Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.
Born in Galați
Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...
, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teachers were Florica Musicescu, who also taught Dinu Lipatti
Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...
, and Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustav Neuhaus (, , Genrikh Gustavovič Nejgauz, 10 October 1964) was a Russian pianist and teacher. Part of a musical dynasty, he grew up in a Polish-speaking household. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. Neuhaus ...
, who also taught Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist. He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time,Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his interpreta ...
and Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (19 October 191614 October 1985, born Samuil) was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. His sister Elizabeth, three years his junior, was a violinist. His daughter Elena ...
. From 1966 to 1969, he won three of the world's most prestigious piano competitions: the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (The Cliburn) is an American piano competition by The Cliburn, first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation. Initially held at Texas Christian University, the ...
(1966), the George Enescu International Piano Competition
The George Enescu International Competition is a music competition for young piano, pianists, violinists, cellists and composers, that takes place in Bucharest, Romania. It has helped launch the careers of many musicians, and among its list of fi ...
(1967), and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, is an international piano competition which takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ...
(1969). These victories launched Lupu's international career, and he appeared with all of the major orchestras and at all of the major festivals and music capitals of the world.
From 1970 to 1993, Lupu made over 20 recordings for Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
. His solo recordings, which have received considerable acclaim, include works by 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 ...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...
, Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of N ...
, Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
, 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 ...
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
, including all of Beethoven's piano concertos, five piano sonatas and other solo works; the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos, as well as three major solo works of Schumann; nine piano sonatas, Impromptus and ''Moments musicaux'' of Schubert; various major solo works and the first piano concerto of Brahms; and two piano concertos of Mozart. His chamber music recordings for Decca include all of Mozart's sonatas for violin and piano with Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909 – 19 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical violinist and conductor, latterly an American.
Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw. His first teacher ...
; the violin sonatas of Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
and Franck Franck can refer to:
People
* Franck (name)
Other
* Franck, Argentina, town in Santa Fe Province, Argentina
* Franck (company), Croatian coffee and snacks company
* Franck (crater), Lunar crater named after James Franck
See also
* Franc (di ...
with Kyung Wha Chung
Kyung Wha Chung (; born 26 March 1948) is a South Korean violinist.
Early years and education
Kyung Wha Chung was born in Seoul as the middle of the seven children in her family. Her father was an exporter, and her mother ran a restaurant.
She ...
; and various works by Schubert for violin and piano with Goldberg. He additionally recorded works of Mozart and Schubert for piano four-hands and two pianos with Murray Perahia
Murray David Perahia ( ; born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. ...
for CBS Masterworks
Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...
, Schubert songs with Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks (born November 20, 1948) is an American lyric soprano and humanitarian. Born in Arkansas, Hendricks studied chemistry and mathematics at the University of Nebraska before becoming a singer. She gained acclaim for her operatic r ...
for EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, and works by Schubert for piano four-hands with Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
for Teldec
Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.
History
Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...
. In addition, Lupu is also noted for his performances of Bartók, Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
, Enescu, and Janáček, among other composers.
Lupu was nominated for two Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s, winning one in 1996 for an album of two Schubert piano sonatas. In 1995, Lupu also won an Edison Award
The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...
for a disc of three major piano works of Schumann. Other awards won by Lupu include the Franco Abbiati Prize in 1989 and 2006, and the 2006 Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli award.
Life and career
Early life and education
Lupu was born in Galați
Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...
, Romania on 30 November 1945 to a Jewish family, the son of Meyer Lupu, an attorney, and Ana Gabor, a linguist. From his earliest days, Lupu "had always expressed himself by singing", and was given his first piano at the age of five. He began piano studies in 1951, as a six-year-old, with Lia Busuioceanu. He made his public debut in 1957, at age 12, in a concert featuring his own compositions.[ He told '']The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' in 1970 that "from the very beginning I regarded myself as a composer. I was sure, and everybody else was sure, that one day I would become a famous composer". He gave up composing about four years later, saying that he thought he would be "much better as a pianist".
After completing high school in Galați, and graduating from the Popular School for the Arts in Brașov
Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County.
According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Victor Bickerich, Lupu continued his piano studies at the Bucharest Conservatory
The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...
(1959–1961) with Florica Musicescu (who also taught Dinu Lipatti
Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...
) and Cella Delavrancea
Cella Delavrancea (15 December 1887 – 9 August 1991) was a Romanian pianist, writer and teacher of piano, eldest daughter of writer Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, sister of architect Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory, Niculina Delavrancea and "Bebs" ...
, while also studying composition with Dragos Alexandrescu. At age 16, in 1961, he was awarded a scholarship to the Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...
, where he studied for seven years. In Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, he first studied with Galina Eguiazarova
Galina Eguiazarova (, also latinized ''Yegiazarova'') is a Russian pianist and professor.
Biography
Galina Eguiazarova was born in Russia. She studied at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she was a disciple of Alexander Goldenweiser.
Sin ...
(a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser) for two years, then with Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustav Neuhaus (, , Genrikh Gustavovič Nejgauz, 10 October 1964) was a Russian pianist and teacher. Part of a musical dynasty, he grew up in a Polish-speaking household. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. Neuhaus ...
(who also taught Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist. He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time,Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his interpreta ...
and Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (19 October 191614 October 1985, born Samuil) was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. His sister Elizabeth, three years his junior, was a violinist. His daughter Elena ...
) and finally with his son, Stanislav Neuhaus. He graduated in 1969. Lupu was also a student of Maria Curcio
Maria Curcio (27 August 1918 or 191930 March 2009) was an Italian classical pianist who became a sought-after teacher. Her students included Barry Douglas, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Martha Argerich, Evelyne Brancart, Radu Lupu, Dame Mitsuko Uchida, ...
, a student of Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...
.[
In a 1981 interview, when asked about what types of influences his teachers had on him, Lupu answered that he thought of himself as more ]autodidactic
Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions).
Overview
Autodid ...
: "My first teacher took me to every orchestral concert, and I am also grateful for what I learned in Moscow, but I think of myself, basically (in music anyway), as somebody who is more autodidactic. I took some from Furtwängler Furtwängler is a German surname, originally meaning a person from Furtwangen. Notable people with the surname include:
* Adolf Furtwängler (1853–1907), archaeologist and art historian
* Maria Furtwängler (born 1966), physician and actress
* ...
, Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
, everywhere ... more and more so since I left Moscow."
Early career
In 1965, Lupu was placed fifth at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna.
The following year, he won the first prize in the second Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (The Cliburn) is an American piano competition by The Cliburn, first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation. Initially held at Texas Christian University, the ...
; he also won special prizes for the best performance of a commissioned work (of Willard Straight's "Structure for Piano") and the best performance of a movement from the Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
Piano Sonata. In the finals, his performance of the first movement of Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
's Piano Concerto No. 2 (Op. 16), a required piece, was described by Paul Hume of ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' as "the most fiery and thunderous of any of the six finalists". In addition to the Prokofiev, he performed 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 ...
's Piano Concerto No. 5 (Op. 73). Alicia de Larrocha
Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' " ...
, who was on the jury, declared Lupu a genius. "I did not expect it at all. I am just speechless," Lupu said after his victory. Shortly after the competition, in April 1967, Lupu made his debut at 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 ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in a program of Beethoven, 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 ...
, and Chopin. However, Lupu reportedly turned down many of the other engagements that came with the prize, instead choosing to further his studies in Moscow.[
A year after his Cliburn Competition victory, in 1967, Lupu won the first prize in the ]George Enescu International Piano Competition
The George Enescu International Competition is a music competition for young piano, pianists, violinists, cellists and composers, that takes place in Bucharest, Romania. It has helped launch the careers of many musicians, and among its list of fi ...
. Two years later, in October 1969, he won the Leeds International Piano Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, is an international piano competition which takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It ...
; he performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...
under Charles Groves
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors.
After accompanying positions and conducting ...
(Op. 37) in the final. The following month, in November 1969, Lupu made his solo debut in London; Joan Chissell of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' wrote about his performance of the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 7 at the recital: "He brought what seemed like a lifetime's experience to its alternating desolation and pride. Never could music come nearer to speech."
In April 1970, Lupu made his first recording for Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
: Brahms' Rhapsody in B minor (Op. 79 No. 1) and Three Intermezzi (Op. 117), 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 ...
's Piano Sonata in A minor (D. 784). He continued to record for the label for the following 23 years.[Liner notes to ] In August 1970, the 24-year-old pianist made his debut at The Proms
The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...
, performing Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...
' Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 15) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...
conducted by Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch retired conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), chief conductor ...
at the Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
. In November 1970, he made his first concerto recording for Decca, of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
conducted by Lawrence Foster
Lawrence Foster (born October 23, 1941) is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry.
Early life
Foster was born in Los Angeles, California, to Romanian parents. His father died when Foster was three years old. He was later adopted by his step ...
;[Liner notes to ] he also recorded Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor (WoO 80).
Lupu's first major American appearances after his Leeds Competition victory were in February 1972 with the Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...
in the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
conducting at 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 ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and in October 1972 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...
in the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor.
From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserv ...
conducting.
The performance of the Brahms with the Cleveland Orchestra and Barenboim was reviewed by Harold C. Schonberg, a Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning music critic for ''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 ...
'' who had ten years prior notably lambasted the famous New York Philharmonic concert of 6 April 1962 where the same concerto was played by 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 ...
with the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
. Schonberg was also critical of the performance by Lupu and Barenboim, writing that not since the Bernstein–Gould performance "had there been such an interpretation" of the concerto, describing it as "willful, episodic and mannered, self-indulgent, capricious". However, he added that "yet through all the eccentricities came the feeling of two young musicians trying hard to get out of the rut and once in a while actually succeeding", but that "in future years this kind of approach may jell for them. Right now it does not come off."
Growing acclaim
Although Schonberg had been critical of Lupu's debut with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Barenboim in February 1972, he was far more enthusiastic about Lupu's performance in November 1972 of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...
conducted by Lawrence Foster at Carnegie Hall, writing, 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 ...
'', that
: s performance did much to redeem the impression he had made last season in the Brahms D minor concerto. Then he sounded mannered, finicky, artificial. This time he was a different pianist.
Schonberg added:
: His proclamation in the cadenza
In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...
-like opening was big and bold, featured by a penetrating though glassy tone. This set the stage for a fiery performance that was consistently interesting. It may have been banged out a bit, it may have been lacking in color resource, but it did have propulsion, and it did have ideas. And it had superb momentum aside from a few bad rhythmic groupings in the slow movement.[
The following year, Lupu recorded the piano concertos of ]Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
( Op. 54) and Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of N ...
( Op. 16) with the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
conducted by André Previn
André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...
, a recording described by ''Gramophone
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...
'' as "grandly commanding". In February 1974, Lupu performed a recital at Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...
in New York, which was praised by Allen Hughes of ''The New York Times''. Hughes declared Lupu "no ordinary pianist" and wrote about Lupu's performance of Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-flat major (D. 960).
In November 1974, Lupu made his debut with the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 (K. 467) conducted by James Conlon
James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.
Early years
Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Che ...
.[ In 1975, Lupu debuted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and gave the premiere of the ]André Tchaikowsky
André Tchaikowsky (also Andrzej Czajkowski; born Robert Andrzej Krauthammer; November 1, 1935 – June 26, 1982) was a Polish composer and pianist. In addition to his musical work, he is perhaps best known for bequeathing his skull to the Royal ...
Piano Concerto, Op. 4 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Uri Segal at the Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...
. In 1976, Lupu recorded Brahms' 6 Klavierstücke (Op. 118) and 4 Klavierstücke (Op. 119), which was described by ''Stereo Review
''Sound & Vision'' was an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review' ...
'' as "a glowing realization of what Brahms set down that leaves one at a loss for words and simply glad to have ears."[ In 1978, he gave his debut with the ]Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...
conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born ''Heribert Adolf Ernst Karajan''; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, ...
at that year's Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...
.[ Reviewing a recital Lupu gave at ]Avery Fisher Hall
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall at Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
The facility, designed by Max Abramovitz, was o ...
in 1980, Andrew Porter of ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' hailed Lupu as "a master of the most satisfying kind".[ By 1981 he had played with every major orchestra.][
]
Remainder of the 20th century
In June 1982, Lupu made a critically acclaimed recording of Schubert's Impromptus (D. 899 & 935). John Rockwell wrote in ''The New York Times'' that Lupu's "singing tone here must be heard to be believed. Without belittling the other facets of Schubert's musical personality, he captures the composer's songful essence with a rare beauty – and, in so doing, he reaffirms once more the ability of present-day performers to do ample justice to the music of the past." In addition, ''Gramophone'' said about the recording:
In 1989, Lupu was awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize by the Italian Critics' Association; he was awarded the prize again in 2006. In 1995, he won an Edison Award
The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...
for his album of Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
's ''Kinderszenen
' (, "Scenes from Childhood"), Opus number, Op. 15, by Robert Schumann, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838.
History and description
Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. T ...
'' (Op. 15), ''Kreisleriana
''Kreisleriana'', Op. 16, is a composition in eight movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, subtitled ''.'' Schumann claimed to have written it in only four days in April 1838 and a revised version appeared in 1850. The work was dedicated ...
'' (Op. 16), and '' Humoreske'' (Op. 20) which was also nominated for a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
. In the Grammy Awards of 1995
The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song ...
, he won a for his album of Schubert's Piano Sonatas in B-flat major (D. 960) and A major (D. 664).[
]
21st century
In 2006, Lupu was awarded the Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and in 2016 was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
for services to music.
In June 2019, Lupu's agent announced that the pianist would retire from the concert stage at the end of the 2018–2019 season.
Musical style
Lupu used a regular, straight-backed[ chair at the piano as opposed to a standard piano bench.] He told ''Clavier'' in 1981 that while sitting on a bench he tended to lean forward, raise his shoulders, become impossibly stiff and develop pains all over. He also said that he practiced with a chair at home and found it natural.[ Although Lupu was an admirer of the pianism of ]Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist. and Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing.
Life ...
, he named Mieczysław Horszowski as having the largest influence on his playing, saying that Horszowski "speaks to me like no one else". Lupu's initial approach to new music was to read it away from the piano, saying that he "reads more easily away from the instrument" and that "it is the only way to learn".[ Lupu said in regards to tone production that "everything in music comes from the head", adding: "If you have any concept of sound, you hear it in your inner ear. All you have to work for is to match that sound on the instrument. The whole balance, the line, the tone, is perceived and controlled by the head." He further described tone production as a "matching process for which nepractices", and the physical contact of the keyboard as "a very individual thing determined by the color or timbre you hear and try to get, the piece you are playing, the phrase".][
Lupu's playing garnered admiration not only from music critics, but also by fellow major artists. In a 2002 interview, ]Mitsuko Uchida
is a Japanese-English classical pianist and conductor. Born in Japan and naturalised in England, she is particularly notable for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert.
She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repert ...
said that "there is nobody on earth who can actually get certain range of colour, and also the control – don't underestimate this unbelievable control of his playing". Nikolai Lugansky
Nikolai Lvovich Lugansky (; born 26 April 1972) is a Russian pianist.
Early life and education
Nikolai Lugansky was born on 26 April 1972 in Moscow, Russia, to research scientist parents. At the age of five, before he had learned to read music ...
said in an interview that Lupu "possesses the rare power of letting the music speak for itself", and András Schiff
Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. He has received numerous awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Music Bac ...
stated that Lupu had the "rare gift to illuminate anything that he plays with rare musical intelligence". Arcadi Volodos
Arcadi Arcadievich Volodos (born 24 February 1972) is a Russian-born French pianist. One of the world's most acclaimed pianists, he has won such awards as the Echo Klassik, Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, and Edison Award for his discography.
...
said he learned a great deal from extended talks with Lupu on Schubert sonatas, and Seong-Jin Cho
Seong-Jin Cho (; born May 28, 1994) is a South Korean concert pianist. He was the winner of the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition, the first from the country. Since then, he has regularly performed recital programs in major venues an ...
named Lupu's recording of the Schubert Impromptus as one of his favourite records.
Other pianists who expressed admiration for Lupu or cited him as an inspiration in their music-making include Emanuel Ax
Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born June 8, 1949) is a Grammy Award-winning American classical pianist. He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim, as well as his piano recitals and p ...
, Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
, Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...
, Kirill Gerstein
Kirill Gerstein () (born 23 October 1979) is a Russian-American concert pianist. He is the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award. Born in the former Soviet Union, Gerstein is an American citizen based in Berlin. Between 2007-2017, he led p ...
, Stephen Hough
Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-Australian classical pianist, composer and writer.
Biography
Hough was born in Heswall (then in Cheshire) on the Wirral Peninsula, and grew up in Thelwall, where he began pi ...
, Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (, ; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian-born concert pianist and composer. He became a British citizen in 2002 and an Israeli citizen in 2013. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has a wide reperto ...
, Lang Lang
Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...
, Robert Levin, Maria João Pires
Maria João Alexandre Barbosa Pires (; born 23 July 1944) is a Portuguese classical pianist, widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Early life and education
Pires was born in Lisbon, ...
, Daniil Trifonov
Daniil Olegovich Trifonov (; born 5 March 1991) is a Russian pianist and composer. Described by ''The Globe and Mail'' as "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso" and by ''The Times'' as "without question the most astounding pianist of our ...
, and Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang () is a Chinese-born American pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
By age 21, s ...
. In addition, the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (; born Yannick Séguin;David Patrick Stearns, "Nezet-Seguin signs Philadelphia Orchestra contract". ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 19 June 2010. 6 March 1975) is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is the music dir ...
cited Lupu as an inspiration while he was a piano student, saying that listening to recitals and recordings by Lupu "shaped my conception of sound from a very young age", and the cellist Steven Isserlis
Steven John Isserlis (born 19 December 1958) is a British cellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He is also noted for his div ...
called him "one of the greatest artists I have ever heard or known".
Repertoire and recordings
In the span of 23 years, Lupu made over 20 recordings for Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
. His first recording was made in the spring of 1970. Lupu's solo recordings, which have received considerable acclaim, include works by 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 ...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...
, Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of N ...
, Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
, 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 ...
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
. His solo recordings without orchestra include 5 Beethoven piano sonatas (Opp. 13, 27/2, 49, and 53), as well as Beethoven's two rondos for piano (Op. 51) and 32 Variations in C minor; Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor (Op. 5), Two Rhapsodies (Op. 79), Intermezzi
In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...
(Op. 117), 6 Pieces for Piano (Op. 118) and 4 Pieces for Piano (Op. 119); nine piano sonatas of Schubert (D. 157, 557, 664, 784, 845, 894, 958, 959, 960) as well as the Impromptus (D. 899, 935) and Moments musicaux (D. 780); and Schumann's Humoreske (Op. 20), Kinderszenen
' (, "Scenes from Childhood"), Opus number, Op. 15, by Robert Schumann, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838.
History and description
Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. T ...
(Op. 15) and Kreisleriana
''Kreisleriana'', Op. 16, is a composition in eight movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, subtitled ''.'' Schumann claimed to have written it in only four days in April 1838 and a revised version appeared in 1850. The work was dedicated ...
(Op. 16). His concerto recordings include the complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...
conducted by Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father ...
; the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 15) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
conducted by Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch retired conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), chief conductor ...
; the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
and André Previn
André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...
; and two Mozart piano concertos (K. 414 and 467) with the English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. With a limited performance size, the orchestra spe ...
conducted by Uri Segal. His chamber music recordings for Decca include all of Mozart's sonatas for violin and piano with Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909 – 19 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical violinist and conductor, latterly an American.
Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw. His first teacher ...
and various works by Schubert for violin and piano with Goldberg; the violin sonatas of Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
and Franck Franck can refer to:
People
* Franck (name)
Other
* Franck, Argentina, town in Santa Fe Province, Argentina
* Franck (company), Croatian coffee and snacks company
* Franck (crater), Lunar crater named after James Franck
See also
* Franc (di ...
with Kyung Wha Chung
Kyung Wha Chung (; born 26 March 1948) is a South Korean violinist.
Early years and education
Kyung Wha Chung was born in Seoul as the middle of the seven children in her family. Her father was an exporter, and her mother ran a restaurant.
She ...
; the quintets for piano and winds of Beethoven (Op. 16) and Mozart (K. 452) with Han de Vries
Han Samuel de Vries (born 31 August 1941, The Hague), is a Dutch oboist and is considered the doyen of the Dutch school of oboe playing.
He studied oboe with Jaap Stotijn at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and with his son Haakon Stotijn at ...
, George Pieterson, Vicente Zarzo, and Brian Pollard;. He additionally recorded works of Mozart and Schubert for piano four-hands and two pianos with Murray Perahia
Murray David Perahia ( ; born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. ...
for the CBS Masterworks
Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...
, two albums of Schubert songs with Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks (born November 20, 1948) is an American lyric soprano and humanitarian. Born in Arkansas, Hendricks studied chemistry and mathematics at the University of Nebraska before becoming a singer. She gained acclaim for her operatic r ...
for EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, and a disc of works by Schubert for piano four-hands with Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
for Teldec
Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.
History
Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...
.[
In addition to the composers he has recorded, Lupu is also noted for his performances of Bartók,][ Enescu, and Janáček.][
In 2024, the label Doremi began releasing a series of live recordings by Lupu. As of June 2024, the series consists of seven 2-CD sets. Although some of the repertoire overlaps with what Lupu recorded commercially, much of it greatly augments what was previously available. Vol. 2 includes recordings of Mozart's piano sonatas K. 310 and K. 545, ]Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's Andante and Variations in F minor and Piano Sonata No. 37 in D major, and Bartók's '' Out of Doors'' Suite. Vol. 3 presents Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 with Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe (14 June 1910 – 12 May 1976) was a German conductor.
Biography
Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and ...
conducting and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with Lawrence Foster
Lawrence Foster (born October 23, 1941) is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry.
Early life
Foster was born in Los Angeles, California, to Romanian parents. His father died when Foster was three years old. He was later adopted by his step ...
as well as three solo piano pieces by Chopin, a composer Lupu never recorded commercially. It also includes works of a more modern vintage than found elsewhere in Lupu's output: the Piano Quintet of Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...
with the Gabrieli Quartet and the brief Humoresque of Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin ( rus, Родион Константинович Щедрин, , rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR St ...
. Vol. 4 contains recordings of the Piano Sonata by Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
and another performance of Bartók's ''Out of Doors'' Suite. Vol. 5 includes recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band by George Gershwin. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects and premiered in a concer ...
and Piano Concerto in F with Dean Dixon as well as the Piano Concerto No. 2 by André Tchaikowsky
André Tchaikowsky (also Andrzej Czajkowski; born Robert Andrzej Krauthammer; November 1, 1935 – June 26, 1982) was a Polish composer and pianist. In addition to his musical work, he is perhaps best known for bequeathing his skull to the Royal ...
, which was dedicated to Lupu, and another recording of Haydn's Piano Sonata No. 37 in D major. Vol. 6 includes Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
's Prelude & Fugue in B-flat minor from The 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, ...
, Book 1, which represents the first available recording of Lupu playing Bach, along with more solo works by Mozart and Chopin. In addition to all these works new to Lupu's discography, the series includes alternative live recordings of many works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Franck, and Brahms.
Personal life
Lupu's first marriage was in 1971 to the cellist Elizabeth Wilson (born 1947), daughter of diplomat Sir Archibald Duncan Wilson. He lived in Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, Switzerland, with his second wife Delia, a violinist in the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra) is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The OCL is resident at the Salle Métropole in Lausanne. The OCL is an artistic partner with Lausanne Opera and reg ...
. He had a son, Daniel.
For most of his career, Lupu often refused to grant interviews to the press out of "fear of being misunderstood or misquoted".[ His aversion to the press and publicity has prompted them to label him as "the reclusive Radu Lupu",][ with '']The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' referring to him as a "woolly recluse" and "like someone dragged unwillingly into the concert hall but asked to leave his begging-bowl outside." In addition, Lupu usually did not allow radio broadcasts of his performances. In 1994, ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' noted that Lupu's press kit then contained one single interview he granted to ''Clavier'' magazine in 1981. Other published interviews include a "conversation" that Lupu granted to ''Clavier'' in 1992[ and an interview from 1975 that was aired on ]BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
.
Lupu died in Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, after a long illness, on 17 April 2022, aged 76.
Footnotes
References
External links
*
*
Radu Lupu biography
at Decca
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lupu, Radu
1945 births
2022 deaths
20th-century Romanian classical pianists
21st-century Romanian classical pianists
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Grammy Award winners
Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music
Jewish classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Moscow Conservatory alumni
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
People from Galați
Prize-winners of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Pupils of Maria Curcio
Jewish Romanian musicians