Joseph Villa plays Liszt "Wilde Jagd"

from Etudes d'éxecution transcendante, No. 8
live recording, 1987

Joseph Emil Villa (9 August 1948 — 13 April 1995) was an American pianist.

He was born in Garfield, New Jersey. He studied at the Juilliard School and made his debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1972. Most of his public appearances were not as a soloist, and his high reputation rests on a small number of recordings.
(Wikipedia)

in my opinion, PHENOMENAL pianist and musician (but little known)...full of fire and demonic vitality...


Joseph Villa, a pianist who specialized in the Romantic repertory and who was regularly heard in chamber music and as a recital accompanist, died on Thursday at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. He was 46 and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was AIDS, said Steven Gray, his companion.

Mr. Villa was born in Garfield, N.J., on Aug. 9, 1948, and studied at the Juilliard School with Sascha Gorodnitzki. He later studied privately with Claudio Arrau and Olga Barabini, and he made his debut in a recital at Alice Tully Hall in 1972.

Mr. Villa recorded several albums of works by Liszt. One was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Liszt in 1978. He also made recordings of works by Scriabin and Saint-Saens. As an accompanist, he gave performances with the sopranos Jessye Norman and Victoria de Los Angeles, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the violinists Joseph Fuchs and Eugene Fodor. And he was a frequent participant in chamber music performances at Bargemusic in Brooklyn.
(From The New York Times, Published: April 15, 1995)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Joseph
• Villa
• plays
• Liszt
• Wilde
• Jagd
• Etudes
• d'éxecution
• transcendante
• classical
• romantic
• piano
• great
• pianists

[consult3d]

Whoever is posting these videos of Joseph Villa, thank you. What you are doing is giving a younger generation of pianists the chance to hear what the music Circuit did not allow us in our time.

Joseph was a victim of theft, and so were we.

Only now, does his work become available and the secret out in the open.

[gullivior]

@consult3d Villa is a phenomenal pianist.. unfortunately, today few people know him ...this is an unjust destiny...

[4785689]

chi fu costui?

[gullivior]

@4785689 ho aggiunto nelle note il necrologio del NY Times...io di lui non so più di quello che si può trovare su Internet o sui dischi...

[robert982]

@anabenedicto Kissin and Richter have lovely performances of this piece aswell.

[sll10]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this!

[Tibtib220689]

Wonderfull!

[anabenedicto]

It is the best performance I've ever heard of this Etude number 8.. even better than the one of Berezovsky It's a pity he's dead.. thank you for posting it.. Great!.

[anabenedicto]

It is the best performance I've ever hearing of this Etude number 8.. even better than the one of Berezovsky It's a pity he's dead.. thank you for posting it.. Great!.

[guirlandes3]

Those of us who new Joe Villa remember a great pianist who, in spite of his delicious sense of humor and fondness for all things camp, was also an elegant guy and a most distinguished presence on stage. The photo on your site here, while capturing him in a moment of fun at some special event, is hardly representative. Lest anyone think he was a clown or given to cheap gimmicks, rest assured, he was not. I urge you to replace it with a photo befitting his remarkable character and legacy.

[pianopera]

Now that's *wild*! I love his recording of Rachmaninoff Sonata no. 2 too.