Ignaz Friedman: Romantic Master Pianist

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Ignaz Friedman Allan Evans Evans INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis www.iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 INDIANA $39.95 Jacket illustration Ignaz Friedman in a Steinway publicity photo ca. 1927 Music · Biography Romantic Master Pianist Polish-born composer and pianist Ignaz Friedman summarized his approach to music by stating simply: “There are the notes, there is what is behind the notes, there is what is between the notes.” In Allan Evans’s biography of the master pianist he shows the reader the behind and the between of Friedman’s life and work. An admirable task, since an account of Friedman has appeared in only one book to date, and weighed in at only a few paragraphs. Friedman’s repertory emphasized the major works of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, but also included new scores by Novák, Palmgren, Karl Weigl, Kodály, and Glazunov. He is most notably associated with his interpretation of the Chopin Mazurkas, which by all accounts he played with the same rhythmic nuance as their composer. Evans examines Friedman’s life as a cultured Jewish musician from Poland; his studies in Leipzig and Vienna; his marriage to Manya Schidlowsky; and his performing career, teaching, and retirement in Australia. Allan Evans is the founder of Arbiter of Cultural Traditions, a nonprofits arts organization, and has published more than 150 recordings by historic interpreters. He is editor, with Mark Mitchell, of Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music: A Legacy of the Nineteenth Century (Indiana University Press, 2005). Evans and his wife Beatrice Muzi founded and direct the Scuola Italiana del Greenwich Village. He teaches at Mannes College of Music, The New School, New York. Igna z F r i e dm a n “One of the world’s most eminent experts in pianistic research and in the restoration of historical sound recordings has done a colossal job in creating the first thorough biography of one of the 20th century’s most profound artists. The depth of research is staggering. . . . It is now possible to put a face, a life, a reality, a personality to the man who only existed in our ears, hearts, and musical minds.” Kenneth Cooper, Manhattan School of Music ß “Ciriaco D’Ancona, an early archaeologist in the first decades of the 15th century, replied when asked what he was doing, ‘I wake the dead.’ Allan Evans could claim the same. It is wonderful, how many hidden testimonies he rescues from oblivion!” Sir Ernst Gombrich “Nothing is harder to bring back to life than a dead pianist, no matter how effervescent or influential. The art dies with the fingers. What Allan Evans has done—not once but three times— is to make the late artist seem absolutely relevant to our times.” Norman Lebrecht IgnazFmec.indd 1 4/30/09 10:25:52 AM Acknowledgments · i Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman Romantic Master Pianist Allan Evans Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu© 2009 by Allan Evans All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences —Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication Data Evans, Allan, date Ignaz Friedman : romantic master pianist / Allan Evans. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35310-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Friedman, Ignaz. 2. Pianists—Biography. I. Title. ML417.F76E93 2009 786.2092—dc22 [B] 2008045908 1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10 09 To my late parents, Lillian Burstyn and Samuel Evans, who offered life and curiosity, and to my late mentors Rev. Gary Davis and Irén Marik, who opened both ear and soul [3.16.66.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 13:19 GMT...