Shura Cherkassky - Piano Mendelssohn - Batholdy/Schumann/Berg/Debussy CD ERM1033
MENDELSSOHN: Rondo capriccioso in E. SCHUMANN: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp min. BERG: Piano Sonata, Op. 1. DEBUSSY: L’Isle Joyeuse. STRAVINSKY: 3 Movements from Petrushka. POULENC: Toccata / Symphonie/Ermitage ERM-1033
The opening line of Piero Raltalino’s liner notes for this CD is, “Can a pianist suddenly become great at the age of eighty?” He answers his own question by saying, “I hardly think so. Pianists are professionally long lived…At any rate, you don’t suddenly become great at age eighty.”
The reference here is simply that Shura Cherkassky, after having made a tremendous impact on the piano world as a youngster—he visited President Woodrow Wilson in the White House and became one of the youngest artists ever signed to Victor’s Red Seal label (in 1923, when he was only 14)—somehow disappeared from sight as a concert artist after the beginning of World War II. He had moved to England as a precaution, and in fact remained a resident of that country for the rest of his life, but such homegrown pianists as Solomon and Myra Hess overshadowed him during those years.
