The Greatest Classical Pianist You Probably Never Heard Of

[sablebrush52]

I few days ago I caught an item in my Apple news feed about a classical pianist still going strong at the age of 97, a diminutive woman named Ruth Slenczynska. Never heard of her, and I'm fairly conversant on classical pianists. So I listened to her concert and was intrigued enough to do some more searching.

At the age of 4 she was asked to step in the day before as a substitute for Sergei Rachmaninoff when he had to cancel a performance. Evidently, she looked over the repertoire then walked out on the stage and absolutely knocked it out of the park.

At 4 years of age.

As she said in an interview decades later, when you're 4 you not aware that this is something special that not anyone can just do. You just go out and do it.

I've been listening to her playing and the story of her life as a prodigy, which was something of a horror story, with an abusive and violent father, but also something from which she recovered and regained her joy in making music.

The clip is from a performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No 2 with she gave in Japan in 2005 when she was 80. I should do a quarter as well when I hit 80, if I live that long.

The clip is a little irritating because it's not the whole performance, just segments where she's playing, but much of her recorded repertoire is available on YouTube and if you are a lover of classical piano I suspect you will find much to enjoy. Slenczynska learned from Rachmaninoff, and from Josef Hoffman when she attended Curtis.

Her earlier recordings reveal technique to burn and intense musicality.

Enjoy

 

[Ahi Ka]

Thanks for sharing this

 

[Toast]

Really looking forward to checking this out. Thanks! I was lucky enough to get tickets to Pollini's 80th birthday concert a month or so ago. That was quite something too.

 

[scloyd]

What a lovely lady. The smile on her face at 9:40/9:45 is priceless.
Thanks for posting Jesse.

 

[JOHN72]

I love these things. Thanks friend for sharing...............

 

[mawnansmiff]

She was quite the looker in her younger years and clearly a musical prodigy from childhood, quite a remarkable lady.

"She played her debut in Berlin at age six and made her debut in Paris with a full orchestra at seven years of age."

Regards,

Jay.

 

[scloyd]

She was quite the looker in her younger years

It appears that your conjunctivitis is clearing up.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I remember someone sending me a link about her awhile back and that an album was being released. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Love it!!!

I'm not conversant but Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff and anything Horowitz have been my go to for classical piano for decades. Rubenstein also a favorite and I have some Van Cliburn which is okay, but Serg and Vlad for the passion for me!

Just happen to have Horowitz's Beethoven Sonatas on the stereo at work!

 

[Singularis]

Very interesting and thanks for sharing. I will be listening to her recordings soon, being an avid listener of all things classical, especially piano recordings, since I played classical piano for many years back in the day.

I want to do more fact verification on the Rachmaninoff story. It has the ring of an apocryphal tale, and Wikipedia says, "When she was four, she began her piano studies in Europe, later studying with Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri, Alfred Cortot, Josef Hofmann, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. She played her debut in Berlin at age six and made her debut in Paris with a full orchestra at seven years of age."

So, maybe she did substitute for Rachmaninoff at some point, but maybe not quite as early as 4? (I'm not sure even Mozart could have done that!)

 

[mso489]

Many women would point out that if she were male, her name would be a household word. Likely so.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

Excellent. One can hear that she learnt from the great Joseph Hoffman, and what superb articulation of both the smaller themes and the overall scale of the piece.
Thanks for posting.

 

[sablebrush52]

Very interesting and thanks for sharing. I will be listening to her recordings soon, being an avid listener of all things classical, especially piano recordings, since I played classical piano for many years back in the day.

I want to do more fact verification on the Rachmaninoff story. It has the ring of an apocryphal tale, and Wikipedia says, "When she was four, she began her piano studies in Europe, later studying with Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri, Alfred Cortot, Josef Hofmann, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. She played her debut in Berlin at age six and made her debut in Paris with a full orchestra at seven years of age."

So, maybe she did substitute for Rachmaninoff at some point, but maybe not quite as early as 4? (I'm not sure even Mozart could have done that!)

The story's been recounted in several sources, though my favorite is Slenczynska's own telling, which is on YouTube in an interview on a TV program from 1963 where she talks in a charmingly matter of fact way about meeting Rachmaninoff and other interesting experiences then performs two pieces by Rachmaninoff.
An official debut isn't the the same thing as first public performance, or even first professional performance.

 

[Singularis]

The story's been recounted in several sources, though my favorite is Slenczynska's own telling, which is on YouTube in an interview on a TV program from 1963 where she talks in a charmingly matter of fact way about meeting Rachmaninoff and other interesting experiences then performs two pieces by Rachmaninoff.
An official debut isn't the the same thing as first public performance, or even first professional performance.

Well, the proof is certainly in the pudding, as they say. Listened to some of her recordings of Chopin's Etudes, which are first rate.

My only curiosity about her playing Rachmaninoff is, which pieces? Rachy's hands were notoriously big and the kinds of chords he composed generally required some difficult stretches. But the hands of a 4 year old girl would definitely have some physical limitations, even if she was off the charts, technically speaking.

 

[sablebrush52]

Well, the proof is certainly in the pudding, as they say. Listened to some of her recordings of Chopin's Etudes, which are first rate.

My only curiosity about her playing Rachmaninoff is, which pieces? Rachy's hands were notoriously big and the kinds of chords he composed generally required some difficult stretches. But the hands of a 4 year old girl would definitely have some physical limitations, even if she was off the charts, technically speaking.

Absolutely true. I could stretch a 10th easily, but that's it. She would have had to roll the chord. If I remember correctly, the program in question was Mozart.

 

[Singularis]

Well, the proof is certainly in the pudding, as they say. Listened to some of her recordings of Chopin's Etudes, which are first rate.

My only curiosity about her playing Rachmaninoff is, which pieces? Rachy's hands were notoriously big and the kinds of chords he composed generally required some difficult stretches. But the hands of a 4 year old girl would definitely have some physical limitations, even if she was off the charts, technically speaking.

OK, I tracked down the video, and this experience happened in 1934 when she was just 9, not 4. This is still insanely impressive, let me tell you. Filling in for Rachmaninoff at the tender age of 9? Hey, it's good enough for me.

 

[Singularis]

OK, I tracked down the video, and this experience happened in 1934 when she was just 9, not 4. This is still insanely impressive, let me tell you. Filling in for Rachmaninoff at the tender age of 9? Hey, it's good enough for me.

One last word (I promise!)

In that same video she plays two Rachmaninoff preludes and .... well, I'm speechless.

Thanks, again, @sablebrush52 for letting us in on this secret-that-shouldn't-be-a-secret.

 

[sablebrush52]

OK, I tracked down the video, and this experience happened in 1934 when she was just 9, not 4. This is still insanely impressive, let me tell you. Filling in for Rachmaninoff at the tender age of 9? Hey, it's good enough for me.

Ah, you're correct! I must have got my age 4 mixed up with my 1934. She could remember what Rachmaninoff wore three decades later, and I can't remember how to add.
Did she talk about how even the keyboard was and how that fascinated her? No ordinary kid this one.

 

[Singularis]

Ah, you're correct! I must have got my age 4 mixed up with my 1934. She could remember what Rachmaninoff wore three decades later, and I can't remember how to add.
Did she talk about how even the keyboard was and how that fascinated her? No ordinary kid this one.

And at 97 she is still performing. I guess you're never too old to practice an instrument (at 43 I'm not even halfway there). Simply inspiring.

 

[kcghost]

Always a pleasure to hear beautiful music being played by a true artist instead of five guys plugged into a wall.