Eugene List

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Eugene List and Carroll Glenn (1953)

Eugene List (born  July 6, 1918 in Philadelphia , United States , †  March 1, 1985 in New York City , United States) was an American pianist , music teacher and university teacher .

Life

childhood and education

Eugene List was born in Philadelphia to Ukrainian immigrants. The family moved to the Los Angeles area after List was born, where his father found employment as a language teacher at a state school. List received piano lessons and turned out to be a musical child prodigy. At the age of 12 he gave concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Leopold Stokowski and performed Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto . A scholarship enabled List to attend the Philadelphia Conservatory from 1932 to 1934, where he worked intensively with Olga Samaroff . He then moved to the Juilliard School in New York City, again in Samaroff's class.

Career start

List became known nationwide at the age of 16 when he premiered Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35, composed the previous year with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski in the United States as a soloist on December 12, 1934 . A week later he performed the same work with the New York Philharmonic under Otto Klemperer in the Town Hall and made his debut at Carnegie Hall . From then on, the piano virtuoso belonged to the national pianist scene, performed regularly on American stages and received outstanding reviews. Olin Downes of the New York Times certified the interpretations in 1940 with passion. List plays with fire, romantic impulses and youthfulness - "wrap your heart around every note and have the sure instinct of an artist who was born to express himself through his instrument".

Military time

President Truman & List (1961)

On March 1, 1942 List was drafted into the US Army, first he was assigned to the Port Transport Corps in Brooklyn , a year later he moved to the Special Services Division - the entertainment division of the US armed forces. List performed in uniform not only at army concerts, but also at civil music events. The media reported extensively on the virtuoso model soldier and public interest extended to the private life of the pianist. The New York Times reported in detail on his marriage to the American violinist Carroll Glenn in 1943. After VE Day , List was posted to Paris to support the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra and then invited to design the musical program of the Potsdam Conference . Staff Sergeant List earned Harry S. Truman's recognition through his appearances there , was considered his "unofficial court pianist" and was a regular guest at the White House until the era of Jimmy Carter .

List's military service had given his career a significant boost, and his concerts were broadcast nationwide and overseas. He recorded phonograms and in 1946, after retiring from the military, the handsome pianist got a film role in the comedy The Bachelor's Daughters .

International recognition

In the years that followed, List toured the United States and Europe regularly with his wife. In addition to the classics, her repertoire mainly included works by Edward MacDowell and George Gershwin . List's predilection for composers that were not mentioned was evident as early as 1942 when he first presented Carlos Chávez Ramírez's 1st Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic to the American audience. In 1956 List was the first musician to record Louis Moreau Gottschalk's compositions on phonograms, and the recording was reissued in 2008 by Vanguard Records . List often performed Gottschalk's works at so-called “monster concerts”, in which, under his guidance, for example, Gottschalk's transcription of Rossini's Wilhelm Tell for ten pianos, played with four hands, was performed. List, an "ardent" Gottschalk admirer, made it possible to purchase previously unknown works by Gottschalk through a donation from the New York Public Library and presented a selection of them to the US audience with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra in 1969.

In 1946 List began to teach with his wife at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester , whose piano faculty he led until 1975. He later taught at New York University and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and was a juror at renowned international piano competitions - a. a. at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow - active.

List, Steinway & Sons artist, performed regularly until the end of his life with an extensive repertoire from Mozart to modern times . He presented a comprehensive discography which, in addition to solo recordings, also includes recordings with the Stuttgart Philharmonic , the Berlin Symphony , the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera Orchestra , the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, as well as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio . In addition, List was particularly interested in the further developments of jazz and commented: “ Bebop is related to jazz [...] like atonality to classical music. It contains the expansive harmonies of jazz, but is more intellectual than emotional. I like it. I wish I could play first-class bebop. "

List died in 1985, two years after the illness of his wife, 66 years old, in his home in New York City after falling down stairs.

literature

  • Don Rayno: Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music 1930-1967. Volume 2, Series: Studies in Jazz. Scarecrow Press / Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-8204-1 (English).
  • Stephen Siek: A Dictionary for the Modern Pianist. Rowman & Littlefield, London 2016, ISBN 978-0-8108-8879-1 (English).

Web links

Commons : Eugene List  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Harold C. Schonberg : Eugene List, 66, concert pianist. The New York Times , March 2, 1985, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  2. ^ Annegret Fauser: Sounds of War: Music in the United States During World War II . Oxford University Press , 2013, pp. 366 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  3. ^ Jon Paxman: Classical Music 1600 2000 - A Chronology . Omnibus Press, New York City, 2012, pp. 703 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  4. ↑ Louis Moreau Gottschalk - Eugene List - The Banjo And Other Creole Ballads, Cuban Dances, Etc. Discogs , accessed October 6, 2018 .
  5. ^ Pianist Eugene List, 66, Dies in New York. Los Angeles Times , March 5, 1985, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Rob van der Bliek (Ed.): The Thelonious Monk Reader . Oxford University Press , 2001, pp. 286 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  7. ^ S. Frederick Starr : Louis Moreau Gottschalk . University of Illinois Press, 2000, pp. 564 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  8. ^ Prize-winners of Tchaikovsky Competition. SV Vinogradova interviewing jur members of the piano competition Eugene List (USA). Mariinsky Theater , accessed October 6, 2018 (English).
  9. ↑ Eugene List. Steinway & Sons, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Rob van der Bliek (Ed.): The Thelonious Monk Reader . Oxford University Press , 2001, pp. 286 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  11. ^ Robin Kelley: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original . Free Press / Simon & Schuster, 2010, p. 624 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  12. ↑ Don Rayno: Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music from 1930 to 1967 . Scarecrow Press / Rowman & Littlefield , 2012, pp. 824 (English, full text in the Google book search).
  13. ^ Stephen Siek: A Dictionary for the Modern Pianist . Scarecrow Press / Rowman & Littlefield, London 2016, p. 302 (English, full text in the Google book search).
personal data
SURNAME List, Eugene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1985
Place of death New York City