Description

KATHLEEN PARLOW (FORT CALGARY, ALBERTA, SEPTEMBER 20, 1890 – NEAR TORONTO, ONTARIO, AUGUST 19, 1963)

 

 

 

 

At the age of four she was taken to San Francisco where for ten years she studied the violin, first with a cousin and then with Henry Holmes. In 1905 she travelled to London where she gave a recital in the Bechstein Hall and played Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the LSO. In 1906 she commenced studies in St Petersburg with Auer, who became not only her teacher but her financial and musical adviser for many years. Until 1926 she lived in England, touring Europe (she was Glazunov’s choice to play his Concerto at the International Musical Festival at Ostend, 1907) and making regular visits to North America. In 1922 she made a successful tour of the Orient. Returning to the USA in 1926, Parlow made several tours (notably one of Mexico), taught at Mills College, Oakland. In 1929, she was appointed to the faculty of Mills College in Oakland, California. She received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Mills College in 1933. While at Mills College she began to play in string quartets, in which she played violin, and in 1935 she formed the South Mountain Parlow Quartet. In 1936, Parlow accepted a position at the Juilliard School of Music. She remained there until World War II, when she returned to Canada and gave a series of lecture-recitals at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She wrote to Sir Ernest MacMillan about a permanent position with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and obtained one in 1941. In Toronto, she organised the Canadian Trio, which she performed in with Zara Nelsova playing the cello, and Sir Ernest MacMillan playing piano. They received excellent reviews and the trio continued performing across southern Ontario, as well as on radio, until 1944. The Canadian Trio was earning as much as $750 per performance. Inspired by this success, Parlow started her third string quartet in 1942, called the Parlow String Quartet. In October 1959, she was appointed head of the College of Music of the University of Western Ontario.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Minuet in G (Beethoven) Columbia A2162 46684
2. Minuet in G (Beethoven) Columbia D1360 19910
3. Minuet in G (Beethoven) Edison 28026
4. Minuet in G (Beethoven) Edison 28192
5. Moment musical (Schubert) Columbia A1199 19863
6. Moment musical (Schubert) Columbia A2121 46685
7. Nocturne in E flat op 9, no. 2 (Chopin – Sarasate) Columbia A5431 36391
8. Nocturne in E flat op 9, no. 2 (Chopin – Sarasate) Edison 28033
9. Nocturne in E flat op 9, no. 2 (Chopin – Sarasate) Edison 28142
10. Romance (Svendsen) Columbia A5819 48700
11. Rosamunde (Schubert – Kreisler) Nipponophone 9048
12. Thaïs (Massenet) Méditation Nipponophone 9047
13. The last rose of summer (Irish melody) Columbia A1241 19913
14. Valse bluette (Auer) Columbia A1241 19864
15. Valse bluette (Auer) Columbia A2162 46722