Vilém Kurz (1872, Německý Brod (Havlíčkův Brod), Bohemia – 1945) was a Czech pianist and piano teacher, a professor at the State Conservatory in Lwów and Vienna, and Prague Conservatory. His students included his daughter Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová, Eduard Steuermann, Břetislav Bakala, Rudolf Firkusny, Pavel Štěpán, Stanislav Heller, František Maxián, Gidéon Klein, Rafael Schächter and Matusja Blum.
His teaching methods were largely based on those of Theodor Leschetizky and his pupils he met during the time he taught in Lwów. Later they were further developed by his daughter Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová.
Contents |
Kurz is known for his reworking of the solo part of Antonín Dvořák's Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33, which was originally composed in 1876. For more than a decade after the concerto's first performance, it suffered from neglect and critical disdain. A common remark for many years was that the piano part was written "as if for two right hands."
While he was in his 20s, Kurz undertook a revision of the solo part, and it is this version that he frequently performed. Since that time, the original and the Kurz versions have been printed together in Otakar Šourek's critical edition of the score, one beneath the other, so that the soloist can choose which version to perform. The Kurz version has become a part of the standard piano repertoire. Dvořák's original orchestral material is not affected by the soloist's choice.[1] In 1919 Ilona Kurzová played first performance the Kurz version of this Dvořák's piano in G minor concert conducted by Václav Talich.
Supraphon, the Czech recording company, issued a compact disc on which Ivan Moravec plays the Kurz version, with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, while Radoslav Kvapil plays the composer's original score, with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra under František Jílek.