Rudolf Serkin

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About Rudolf Serkin

One of the 20th century’s most important interpreters of the Viennese classics—especially Mozart and Beethoven—the pianist Rudolf Serkin played with an unsentimental transparency and selfless sense of responsibility that risked accusations of overliteral severity. Born in 1903 in the Bohemian town of Eger (now Cheb in Czechia), Serkin was 17 when he met the violinist Adolf Busch; he lived as part of the Busch family, and they made many acclaimed recordings together. He married Busch’s daughter, Irene, in 1935, and in 1939 they moved to the United States, where Serkin taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1941, he and Busch founded the Marlboro Music School and Festival in Vermont. Serkin’s large hands and thick fingers made certain kinds of intricate piano writing a challenge that he worked ceaselessly to overcome. Although he hated recording, he was hugely prolific, with multiple renditions of concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. His early repertoire was broad, but from around 1960 it narrowed to focus on the Austro-German canon. His solo recordings do not fully represent his sovereign mastery, but his finest recordings include piano concertos by Prokofiev (No. 4, 1931) and Reger (1910) with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra (rec. 1958 and 1959 respectively). His Mozart piano concertos with the LSO and Abbado for DG (rec. 1981-85) reflect an accumulated wisdom, but find him past his best; generally with Serkin, earlier is stronger. He died in 1991 at home in Vermont, where successive generations of pianists—including his son Peter—have benefited from his guidance.

HOMETOWN
Eger, Austria
BORN
1903年3月28日
GENRE
Classical

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