Menahem Pressler (; 16 December 1923 – 6 May 2023) was a German-born Israeli-American pianist and academic teacher. He was known for his work with the
Beaux Arts Trio that he co-founded in 1955, playing until its dissolution in 2008, in hundreds of recordings and thousands of concerts. He taught at
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
. His playing was described as focused on elegance, delicacy and clarity.
Early life
He was born Max Jakob Pressler in
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
on 16 December 1923 and began playing the piano at the age of six.
His Jewish parents owned a shop for men's clothing that was destroyed in the
Kristallnacht of 9–10 November 1938.
His family fled
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
in 1939,
initially to Italy, and then to
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
.
Pressler suffered from eating disorders and was in danger of starvation, but later said that playing the piano cured him.
His grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins all died in
concentration camps.
Pressler, who took the name Menahem, participated in the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946. Winning first prize launched his career, and he moved to the US. His
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
debut subsequently followed in 1947, playing Schumann's
Piano Concerto with the
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by
Eugene Ormandy.
Career
Pressler pursued a career as a soloist.
He toured playing with leading orchestras in North America and Europe, in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Brussels, Helsinki, London, Oslo, and Paris.
From 1955, Pressler taught on the piano faculty at the
Jacobs School of Music at
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
, where he held the rank of Distinguished Professor of Music as the Charles Webb Chair.
His debut as a chamber musician was at the 1955
Berkshire Festival, where he appeared as the pianist with violinist
Daniel Guilet and cellist
Bernard Greenhouse.
They met to record a cycle of
Mozart's piano trios. It proved so successful that they stayed together as the
Beaux Arts Trio.
He was the only original member to perform with the group through its entire existence, including several changes of membership, up to disbanding in 2008.
The trio performed in hundreds of recordings and thousands of concerts. They began recording a cycle of the piano trios by
Maurice Ravel and
Gabriel Fauré. Their repertoire also included contemporary music by
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...
and
Ned Rorem, among others, and they played ensemble music for six and even eight players.
Pressler returned to Germany in 2008 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of
Kristallnacht.
In 2010, he played at the
Rheingau kMusik Festival with
Antônio Meneses, the last cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio, and appeared before in the interview series ''Rendezvous''.
In December 2013, aged 90, he made his debut with the
Berlin Philharmonic at their New Year's Eve concert.
The performance was televised live throughout the world.
At the beginning of the 1950s, Pressler recorded a substantial quantity of solo piano music,
[ Jean-Pierre Thiollet, ''88 notes pour piano solo'', "Solo nec plus ultra", Neva Editions, 2015, p.51. .] and of music for piano and orchestra by various composers for the American label
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
. The Beaux Arts Trio made an extensive series of recordings for
Philips.
In addition, Pressler recorded solo piano music commercially on the La Dolce Volta label and
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
. In 2018, he dedicated his last Deutsche Grammophon recording of French musi
Clair de Luneo his constant companion
Annabelle Whitestone, Baroness Weidenfeld.
Personal life
Pressler was married to Sara Scherchen from 1949 until her death in 2014, and they had two children.
In 2016, he began a relationship with
Annabelle Whitestone Baroness Weidenfeld,
[ whom he had known since 1966.
Pressler divided his time between ]Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...
, and London. He died in London on 6 May 2023, at age 99.[
]
Awards and recognition
Among his honors and awards, Pressler received honorary doctorates from the University of Nebraska
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Ben Gurion University.
In 2005, Pressler received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the nation's highest honour, and was named a Commandeur in the Order of Arts and Letters award. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, in recognition of a lifetime of performance and leadership in music, in 2007.
He was nominated for five Grammy Awards. He received a Chamber Music America's Distinguished Service Award, the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
.
Pressler received lifetime achievement awards from '' Gramophone'' magazine, the International Classical Music Awards, ECHO Classic in Germany and Les Victoires de la Musique Classique in France.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Indiana University Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors – Menahem Pressler
8 June 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressler, Menahem
1923 births
2023 deaths
20th-century Israeli pianists
20th-century American classical pianists
21st-century American classical pianists
American expatriates in England
American people of German-Jewish descent
Beaux Arts Trio members
Cedille Records artists
Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
German classical pianists
Jacobs School of Music faculty
Israeli classical pianists
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Israeli expatriates in England
Israeli people of German-Jewish descent
Jewish classical pianists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine
Male classical pianists
Musicians from Magdeburg
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Pupils of Eduard Steuermann