James Friskin (3 March 1886 – 16 March 1967) was a Scottish-born pianist, composer and music teacher who relocated to the United States in 1914.

Biography

Friskin studied in Glasgow with local organist Alfred Heap, and from 1900—at the precocious age of 14—at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

under

Edward Dannreuther Edward George Dannreuther (4 November 1844, in Strasbourg – 12 February 1905, in Hastings) was a pianist and writer on music, resident from 1863 in England. His father had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, moving to Cincinnati, and there es ...

for piano and (from 1905)

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

for composition. He completed his Piano Quintet in 1907 at age 21; published by

Stainer & Bell Stainer & Bell Limited is a British music publisher, specialized in classical sheet music. History Stainer & Bell was founded in 1907. In 1917, Stainer & Bell was appointed publisher of the Carnegie Edition. Stainer & Bell acquired Augener ...

Thomas Dunhill Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1 February 187713 March 1946) was a prolific English composer in many genres, though he is best known today for his light music and educational piano works. His compositions include much chamber music, a song cycle, '' ...

assessed it as "one of the most brilliant op.1's in existence". After completing his studies, from 1909 to 1914 Friskin taught at the Royal Normal College for the Blind. In 1914 he emigrated to the United States, where, at the invitation of

Frank Damrosch Frank Heino Damrosch (June 22, 1859 – October 22, 1937) was a German-born American music conductor and educator. In 1905, Damrosch founded the New York Institute of Musical Art, a predecessor of the Juilliard School. Life and career Damrosch ...

, he became a founding teacher of the Institute of Musical Arts, forerunner of the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

. He taught at Juilliard until his death. While still at the Royal College, Friskin met composer and violist Rebecca Clarke (18861979). His 1912 ''Elegy'' for viola and piano may have been written out of his unrequited love for her. Friskin and Clarke, along with

George Butterworth George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) was an English composer who was best known for the orchestral idyll '' The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from '' A Shropshire Lad''. He wa ...

, formed a small choir to explore the works of

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

, asking

Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

to direct them. More than thirty years later, Friskin and Clarke, both aged 58, were married in New York City (on 23 September 1944) after a chance reunion. In 1925, Friskin was the first pianist to perform J. S. Bach's ''

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'' (), BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of thirty variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may ...

'' in the United States; and in 1934 he performed both books of Bach's ''

Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...

'' in two New York recitals. He eventually recorded the ''Goldberg Variations'' in 1956, a year after

Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; 25 September 19324 October 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was among the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian ...

's celebrated recording. Friskin's obituarist in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, "He became known as a Bach specialist long before others began specializing in baroque composers . . . He doesn't exaggerate or distort the music and plays Bach in a way that goes to the heart of the music. Friskin was not pedantic in his approach to Bach. Nor was he overly Romantic, an accusation that has been levelled at some of his more famous contemporaries." Friskin's early promise as a composer was limited by his activities as a teacher and performer and he appears to have given up composing soon after his move to the United States. The early Piano Quintet was followed by a series of ''Phantasie'' chamber works written for the Cobbett chamber music competitions, including a piano trio,''English Piano Trios: Bridge, Friskin, Ireland, Moeran''. BMS 418CD (2007) a string quartet and another piano quintet. The Piano Sonata, perhaps his last major work, dates from 1915. Friskin returned to London to perform it at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in November, 1920. There was also a handful of orchestral works, including a Piano Concerto which remained in manuscript and which has apparently been lost.

Compositions

Friskin's compositions include: * ''Ballade'' in C major for piano * Cello Sonata in F major * Concert Overture * ''Elegy'' for viola (or clarinet) and piano (1912) * ''Impromptu'' for cello and piano * ''Nocturne'' in E flat for piano * ''Phantasy'' for string quartet, winner of a Cobbett Prize in 1906 * ''Phantasy'' for piano trio in E minor * ''Phantasy Quintet'' (for piano, 2 violins, viola and cello) (1910 or 1912) * Piano Concerto * Piano Quartet in G minor * Piano Quintet in C minor, op 1 (1907) * Romance for cello and piano * Romance for violin and piano * Scherzo for cello and piano * Sonata for piano in A minor * Suite in D minor * Three Pieces for piano * Three Sacred Motets for unaccompanied five-part chorus * Violin Sonata in G major

Publications

* *

References

External links

Wellington, Christopher (2011). Notes to CD Nimbus 6182
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friskin, James 1886 births Musicians from Glasgow 1967 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Music Scottish classical composers Scottish male classical composers Scottish classical pianists British male classical pianists Juilliard School faculty 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century Scottish male musicians British emigrants to the United States