Benno Moiseiwitsch CBE (22 February 18909 April 1963) was a Ukrainian-born British pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

.

Biography

Born in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Moiseiwitsch began his studies at age seven at the Odessa Music Academy. He won the Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...

 Prize when he was just nine years old. He later took lessons from Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. He first appeared in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1909 and made his American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 debut in 1919. He settled in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and took British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 citizenship in 1937.

Moiseiwitsch was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (CBE) in 1946, for his consistent contributions during the Second World War, performing hundreds of recitals to servicemen and charities.

He married Daisy Kennedy

Daisy Kennedy

Daisy Kennedy was an Australian-born concert violinist.She was born in Burra-Burra, 160km north of Adelaide, to parents of Scottish and Irish descent. Her father, Joseph Kennedy, was headmaster of East Adelaide School. For three years she was Elder scholar at the Adelaide Conservatory...

, an Australian concert violinist, and had two daughters, Sandra and the set designer, Tanya Moiseiwitsch

Tanya Moiseiwitsch

Tanya Moiseiwitsch, OC was an English theatre designer.Born in London, the daughter of Daisy Kennedy, an Australian concert violinist and Benno Moiseiwitsch, a famous Ukrainian classical pianist, she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts...

.

Playing style

Moiseiwitsch was particularly known for his interpretations of the late Romantic

Romantic music

Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....

 repertoire, especially the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

 (who was an admirer of his playing and referred to Moiseiwitsch as his "spiritual heir"). At the piano, Moiseiwitsch was noted for his elegance, poetry, lyrical phrasing, brilliance, rhythmic freedom, and relaxed virtuosity.

He made recordings for His Master's Voice (now EMI) starting in the 78RPM shellac era, continuing with long-playing records and into the early stereo era. His distinctive style can be heard in his recording of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in A minor, Op. 43 is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It is written for solo piano and symphony orchestra, closely resembling a piano concerto. The work was written at Villa Senar, according to the score, from July 3 to August 18, 1934...

and the Barcarolle

Barcarolle (Chopin)

The Barcarole in F sharp major, Op. 60 is a piece for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin, composed from the autumn of 1845 to the summer of 1846. Written in the barcarole form, it features a sweepingly romantic and slightly wistful tone...

, Ballade No. 4 and Nocturne, Op. 62 of Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

. In 1950 critic and musicologist Irving Kolodin

Irving Kolodin

Irving Kolodin was an American music critic and music historian.-Biography:Irving Kolodin was born in New York City, New York. He wrote for the New York Sun from 1932 to 1950 and for the Saturday Review starting in 1947. He was best known for his popular Guide to Recorded Music...

 said about the Ballade in F minor of Chopin played by Moiseiwitsch: "A featherweight touch in the opening section of this work, an apt feeling for its "once upon a time" narrative quality give Moiseiwitsch pre-eminence among present day interpreters...", thus summing up the sensitivity of the playing by Benno Moiseiwitsch.
He worked meticulously and amicably as a chamber musician, including in Rachmaninoff's Trio Élégiaque and Cello Sonata in G minor

Cello Sonata (Rachmaninoff)

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19, a sonata for cello and piano, was completed in November 1901 and published a year later. As typical of sonatas in the Romantic period, it has four movements. Rachmaninoff disliked calling it a cello sonata because he thought the two instruments...

. American critic Harold C. Schonberg

Harold C. Schonberg

Harold Charles Schonberg was an American music critic and journalist, most notably for The New York Times. He was the first music critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism...

praised Moiseiwitsch's formidable technique and free approach to the music, adding that such freedom was "always tempered by impeccable musicality."

Discography

There is currently no comprehensive reissue of Moiseiwitsch's entire discography, but much of his recorded output is available on CD. Though there are duplicates of recordings across the labels, they will differ in sound quality due to the different restoration techniques employed by the companies.

Releases by Naxos Records Historical

• Vol.1:- SCHUMANN: Kinderszenen / MUSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition (8.110668)
• Vol.2:- LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody / WEBER: Rondo Brillante (8.110669)
• Vol.3:- TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (8.110655)
• Vol.4:- RACHMANINOV: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (8.110676)
• Vol.5:- GRIEG / SAINT-SAENS: Piano Concertos / LISZT: Hungarian Fantasy (8.110683)
• Vol.6:- DELIUS: Piano Concerto / RAVEL: Jeux d'eau (8.110689)
• Vol.7:- RACHMANINOV: Preludes / MEDTNER: Sonata (8.110675)
• Vol.8:- BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 (8.110776)
• Vol.9:- BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14, and 21 (8.111115)
• Vol.10:- MOISEIWITSCH, Benno: Acoustic Recordings 1916-1925 (8.111116)
• Vol.11:- CHOPIN: Piano Works (1917–1927) (8.111117)
• Vol.12:- CHOPIN: 24 Preludes / Ballades / Fantaisie-Impromptu (1938–1952) (8.111118)
• BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / FRANCK: Violin Sonatas (Heifetz) — Moiseiwitsch accompanies Jascha Heifetz in Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47

Releases by APR

• The complete Rachmaninov recordings 1937-43 (APR 5505)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays SAINT-SAENS Concerto 2 / GRIEG Concerto / LISZT Hungarian Fantasia (APR 5529)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Beethoven Volume 1 (APR 5530)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Beethoven Volume 2 (APR 5610)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Chopin Volume 1 (APR 5575)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Chopin Volume 2 (APR 5576)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Tchaikovsky

Releases by Pearl

• Benno Moiseiwitsch - The Complete Acoustic Recordings (0142)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch Vol 1 - Brahms, Mendelssohn, et al. (9135)
• Moiseiwitsch In Recital (9192)

Releases by Testament

• Benno Moiseiwitsch Plays Schumann & Brahms (1023)
• Chopin, Schumann, Weber, Medtner, et al. / Benno Moiseiwitsch (1196)
• Delius: Concertos For Violin And Piano, Legende, Etc. (1014)
• Moiseiwitsch - Schumann, Grieg: Piano Concertos (1187)

Other Releases

• Moisewitsch In Recital - Chopin, Stravinsky, Liszt (ARBITER 120)
• Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2, Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 (BBC LEGENDS 4074)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch (Great Pianists of the 20th Century series by Phillips)
• Benno Moiseiwitsch (GHCH 2326 Label: Guild Historical) — Live recordings of Delius's Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini from the Proms in 1955. Also included is a studio recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto also from 1955.

Filmography

• Georges Cziffra (EMI DVD Classics 4906819) — Bonus footage of Moiseiwitsch playing Wagner-Liszt: Overture to Tannhauser
• The Art of Piano: Great Pianists of the 20th Century — Moiseiwitsch plays Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 (excerpt), Prelude in B minor Op.32 (the beginning contains commentary) and speaks about a conversation he had with Rachmaninov.

External links

• Playing in the Grand Style — Moiseiwitsch discusses the "Grand Style"
• A radio interview transcript — Moiseiwitsch speaks about his career, music and other subjects
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873-1943 —Moiseiwitsch writes on the late Sergei Rachmaninoff in a May 1943 article of Gramophone
• Benno Moiseiwitsch — An article on Moiseiwitsch by W. S. Meadmore from a March 1940 issue of Gramophone