Martha Goldstein (born Martha Svendsen; June 10, 1919 – February 14, 2014) was an American

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist and

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 gave concerts in the United States, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. She performed works by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

, and others.

Biography

Born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, Goldstein was trained at the Peabody Conservatory and the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, 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 ...

and studied with Audrey Plitt, Eliza Woods, James Friskin and

Mieczysław Munz Mieczysław Munz (October 31, 1900, Kraków – August 25, 1976) was a Polish-American pianist. Munz trained in Vienna and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni. He was a teacher of Emanuel Ax, Walter Hautzig, David Oei, Ann Schein, Virginia Re ...

. She taught at the Peabody Conservatory for 20 years and at the

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) was a Private college, private art school, art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914 by music teacher Nellie Cornish. The college's main campus is in the Denny Triangle, Seattle, Denny Triangle ...

. She also performed as a guest artist with the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet, wind quintet-in-residence at the University of Washington School of Music since 1968. Many of Goldstein's recordings were first released on LP by Pandora Records, which was founded in 1973 and active for more than ten years. The company went out of business with the advent of the CD. The entire archive of recordings is now available for download without restriction and can be found at many download sites, including Wikipedia (see Commons:Martha Goldstein). Often her recordings reflect

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

, employing original period instruments and tunings.PAN 101 is mentioned by the '' American Record Guide'' as a pioneering example of the use of historically informed tunings, in a review of ''Early Italian Harpsichord Music (1520–1670)''; Edward Parmentier, harpsichord; Wildboar WLBR 8001 (Harmonia Mundi): "Still in print is a Martha Goldstein recording of German and Italian music from Pandora (PAN 101). Goldstein uses a modern instrument in various tempered tunings, anticipating Parmentier's performance in his previous Wildboar release of Bach's Italian Concerto in Werckmeister temperament." ''American Record Guide'', January/February 1986, p. 42. She died in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

on February 14, 2014. She had two sons, one of whom predeceased her, and was also survived by her husband of more than fifty years, Allen A. Goldstein (University of Washington Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, who died on January 21, 2022), four stepchildren, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Commercial recordings

The Italian Harpsichord
Pandora Records, cat. no. PAN 101.
Bach: Flute sonatas. Complete and Authentic Works from the Neue Bach Gesellschaft.
Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord). Pandora Records (1974) cat. no. PAN 104. * Chopin: Études, Op. 10; Études, Op. 25. Pandora Records, cat. no. PAN 107. *Bach: Flute Sonatas. Incomplete and Controversial Sonatas. Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord). Pandora Records, cat. no. PAN 105.
Bach / Martha Goldstein - The Sound of the Keyboard Lute
Pandora Records, cat. no. PAN 111.

Pandora Records (1987), cat. no. PAN 119. *Bach: Music for Solo Traverso, Volume I. Alex Murray (Baroque flute); Martha Goldstein (harpsichord). Pandora Records, cat. no. PC 176.Reviewed by '' Stereo Review'', April 1976, pp. 110–111.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Martha 1919 births 2014 deaths American harpsichordists Women harpsichordists Cornish College of the Arts faculty Juilliard School alumni Peabody Institute alumni Peabody Institute faculty 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American classical musicians 20th-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American classical musicians 21st-century American women pianists American women classical pianists American classical pianists Musicians from Seattle Musicians from Baltimore American women music educators American women academics

Biography

Commercial recordings

See also

References

Further reading

External links