the periphery of the public consciousness.

A star pupil of Theodor Leschetizky (who studied with Czerny, who in turn studied with Beethoven), Paderewski exuded a magnetism that enthralled audiences. Beyond his technical prowess, he possessed an extraordinary stage presence. His striking looks, immense charisma, and an almost Pre-Raphaelite combo of unruly mane, mustache, and soul patch made him one of classical music’s true matinee idols. His enormous success on the concert stage lent wings to his political and philanthropic activities.

Later, he would be appointed Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Foreign Affairs. His signature is on the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. His own compositions promoted a romantic image of his homeland. One of these, “Fantasie Polonaise,” provided the basis for Sir Edward Elgar’s orchestral work “Polonia,” written for a Polish Relief Fund concert organized by Paderewski in London in 1916. The concert was but one of Paderewski’s numerous – far too numerous to enumerate in a mere Facebook post – charitable and patriotic contributions. The same could be said of the extent of his honors. I’m a little pressed for time this morning, so it will have to do!

In addition, Paderewski was once a regular presence in Princeton. For a time, he taught at the university, before accepting the presidency of City College of New York. One of his recitals here, in 1925, included Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata and one of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, perhaps No. 2. Princeton University Concerts continues to hold an annual Paderewski Memorial Concert in his honor.

It’s been said that by the time the pianist was making recordings and appearing in films that his technique had become a shadow of its former self. (After hearing Paderewski play at the end of one of his exhausting American tours, the Polish pianist Moriz Rosenthal quipped, “Yes, he plays well, I suppose, but he’s no Paderewski.”) Still, there are glimmers of the artist – and the presence – that he once was.

Happy birthday, Jan Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941)!

Paderewski plays Chopin (film: “Moonlight Sonata,” 1937)

Paderewski plays Chopin (1912), with interview (1940)

Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” (film: “Moonlight Sonata,” 1937)

Paderewski, Symphony in B minor “Polonia”

Paderewski, “Fantasie Polonaise,” performed by Earl Wild, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler

Elgar’s “Polonia”

Paderewski plays his once-famous “Minuet” (1937)

More Chopin (recorded 1923-30)

Over an hour of his earliest recordings. (Paderewski was already in his early 50s.)

November 18, 2024
Classical Music Family Ties Revealed

Two familial classical music links I learned of in the past week or so:

First, Riccardo Muti revealed earlier this month in Chicago, at the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “Megalopolis Suite” (derived from Golijov’s score to the Francis Ford Coppola film), that he is a second cousin of the director.

Although the revelation was certainly a surprise, he is not Coppola’s only musical relation. The director’s father was composer Carmine Coppola, who contributed music to a number of his films. (He shared an Academy Award with Nino Rota for his work on “The Godfather Part II.”) Coppola’s uncle, Carmine’s brother, was the composer and conductor Anton Coppola. If there is a family connection with conductor Piero Coppola, who made first recordings of Ravel and Debussy and accompanied Prokofiev in the first recording of the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3, it has yet to be officially established.

Coppola was also responsible for foreign distribution of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s film adaptation of Wagner’s “Parsifal.”

Muti was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. He directed the Chicago Symphony from 2010 to 2023. He was recently named the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus for Life.

Second, I just learned a day or two ago that, in addition to being an actress, Denzel Washington’s wife, Pauletta, is a Juilliard-trained pianist who was a Van Cliburn competitor, as revealed in this interview for Classic FM.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1590169658254755

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Pauletta (née Pearson) began entering piano competitions at age 10, before studying at the North Carolina School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, and the University of North Texas.

She recorded the song “It’s in Your Eyes” for Denzel’s 1993 film “Philadelphia” and played piano on the soundtrack of “Antwone Fisher.”

From Pauletta’s website: “She studied piano at Julliard, then was introduced to the jazz world by Miles Davis and members of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In her early twenties, Pauletta was starring in the national tour of a Broadway show, and had begun to build a vibrant career working with theater luminaries Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman and Jules Styne [sic].”

Speaking of pianos, Washington has produced an adaptation of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” (directed by his son, Malcolm). The film, which stars Samuel Jackson and features cameos by Denzel and Pauletta, is now in theaters.

November 17, 2024
Estonian Composers Eller Kapp and Sumera

One needn’t vault the Baltic in order to enjoy tones from Estonia.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear music by the so-called father of Estonian music, Heino Eller. Eller, born in Tartu in 1887, studied violin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He also studied law. For 20 years, he taught theory and composition at the Tartu Higher School for Music. In 1940, he became a professor of composition at the Tallinn Conservatory, where he remained until his death in 1970.

Eller composed many beautiful tone pictures. We’ll hear his violin concerto, in a performance taken from a concert given in celebration of the composer’s 80th birthday.

Among Eller’s pupils were Eduard Tubin, Arvo Pärt, and Lepo Sumera. Sumera was born in Tallinn in 1950. In his teens, he studied with Veljo Tormis; then, beginning in 1968, with Eller, at what was then the Tallinn State Conservatory. He went on to compose six symphonies, as well as many chamber and choral works.

In the 1980s, he became interested in electro-acoustic music. He founded the Electronic Music Studio at the Estonian Academy of Music in 1995. He served as its director until 1999. Sumera died of heart failure in the year 2000, at the age of 50.

His Symphony No. 4, subtitled “Serena Borealis,” was composed in 1992. Western ears may detect the influence of minimalist techniques, but it’s worthwhile to note that the folk tradition of Estonian runo songs, handed down orally, relies equally on repetition. And the Estonian nationalists were nothing if not in tune with their musical past.

Finally, we’ll hear from Artur Kapp, who lived from 1878 to 1952. Like Eller, Kapp studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where Rimsky-Korsakov was among his teachers. He himself became a professor at the Tallinn Conservatory, where he taught many notable Estonian composers, among them, his sons, Eugen and Villem. Kapp is regarded as the head of the Tallinn school of composition, a counterbalance to Eller, who was the head of the Tartu school.

We’ll be listening to the finale from one of Kapp’s most enduring works, the oratorio “Job,” in a recording sent to me by the very generous Neeme Järvi (also born in Tallinn), while he was music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

I’ll share the wealth, on this hour of musical discoveries from Estonia. “Tallinn’s Got Talent,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

November 16, 2024
Hindemith Birthday KWAX Radio & Bliss Michelson

I already post too much on Saturdays, since I’m committed to promote my radio shows “Sweetness and Light” and “The Lost Chord,” both of which air today on KWAX (and can be streamed here: kwax.uoregon.edu); but today also marks the birthday of one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. Sometimes I’ll do a search to see what I’ve written about a given anniversary over the past years, and I am frequently awed by my younger self. Who is that guy? I guess once the monomania takes hold, there’s no stopping me. At any rate, I find my observations from 2019 to be interesting and entertaining. I hope you do too. Once you read the post, be sure to scroll down to the comments section to read an amusing anecdote shared by my radio mentor, the late and dearly-missed Bliss Michelson.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1379019078932045&set=a.279006378933326

If Bliss’ comment sparks your curiosity to hear Hindy’s Double Bass Sonata, here’s a link to the piece:

Also, I wonder if this is the Chicago Symphony concert he was referring to?

Happy birthday, Paul Hindemith.

November 16, 2024

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