Giorgio Koukl (born 1953,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

) with family roots going back to Belarusian noble family of Grigori Minaiev, is a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and musical journalist who lives in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, a town located in

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

, an Italian-speaking canton of southern

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Through studies with

Rudolf Firkušný Rudolf Firkušný (; 11 February 191219 July 1994) was a Moravians, Moravian-born, Moravian-American classical pianist. Life Born in the Moravian town of Napajedla, Firkušný started his musical studies with the composers Leoš Janáček an ...

Nikita Magaloff Nikita Magaloff (; 26 December 1992) was a Georgia (country), Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland. His musical interes ...

Stanislav Neuhaus __NOTOC__ Stanislav Genrikhovich Neuhaus (; 21March 192724January 1980) was a Soviet-Russian classical pianist, and son of the pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. Neuhaus was born in Moscow, during the time in which his father was a professor ...

and

Carlo Vidusso Carlo Vidusso (1911 in Talcahuano – 1978 in Milan) was an Italian pianist. He studied piano with Ernesto Drangosch and at 9 years old got a diploma in Buenos Aires. He moved to Italy, studied composition with Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Renzo Bos ...

, Koukl was first introduced to the piano music of

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

. Koukl, considered now as one of the major world specialists of Parisian music of the twenties and of the "silver age" composers from Saint Petersburg, has recorded the only one existing complete set of solo piano music of Martinů, released between November 2006 and August 2009, a 5-CD set of complete vocal music of Martinů and a 2-CD set of Martinů's complete piano and orchestra. A series of eight CDs of the complete solo piano music of

Alexander Tcherepnin Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (; 21 January 1899 – 29 September 1977) was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin (pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), and his sons, Serge Tcherepnin and Ivan Tcherepnin, a ...

added to his discography the valuations as best CD of the month (four times), best CD of the year (2 times), so as the recordings of

Vítězslava Kaprálová Vítězslava Kaprálová (; 24 January 191516 June 1940) was a Czech composer and conductor of 20th-century classical music. Life and career Vítězslava Kaprálová was born in Brno, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Czech Republic), a daughter ...

Paul Le Flem Marie-Paul Achille Auguste Le Flem (18 March 1881 – 31 July 1984) was a French composer and music critic. Biography Born in Radon, Orne, of Breton parentage, son of Célestin Louis Joseph Marie Le Flem and wife Gabrielle Marie Dorenlo, and liv ...

(French prize

Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...

), Witold Lutoslawski (first world recordings),

Arthur Lourié Arthur-Vincent Lourié, born Naum Izrailevich Luria (), later changed his name to Artur Sergeyevich Luriye () (14 May 1892 – 12 October 1966) was a Russian composer, writer, administrator, and musical agent. Lourié played an important role in ...

(first world recording), Tibor Harsanyi, (a project completed in January 2021, all first world recording),

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

Alexandre Tansman Alexander Tansman (, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of neoclassicism, associated with ...

, and the complete piano and two pianos work recording of

Vittorio Rieti Vittorio Rieti (28 January 1898 – 19 February 1994) was an Italian and American composer. Biography Rieti was born to a family of Jewish descent in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt. He later moved to Milan to study economics. Subsequently, he stud ...

. Recently he is working on a release of

Claude Delvincourt Claude Étienne Edmond Marie Pierre Delvincourt (12 January 1888 – 5 April 1954) was a French pianist and composer of classical music. Biography Delvincourt was born in Paris, the son of Pierre Delvincourt and Marguerite Fourès. He studied ...

complete piano work for

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also s ...

References

External links

Giorgio Koukl's website
Czech composers Czech male composers Czech pianists Czech harpsichordists Swiss composers Swiss male composers Swiss pianists Swiss harpsichordists Musicians from Prague Czech expatriates in Switzerland 1953 births Living people Czech male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century Czech male musicians {{Switzerland-composer-stub