Description

JOSEF LHEVINNE (DEC. 13, 1874, ORYOL, RUSSIA — DEC. 2, 1944, NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.)

 

 

 

 

Joseph Arkadievich Levin (the name was altered in western Europe by a manager who thought “Lhevinne” more distinctive and less Jewish) was born into a Jewish family of musicians in Oryol south of Moscow. He studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under Vasily Safonov. He made his public debut at the age of 14 with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in a performance conducted by his musical hero Anton Rubinstein. He graduated at the top of a class that included both Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, winning the gold medal for piano in 1892. In 1895 Levin won the Second International Anton Rubinstein Competition held in Berlin, emerging as the favoured pianist in a group of thirty-three candidates with his performance of Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major. In 1898 Levin married Rosina Bessie, a fellow Moscow Conservatory student, a pianist and winner of the gold medal for piano in her year. The two began to give concerts together, a practice that lasted until his death. Faced with anti-semitism and the political turbulence of the Russian Revolution, they moved to Berlin in 1907. There Lhevinne gained a reputation as one of the leading virtuosi and teachers of his day. They were declared enemy aliens at the outbreak of World War I and became trapped there. They had lost what money they had saved in Russian banks in the 1917 Revolution and were unable to perform in concerts due to the war. They endured years of hardship, surviving on the poor income from a handful of students. After the war they were at last free to leave Germany, and in 1919 emigrated to New York City in the United States. Lhevinne continued his concert career and also taught piano at the Juilliard School. Regarded as one of the supreme technicians of his day by virtually all of his more famous contemporaries (even Vladimir Horowitz admired his pianistic command), he never achieved their level of success with the public. He may have made his excellence look and sound too easy, but he also enjoyed teaching more than performing. He settled into a life of concert tours and teaching. Lhevinne spent time each summer starting in 1922, at Bonnie Oaks, relaxing from public life and sometimes teaching young musicians. Lhevinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing. Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was lay-VEEN. He died suddenly from a heart attack in 1944 a few days short of his 70th birthday.

  

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

6252 AMPICO LISZT – Die Lorelei (The Loreley)

6324 AMPICO TAUSIG – Hungarian Gypsy Dances (Ungarische Zigeunerweisen)

6351 AMPICO MENDELSSOHN-LISZT-On the Wings of Song (Auf Flügeln des Gesänges)

6390 AMPICO LISZT-BUSONI – “Paganini” Etude, No. 3, g#  La Campanella

6427 AMPICO CUI – Causerie (Conversation) Op. 40, No. 6,  F

6521 AMPICO SCHUBERT-LISZT – Soirées de Viennes (Viennese Evenings) No. 6

6661 AMPICO BEETHOVEN – Piano Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2, c# “Moonlight”  lst Mvt.

6671 AMPICO ALBENIZ – “Chants d’Espagñe” (Songs of Spain), Op. 232, Op. 4  Cordoba

6756 AMPICO J. STRAUSS, JR.-SCHULZ-EVLER – “Blue Danube” Arabesques

6847 AMPICO ALBENIZ – Suite Espagñole (Spanish Suite), Op. 47. No. 3 Sevillanas

6865 AMPICO LISZT – Liebestraum (Nocturne) No. 3, Ab O Lieb! (Oh, Love!)

6969 AMPICO LISZT – Gondoliera (Années de p¡elerinage – Venezia è Napoli, #1)

7044 AMPICO SINDING – Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring) Op. 32, No. 3

7096 AMPICO SCHUBERT-TAUSIG – Marche militaire, Op. 51, No. l, D