Simon Barere (; – 2 April 1951) was a Russian-American

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, ...

. His surname Барер is transliterated ''Barer'', but as an adult he adopted the spelling ''Barere'' in order to reduce the frequency of mispronunciation.

Biography

Barere was born in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

(then

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, now part of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) as the eleventh of thirteen children in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Anna Yesipova and then Felix Blumenfeld. Pianist

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 ...

was also a pupil of Blumenfeld, although Barere was Blumenfeld's preferred student. After graduation, he played concerts throughout the region and taught at the Kiev Conservatory. He emigrated to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, then to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and finally to the United States. During the autumn of 1935, he toured the UK under the management of Harold Holt, making a number of appearances as supporting artist to Richard Tauber. Barere was especially known for his speed and finger dexterity; his rendition of Balakirev's '' Islamey'' and many other recordings were acclaimed. According to

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

Harold C. Schonberg, Barere produced a colourful piano tone and could also be highly musical.Harold C. Schonberg, ''The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present,'' Second Edition,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1987 Barere gave annual recitals 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 ...

which were often recorded by his son, Boris. Among the performances recorded live in 1947 at Carnegie Hall was Liszt's Sonata in B minor, which was released on Remington Records in the 1950s. Other Barere performances include Liszt's ''Spanish Rhapsody'', ''Reminiscences de Don Juan'' and ''Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12'', Blumenfeld's ''Étude for the Left Hand Alone'', and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. On 2 April 1951, Barere suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during a performance of Grieg's Piano Concerto at

, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. He collapsed and died backstage shortly thereafter.

Recordings

In 1985, his complete HMV recordings, made at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

between 1934 and 1936, were remastered by Bryan Crimp and issued by APR. Additional recordings have been issued on CD. Barere made a series of recordings for Remington in March 1951 before his sudden death the following month. There is also a home recording of Barere playing excerpts from his repertoire, in 1949.

References

External links

Simon Barere's Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Balakirev, Chopin on Remington Records.

Recordings by Simon Barere available through Amazon.
* Piero Rattalino, ''Pianisti e fortisti'' - Ed. Giunti-Ricordi, 1990 ISBN 88-09-01460-X {{DEFAULTSORT:Barere, Simon Russian male classical pianists 1896 births 1951 deaths Musicians who died on stage Jewish classical pianists Musicians from Odesa Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni 20th-century Russian classical pianists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Sweden Jewish Ukrainian musicians Odesa Jews 20th-century Russian male musicians Ukrainian classical pianists