Description

ALEXANDER BRAILOWSKY (KIEV, UKRAINE 16 FEBRUARY 1896 – NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA 25 APRIL 1976)

Alexander Brailowsky was a Russian-born French pianist who specialized in the works of Frédéric Chopin. He was a leading concert pianist in the years between the two World Wars. Brailowsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine then part of the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, and as a boy, he studied piano with his father, a professional pianist. When he was 8, he studied in Kiev with Vladimir Puchalsky, a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky. At the age of 18, he attended Kiev Conservatory, graduating with a gold medal in 1911. He went on to study with Leschetizky in Vienna until 1914, then with Ferruccio Busoni in Zürich, and finally with Francis Planté in Paris. He became a French citizen in 1926. railowsky made his concert debut in Paris in 1919. Brailowsky programmed all 160 piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin for playing in a series of six concerts. In 1924, he gave a recital in Paris of the complete cycle of the works of Chopin, the first in history, using the composer’s own piano for part of the recital. He then went on to present a further thirty cycles of Chopin’s music in Paris, Brussels, Zurich, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. A highly successful world tour followed. Brailowsky’s American debut was at Aeolian Hall in New York City in 1924. He toured the United States in 1936. During a series of nineteen recitals in Buenos Aires, he never repeated a single work. During World War II, he gave recitals for the USO. In 1960, he played the Chopin cycle again in Paris, and in Brussels in honor of the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s birth. Brailowsky died in New York City at the age of 80 from complications brought on by pneumonia and was survived by his wife Felicia Brailowsky. He and his wife are buried on the Mount Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. Brailowsky said that the technique used to play Chopin’s music should be “fluent, fluid, delicate, airy, and capable of great variety of color.”

TRACKLIST

1. Ballade No. 1 G minor Op. 23 (Chopin) Polydor 95325 A 95325 B
2. Danse Rituelle from El Amor Brujo (De Falla) Polydor B 27267 95142
3. Etude A minor Op. 25, 11 (Chopin) Polydor 95323 B
4. Etude E Major Op. 10, 3 (Chopin) Polydor B 27335 95323
5. Fantaisie-Impromptu C sharp minor Op. 66 (Chopin) Polydor 95.324 191 2 BV
6. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 C sharp minor Polydor C 27452 95424  C 27453 95424
7. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 C sharp minor (Liszt) Polydor 35 015 B-II 35 015 A-I
8. Impromptu A flat Major Op. 29 (Chopin) Polydor B 27350 95423
9. Liebestraum No. 3 A flat Major Polydor 66752 B
10. Marche Militaire Op.51 (Schubert) Polydor 95425 1115 BL
11. Pastorale-Capriccio (Scarlatti) Polydor DB3705 2EA 7150
12. Piano Concerto No. 1 E flat Major Allegro maestoso Polydor 66750 66750
13. Piano Concerto No. 1 E flat Major Allegro marziale e animato – Presto Polydor 66751 66752
14. Rondo – perpetuum mobile Op.24, 4 (Weber) Polydor B 27265 95141
15. Scherzo Op.16, 2 (Mendelssohn) Polydor 2. 596 12 BH
16. Serenade For The Doll from Children’s Corner (Debussy) Polydor 561. 107 A
17. Toccata from Pour le Piano (Debussy) Polydor 90. 174 A
18. Traumeswirren Op.12, 7 (Schumann) Polydor 62756
19. Valse impromptu (Liszt) Polydor 95425 1114 BL
20. Waltz E minor Op.posth. (Chopin) Polydor B 7101 90174