Murray Perahia

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Murray Perahia
Born April 19, 1947 (1947-04-19) (age 61)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s) Classical
Occupation(s) Conductor, Pianist
Instrument(s) Piano
Label(s) Sony Classical
Associated acts Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Budapest Quartet
Guarneri Quartet
Website www.MurrayPerahia.com

Murray Perahia KBE (b. April 19, 1947) is a American concert pianist. He is also a respected conductor. His recordings are characterized by a consistent quality of sound, technique and interpretation and a careful attention to dynamic and stylistic details.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Perahia was born in New York City of Sephardic origin, and began playing the piano at four but he started practicing seriously only at the age of fifteen.[1] At seventeen, he attended Mannes College, where he studied keyboard, conducting, and composition with his teacher and mentor Mieczysław Horszowski. During the summer, he also attended Marlboro, where he studied with Rudolf Serkin, and Pablo Casals, amongst others.

In 1972, he was the first north American to win first prize at the fourth Leeds Piano Competition, helping to cement its reputation for advancing the careers of young pianistic talent.[2] Dr. Fanny Waterman recalls anecdotally (in Wendy Thompson's book Piano Competition: The Story of the Leeds) that Horszowski had telephoned her prior to the competition, announcing that he would enter the winner. Other American contestants had apparently withdrawn their applications upon hearing that Perahia would be competing.

In 1973 he worked with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears at the Aldeburgh Festival. He was co-artistic director of the Festival from 1981 to 1989.[3]

Perahia had a close acquaintance with Vladimir Horowitz, who had a defining influence on his pianism.[3]

His first major recording project was the complete piano concertos by Mozart, conducted from the keyboard with the English Chamber Orchestra. In the 1980s, he also recorded the complete portfolio of Beethoven piano concerti, with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

[edit] Injury and later career

In 1990, Perahia suffered a cut to his right thumb, which became septic. He took antibiotics for this condition, but they affected his health.[1] In 1992, his career was threatened by a bone abnormality in his hand causing inflammation requiring several years away from the keyboard, and a series of surgeries. During that time, he says, he found solace through studying the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. After being given the all-clear, he produced in the late nineties a series of award-winning recordings of Bach's keyboard works, most notably a cornerstone rendition of the Goldberg variations. This has caused him to be regarded as a latter-day Bach specialist.

He has since made recordings of Frédéric Chopin's etudes, and of Franz Schubert's late piano sonatas. He is currently editing a new Urtext edition of Beethoven's piano sonatas.

Besides his solo career, he is active in chamber music and appears regularly with the Guarneri and Budapest Quartets. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra, with which he records and performs.[4]

On March 8, 2004, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom made him an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire.

In early 2005, Perahia's hand problem recurred, prompting him to withdraw from the concert stage on the advice of his doctors. He cancelled several appearances at London's Barbican as well as a ten-city national tour in the United States, but has returned in fine form with recitals in German cities in 2006 and at the Barbican in April 2007. In the autumn of 2007 he completed a triumphant 10 city tour of the United States and conducted master classes in Salt Lake City. New recordings of Bach and Beethoven are expected in early 2008.

Owing to his hand problem and on the advice of his doctor, Perahia recently cancelled a tour in the United States with The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields (March and April 2008). Other recent cancellations include: http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=5367.

Perahia resides in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London and in 2007 he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Jesus College, Cambridge.

[edit] Awards and Recognitions

Seventh International Schumann Festival

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance

[edit] Discography

[edit] 1980s

  • Schubert: Wanderer Fantasie; Schumann: Fantasie in C Major (1986)
  • Mozart, Beethoven: Quintets for piano and Winds (1986)
  • Mozart: Sonata (K. 448); Schubert: Piano sonata for four hands (1986) — with Radu Lupu
  • Beethoven: Piano concertos nos. 3 and 4 (1986)
  • Brahms: Piano quartet (1987)
  • Beethoven: Piano sonatas nos. 17, 18 and 26 (1987)
  • Beethoven: Piano concerto no. 5 (Emperor) (1987)
  • A Portrait of Murray Perahia (1987)
  • Mendelssohn: Piano concertos nos. 1 and 2 (CD 1987, but recorded in 1974 and originally issued on LP) — with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos. 11, 12 and 14 (1987)
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos. 22 and 24 (1987)
  • Chopin: Piano concerto no. 1, Barcarolle, etc. (1987)
  • Beethoven: Piano concertos nos. 1 and 2 (1987)
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos. 9 and 21 (1987)
  • Schumann: Symphonic études, posthumous études, Papillons; Chopin: Piano sonatas nos. 2 and 3 (1988)
  • Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze; Fantasiestücke (1988)
  • Beethoven: The five piano concertos (1988) — with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
  • Schumann: Piano sonata, (op. 22), Schubert: piano sonata (D. 959) (1988)
  • Bartók: Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion; Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn (1988)
  • Schumann, Grieg: Piano concertos (1989)

[edit] 1990s

  • Chopin: Piano concertos nos. 1 and 2 (1990)
  • Murray Perahia in Performance (1991)
  • Murray Perahia Plays Franck and Liszt (1991)
  • Brahms: Sonata no. 3, Rhapsodies, etc. (1991)
  • Mozart: Concertos for 2 and 3 pianos, Andante and variations for piano four hands (1991) with Radu Lupu
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos. 21 and 27 (1991)
  • The Aldeburgh Recital (1991)
  • Mozart: Piano sonatas (K. 310, 333, and 533) (1992)
  • Bach: Harpsichord concertos (1993)
  • Immortal Beloved Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1994)
  • Greatest Hits: Grieg (1994)
  • Chopin: Ballades, Waltzes, Mazurkas, etc. (1995)
  • Beethoven: Piano sonatas (op. 2, nos. 1–3) (1995)
  • Murray Perahia: 25th Anniversary Edition (1997)
  • Schumann: Kreisleriana, Piano sonata no. 1 (1997)
  • Schumann: Complete works for piano and orchestra (1997) — with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Murray Perahia Plays Handel and Scarlatti (1997)
  • Bach: English suites nos. 1, 3 and 6 (1998)
  • Songs Without Words: Bach/Busoni, Mendelssohn and Schubert–Liszt (1999)
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos. 20 and 27 (1999)
  • Glenn Gould at the Movies (1999)
  • Bach: English suites nos. 2, 4 and 5 (1999)

[edit] From 2000

  • Bach: Goldberg Variations (2000)
  • Chopin: Etudes (2001)
  • Bach: Keyboard concertos volume 1, nos. 1, 2 and 4 (2001)
  • Bach: Keyboard concertos nos. 3, 5, 6, 7 (2002)
  • Schubert: Late piano sonatas (2003)
  • Murray Perahia Plays Bach (2003)
  • Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 127; Piano Sonata, Op. 101 (2004) (The string quartet, op. 127 is transcribed for full string orchestra and conducted by Murray Perahia)
  • Bach: Partitas nos. 2, 3, 4 (2008)

[edit] Videography

  • Murray Perahia in Performance (1992)
  • Mozart: Piano concertos nos 21 & 27 in rehearsal and performance (1992)
  • Schubert: Winterreise (with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)
  • Beethoven piano concertos nos 1 & 3 (1988)
  • Beethoven piano concertos nos 2 & 4 (1988)
  • Beethoven piano concerto no. 5 (1988)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b 'I don't really have any technique'. Telegraph, 27 February 2003.
  2. ^ "Previous Winners", Leeds International Piano Competition Official Website, 2006. Accessed June 3, 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Perahia, Murray", Grove Music Online, 2007. Accessed June 3, 2007.
  4. ^ "Murray Perahia", The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Official Website, 2006. Accessed June 3, 2007.

[edit] External links

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