Ivan Moravec
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Ivan Moravec (b. 9 November 1930) is a Czech concert pianist whose performing and recording career, spanning nearly half a century, has gained him a world-wide following.
A life-long resident of Prague, Moravec's first musical interest was in opera, which he attended as a child with his father. He also recalls turning pages as his father, an amateur pianist and singer, sight-read and sang through entire opera scores. Piano studies began later with Erna Grünfeld (niece of the Austrian pianist Alfred Grünfeld). At twenty, he entered the Prague Conservatory, then went on to the Prague Academy of Arts,there was studied with Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová, daughter of Vilém Kurz.
In 1957, after hearing Moravec play in Prague, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli invited him to attend master classes in Arrezzo that summer. Moravec says about his sessions with Michelangeli: "That was his greatest time and the level of his playing of pieces like Schumann's 'Faschingswank aus Wien' and Ravel's 'Gaspard de la nuit' was simply sublime. Unbelievable. His teaching was very personal, very precise. He knew exactly what he wanted to hear. And after you had played something for him once, he never wanted to hear it back."[1]
In the late 1950s, an audio tape of a Prague recital was circulated in the West.[1] Soon afterwards, a small American audiophile record company, eager to introduce a rising star, negotiated with the Czech authorities to engage the young Moravec. So it was that he traveled to New York in 1962 to create the first of his legendary Connoisseur Society recordings. These early efforts met with critical acclaim, and in 1964 George Szell invited him to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra. Moravec's international concert career was launched.
Today, Ivan Moravec is widely acclaimed for his compelling readings of major recital works by Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven, and Mozart, as well as Czech composers. He has played with most of the world's main symphony orchestras, and his active concerto repertoire has included more than a dozen works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Franck. Moravec has been a dedicated piano teacher at home in Prague, and frequently gives master classes when he travels.
Both Moravec's performances and the lifelike sound of his Connoisseur Society recordings remain legendary; long after the LP era, the latter are still often cited as reference recordings on audiophile web sites.[2] Nearly all of them remain available today through reissues on CD. In recent years Moravec has recorded for several other labels, including Vox, Dorian, Hänssler, and Supraphon, to no less critical acclaim. In 1998 a 2-CD compilation of Ivan Moravec recordings was published in the landmark Philips series, Great Pianists of the 20th Century.
Ivan Moravec also has a reputation for fastidious attention to the condition of the pianos he plays. He claims that this reputation is somewhat exaggerated, and names other pianists who have traveled with a spare action or even their own pianos. Moravec's baggage is less extensive: a small black bag containing a few carefully-chosen voicing tools. "I only try to meet with the technician, and I listen with him for any unevenness in sound. I do not find mechnical problems, because today the technicians in great cities are very knowledgeable, so mainly I listen to harsh notes, or to weak notes, and ask for these to be changed gently, and I try to put the local piano in the best condition."[3]
- Ivan Moravec was recently awarded the Charles IV Prize, the Czech Republic's most prestigious acknowledgement of service to humanity.
- In 2000, President Vaclav Havel presented Ivan Moravec with the Medal of Merit for outstanding artistic achievements.
- In 2002 he was awarded the Cannes Classical Awards Cannes Classical award for lifetime achievement.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Dyer, Richard Unmistakably Moravec, Boston Globe, 1991-08-08
- ^ Balgalvis, Arnis, The Audiophile Voice, Vol.9 Issue2 Page 18, Best Sound at the Show, 2006-08-08
- ^ Interview with Garrett, David, A Pianist's Search for Perfection, Symphony Australia, 1998
[edit] External links
- Ivan Moravec: Fan site with complete discography, schedule, interviews and more.
- CM Artists: Management agency
