JOSEF LHÉVINNE (DEC. 13, 1874, ORYOL, RUSSIA — DEC. 2, 1944, NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.)
Joseph Arkadievich Levin (the
name was altered in western Europe by a manager who thought “Lhévinne” more
distinctive and less Jewish) was born into a Jewish family of musicians in
Oryol south of Moscow. He studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under
Vasily Safonov. He made his public debut at the age of 14 with Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in a performance conducted by his musical hero
Anton Rubinstein. He graduated at the top of a class that included both Sergei
Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, winning the gold medal for piano in 1892.
In 1895 Levin won the Second International Anton Rubinstein Competition held in
Berlin, emerging as the favoured pianist in a group of thirty-three candidates
with his performance of Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major. In
1898 Levin married Rosina Bessie, a fellow Moscow Conservatory student, a pianist
and winner of the gold medal for piano in her year. The two began to give
concerts together, a practice that lasted until his death. Faced with
anti-semitism and the political turbulence of the Russian Revolution, they
moved to Berlin in 1907. There Lhévinne gained a reputation as one of the
leading virtuosi and teachers of his day. They were declared enemy aliens at
the outbreak of World War I and became trapped there. They had lost what money
they had saved in Russian banks in the 1917 Revolution and were unable to
perform in concerts due to the war. They endured years of hardship, surviving
on the poor income from a handful of students. After the war they were at last
free to leave Germany, and in 1919 emigrated to New York City in the United States.
Lhévinne continued his concert career and also taught piano at the Juilliard
School. Regarded as one of the supreme technicians of his day by virtually all
of his more famous contemporaries (even Vladimir Horowitz admired his pianistic
command), he never achieved their level of success with the public. He may have
made his excellence look and sound too easy, but he also enjoyed teaching more
than performing. He settled into a life of concert tours and teaching. Lhévinne
spent time each summer starting in 1922, at Bonnie Oaks, relaxing from public
life and sometimes teaching young musicians. Lhévinne wrote a short book in
1924 that is considered a classic: Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing.
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was lay-VEEN. He died
suddenly from a heart attack in 1944 a few days short of his 70th birthday.
TRACKLIST
2434 WELTE-MIGNON
BEETHOVEN-SAINT-SAENS – Chorus of Dervishes from “Ruins Athens
2435 WELTE-MIGNON MOSZKOWSKI –
Dance Form Pieces, Op. 17, No. 2, G Menuett
2437 WELTE-MIGNON A.
RUBINSTEIN – “Album de Peterhof”, Op. 79, No. 9, D Prelude
2438 WELTE-MIGNON CHOPIN –
Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 2, D
2439 WELTE-MIGNON WEBER –
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 24, C 4th mvt. “Perpetual Motion”
2440 WELTE-MIGNON CHOPIN –
Etude, Op. 25, No. 12, c “Arpeggios”
2441 WELTE-MIGNON
MEYERBEER-LISZT – Fantasie on Themes from Opera “Robert le Diable”
4060 WELTE-MIGNON SCHUMANN –
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, Part Two
4061 WELTE-MIGNON SCHUMANN –
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, Part One
2436 WELTE-MIGNON A.
RUBINSTEIN – Barcarolle No. 6, Op. 104, No. 4, c
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