I know it’s been a few days since pianist Joseph Kalichstein died, but I can’t seem to have been able to find the time or focus to report it. Kalichstein, who was equally accomplished as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician, died at his home in Maplewood, NJ, on Thursday.
His career spanned half a century. He was part of generation of Juilliard-trained musicians, including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Emanuel Ax, Leonard Slatkin, and James Levine, who rose to the top of their respective fields to become highly-visible and frequently-recorded performers.
It was Claudio Arrau who heard him in Tel Aviv, when Kalichstein was 14 years-old. (Kalichstein later stated he had been able to read music before he could read words.) Arrau arranged for him to be brought to Juilliard in 1962. Kalichstein himself later taught there, beginning in 1983.
He attracted the admiration of Leonard Bernstein, who invited him to perform on one of his televised Young People’s Concerts, and Rudolf Serkin, George Szell, and William Steinberg, who sat on the jury for the Leventritt Competition in 1969. Kalichstein won the the competition by unanimous decision.
In 1976, with violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, he formed the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. The trio made its public debut at the Inauguration of President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Kalichstein’s final performance, in Phoenix on March 17, was with the ensemble, playing works by Schumann, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Brahms.
A sensitive interpreter and a self-effacing one, Kalichstein excelled as a collaborator, with a widely remarked-upon lack of ego. His peers, students, and audiences all benefited from his devotion to music.
I was privileged to attend a few of his performances with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio in Philadelphia. Locally, he also appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, in 2014.
Kalichstein’s repertoire embraced the core composers of the 18th and 19th centuries, 20th century masters such as Ravel, Bartók, and Shostakovich, and, with the trio, more contemporary works by Leon Kirchner, Arvo Pärt, Richard Danielpour, and Daron Hagen.
He was 76 years-old.
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 22
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Szell
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio in Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto”
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform Brahms, Dvořák and Mendelssohn
Kalichstein talks Brahms with David Dubal
The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio’s chamber music recordings across a broad repertoire are generously represented on YouTube, but most of them are posted in individual movements. So if you’re interested in more, definitely poke around!
PHOTO: Joseph Kalichstein (center) with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson
