Mischa Levitzki plays Liszt Etude "La Campanella"

Mischa Levitzki (1898 - 1941)

Although Mischa Levitzki's parents were from Ukraine (then Russia), they had taken American citizenship and simply happened to be on a visit to their homeland when Mischa was born. Neither of his parents was particularly musical but all the children had successful careers. Mischas brother became Principal Professor of Economy at Washington University, and another brother gave up his career as a civil engineer to become a partner in the Daniel Meyer Concert Corporation of America. At the age of three Mischa began studies on the violin and at six began to learn to play the piano.

He studied with the great Polish pianist Aleksander Michałowski in Warsaw when he was seven, and gave his concert debut a year later in Antwerp. He then travelled with his parents to New York in 1908 where his father arranged for him to play for Frank Damrosch, brother of Walter Damrosch, at that time director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Frank Damrosch was director of the recently opened Institute of Musical Art in New York which was later to become the Juilliard School of Music. The eleven-year-old Levitzki won a scholarship to study there for two years with the Polish pianist and teacher Sigismond Stojowski who had been a pupil of Paderewski.

When Levitzki was thirteen he went to Berlin to study with Ernő Dohnányi at the Hochschule für Musik. Although the class was only open to pianists of sixteen and over, Levitzki was nevertheless admitted after he had stunned the entrance board of examiners with his performance of Mendelssohns Piano Concerto in G minor Op. 25. He studied with Dohnányi for three years between 1911 and 1915, in 1913 achieving second place in the Mendelssohn Prize and the following year winning first place. Levitzki made his Berlin debut at the Bechstein Hall and the following year gave a two-piano recital there with Dohnányi as well as playing in Belgium. During 1915 and 1916 Levitzki played in Germany, Vienna, Budapest and Norway and then returned to New York.

Levitzki made his New York debut in 1916 at the Aeolian Hall in a recital which included Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. This led to further engagements in America and from then on Levitzki led the life of a successful touring virtuoso.

In February of 1920 Levitzki took part in a concert at Carnegie Hall where he joined fellow pianists in a display of their art compared to that of the Ampico reproducing piano. Levitzki's stature as a pianist can be judged from the other artists on the programme, who included Benno Moiseiwitsch, Arthur Rubinstein and Leopold Godowsky.

After World War I, Levitzki was one of the first major pianists to tour Australia and New Zealand. This he did in 1921, and he made an extended tour of the Orient from August until the end of December 1925, returning to California in January 1926 for his ninth tour of the United States. Between 1916 and 1930 he made twelve trans-continental tours visiting over a hundred American cities.

It was not until 1927 that Levitzki made his London debut. He played Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Beecham and gave no less than three recitals at the Queens Hall.

Detractors of Levitzki's art have accused him of being emotionally detached and concerned only with technique and that he played each work in exactly the same manner, with complete technical efficiency but with no indication that he appreciated the differences in their style and musical content.

Horowitz thought "He was... just awful... just fingers" whereby Abram Chasins said of him, "He was a vibrant master workman; everything was pure radiance; every note shone like a sunbeam."

Levitzki, at the age of 42, died from a heart attack in 1941 at his home in New Jersey.

~~~

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mischa
• Levitzki
• Liszt
• Paganini
• Etude
• La
• Campanella
• Godowsky
• Rachmaninov
• Horowitz
• Gilels

[guismiti]

Excellent

[Puzzoozoo]

To fast in parts.

[xper2xper]

@vova47

If you've not yet listened to Levitzki's performance of his own Valse de Concert op.1, I suggest you do... It's wonderful!

/watch?v=Zpvxdl3eGTU

[vova47]

You bet it could !.....

[Bruce88keys]

This is a gold standard..........his recordings are as rare as hen's teeth.

[markarama23]

At the time of those statements, Levitzki was on Steinway's A list of artists, while Horowitz was on their B list ... that could have coloured his impression!

[vova47]

Very underrated, never mind what Horowitz said : like Rubinstein he rarely had anything good to say about any of his colleagues.