Louis Philip Kentner (19 July 190523 September 1987) was a Hungarian, later

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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, ...

who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire.Morrison, Bryce. 'Kentner, Louis' at ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)
/ref>

Life and career

He was born Lajos Kentner in Karwin, Austrian Silesia (present-day

Karviná Karviná (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Olza (river), Olza River in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. Karviná is known as an industrial city with t ...

, Czech Republic), to Hungarian parents. He received his education as a musician at the Royal Academy of Music in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

from 1911 to 1922, studying with Arnold Székely (

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

), Hans Koessler and

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education. ...

( composition), and Leó Weiner (

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

).Moser, Claus. 'Kentner, Louis Philip' in ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
/ref> While a student, he first became acquainted with

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

, who remained a lifelong friend.Donald Brook. ''Masters of the Keyboard'' (1947), p. 172-4 Kentner commenced his concert career at the age of 15. Until 1931, he was known internationally as Ludwig Kentner. In 1932, he was awarded the 5th Prize at the II International Chopin Piano Competition in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

; and he won a Liszt Prize in Budapest. Kodaly composed his ''Dances of Marosszék'' for Kentner, who premiered the work in Budapest on 14 March 1927. In 1935 he moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

permanently with his wife, the fellow Hungarian pianist Ilona Kabos, and they made their home in London. Kentner gave radio broadcasts of the complete sonatas of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

, the complete '' Well-Tempered Clavier'' ( Bach), and the complete '' Années de pèlerinage'' (Liszt).Harold Taylor (ed.): ''Kentner – A Symposium'' (1987)
preface by

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

At the composer's request, he was the soloist at the Hungarian premiere of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2, in Budapest in 1933, under Otto Klemperer. In November 1942, Kabos and Kentner gave the world premiere of Bartók's Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra in London. Kentner was the soloist at the first European performance of the Concerto No. 3 (in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, under Sir Adrian Boult, 27 November 1946). He and

(his second wife's brother-in-law) gave the first performance of William Walton's Violin Sonata, at

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

on 30 September 1949. He also championed late romantic Russian repertoire, including Balakirev and Lyapunov. His playing was heard in Richard Addinsell's '' Warsaw Concerto'' from the soundtrack of the 1941 film '' Dangerous Moonlight''. However, his hands were not shown, and he preferred to be uncredited as he did not think that being associated with film music would help his career. When the piece achieved worldwide popularity, however, he was happy to acknowledge his involvement. He was President of the British Liszt Society for many years, until his death. In 1975 he invited the young Argentinian pianist Enrique A. Danowicz to receive his musical education under his personal care at the Menuhin School of Music in London, where Kentner was director at the time. He was a member of many music competition juries. He also composed, his output including orchestral works, chamber music, piano pieces and songs. His set of three Sonatinas was published by the Oxford University Press in 1939 and used by various music colleges for examination purposes.

Private life

His marriage to Ilona Kabos ended in 1945, and he then married Griselda Gould, daughter of the pianist Evelyn Suart (Lady Harcourt), whose other daughter Diana became

's second wife in 1947. He was naturalized in 1946 when living at 1 Mallord Street, Chelsea.

References

External links

Classical recordings for Louis Kentner available at ArkivMusic.com

by Naxos Records * List of émigré composers in Britain {{DEFAULTSORT:Kentner, Louis 1905 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Hungarian classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Hungarian male musicians Austrian classical pianists Hungarian male classical pianists British male pianists British classical pianists Hungarian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition People from Austrian Silesia People from Karviná 20th-century Hungarian composers 20th-century British musicians 20th-century British male musicians Jewish British musicians