Vlado Perlemuter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vlado Perlemuter (May 26, 1904–September 4, 2002) was a French pianist from a Polish Jewish family, born in Kaunas in Lithuania. At the age of three, he lost the use of his left eye in an accident.

His family settled in France in 1907. He studied at the Conservatoire in Paris, first with Moszkowski then, later, with Cortot. At fifteen, he graduated from the Paris Conservatoire, where he won the First Prize playing Fauré’s Thème et variations before the composer (however Fauré was already deaf at that time). In 1925, he met Maurice Ravel and studied all of Ravel's solo works for piano with the composer himself. Thereafter, he became one of the leading exponents of Ravel's music.

His art is characterised by shimmering tonal colours and a singing legato combined with an effortless ease of interpretation. His career spanned the entire globe. He recorded the complete Mozart sonatas, the entire piano works of Ravel, as well as works by Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt and Fauré. Students from around the world were also attracted by his fame as a pedagogue. His international career spanned over seventy years. He gave his final concerts at the age of 89, with a valedictory all-Ravel recital at the Victoria hall in Geneva. He died in 2002 at the age of 98.