*The Concise Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians* by Nicolas Slonimsky. Of course it's not limited to a single composer, but at almost 1,400 pages it is packed with a lot of good information. And the author's style is very charming. There is a copy now of eBay for less than 10 bucks with shipping. Highly recommended. |
Ervin Nyiregyhazi Lost genius by Kevin Bazzana Married to 10 wives, described by Shoenberg in a letter to Klemperer to be out of any comparison... Nobody play like him and no one will in the future someone said and it is true....Never practice because too poor to own a piano most of his life.... Quit his career of concertist after 35 years old (he hated concert because his mother exhibit him up to sixteen years like Liszt reincarnated and indeed he was)....Lived with poverty composing only in his head hundred of compositions (unknown to me)... Became famous another time after 74 years old reluctantly trying a concert to save his tenth wife from cancer... 😁 Listen to him playing Liszt....Even the greatest sound only like students compared to him....Take the Vallee of Obermann and compare it with Richter version or Horowitz....They sound like applied children searching appraisal beside a god descent in an abyss.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLk6vqaxU1Y My favorite pianist with Vladimir Sofronisky playing Scriabin in particular and Ivan Moravec playing anything ... |
Agree on Solomon's Late Beethoven. What is nice about it is that it opened up to me various works I did not know about beyond the late Quartets and late piano sonatas. Another I enjoyed reading is Mahler by Michael Kennedy. There is a very nice video biography of Bill Evans called, Time Remembered, which I think was on Netflix earlier in 2020 but is now on IMDB TV. I cannot remember which app I saw it on in early 2020. |
Eugen d'Albert only managed six wives. What an underachiever! But in good company with Henry VIII. https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/did-you-hear-about-the-six-wives-of-eugen-dalbert/ |
