Ruth Laredo

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Ruth Laredo, 1990, in New York City (Photo: Jennifer Laredo Watkins private album)

Ruth Laredo née Meckler, (born November 20, 1937 in Detroit , † May 26, 2005 in New York City (New York) ) was an American classical pianist .

She was best known in the 1970s for her first recordings of Scriabin's ten sonatas and all of Rachmaninov's solo piano works and for her Ravel recordings, and in the last 16½ years before her death for her series at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art “ Concerts with Commentary ”. She has often been called "America's First Lady of the Piano".

biography

Ruth Laredo was born Ruth Meckler on November 20, 1937, the elder of two daughters of Miriam Meckler-Horowitz, a piano teacher, and Ben Meckler, an English teacher, in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of two, she was able to play God Bless America on her mother's piano without having had any lessons .

When she was eight years old, she took her mother to a concert by Vladimir Horowitz at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit. The concert made her want to become a concert pianist herself. Horowitz played Scriabin, and Laredo was so captivated by this music that throughout her life she had a fondness for Scriabin and other Russian composers, and later for his contemporary Rachmaninoff.

Ruth Laredo, 1970, in New York City (Photo: Jennifer Laredo Watkins private album)

In 1960 she married the Bolivian violinist Jaime Laredo , who was three and a half years her junior and whom she had met at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia , moved to New York City and led the way with him until they divorced in 1974 (erroneously stated in some publications as 1976 ) Concerts. The marriage comes from a daughter, Jennifer, born in 1969, who is married to Paul Watkins , chief conductor and music director of the English Chamber Orchestra , and lives in London .

During pregnancy and after the birth of her daughter, she had to forego tours with her husband. Instead, she wanted to use the time to record the music of her favorite composer Scriabin. She suggested to several record companies that Scriabins record all ten sonatas, initially without success before Alan Silver of Connoisseur Society was ready to take the risk, but initially only for one LP (Sonatas No. 5, No. 7 "White Mass", No. 9 “Black Mass”, plus the eight Etudes Op. 42). After the great success of this first recording, Connoisseur gave her the opportunity to record the remaining seven sonatas, making all Scriabin sonatas available as recordings for the first time. Laredo became known as a soloist to a wider American audience.

Looking back, Laredo explains this in her book, The Ruth Laredo Becoming a Musician Book, as the alternative way to begin a solo career: finding a niche, something that no one had done before. The usual way is to win competitions. She had tried this too, albeit - apart from the Young Concert Artists International Auditions - without any success in major competitions.

When her daughter was older, Laredo wanted to resume touring with her husband but was now faced with his desire for a divorce. This was pronounced in 1974 and plunged Laredo into a serious personal life crisis. She accepted a teaching position at Yale University and accepted an invitation from Thomas Z. Shepard of CBS Masterworks, who was impressed with her Scriabin recordings, to record all of Rachmaninov's piano solo works. That saved her life, said Laredo. The recordings, which took place from 1974 to 1979, the last of which was published in 1981, contributed significantly to the fact that she now achieved her goal of a brilliant solo career.

They persuaded the music publisher CF Peters to commission Ruth Laredo with a new Urtext edition of the 24 Preludes of Rachmaninoff; they appeared in 1981 ( Op. 3, No. 2 ), 1985 (Op. 23) and 1991 (Op. 32). Based on the original manuscripts that she found in the Library of Congress and the Rachmaninov Archives in Washington, DC , as well as later on her trip to Russia in 1989 in the Glinka Museum, she saw confirmation of her assumption that the editions previously used contained many annotations obviously not from Rachmaninoff. She cleaned up the manuscripts.

Laredo has also contributed to Piano Today and Keyboard Classics magazines, and has hosted programs on National Public Radio (NPR , Performance Today and Morning Editions ) and New York classical radio station WQXR (First Hearing and Onstage with Young Concert Artists).

Ruth Laredo's tombstone in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, a few meters from Sergei Rachmaninov's grave. The inscription " An die Musik " pays homage to Laredo's favorite Schubert song. (Photo: Sheryl Shakinovsky)

In 2000, Laredo appeared in a scene in Woody Allen's film Small Time Crooks (English title: Narrow gauge crooks ). Hugh Grant tries to impress Tracey Ullman by inviting her to a piano recital in which Ruth Laredo will play Rachmaninoff.

Ruth Laredo was known for appearing in flashy clothes (mostly tailored by the Lincoln Center costume designer Catherine Heiser ), and was therefore often featured in fashion magazines. You could also find her on her bike or jogging to the music of Phil Collins or the rock group Genesis on Manhattan's Upper West Side , where she lived.

She made a clear commitment to the Jewish tradition and discussed the importance of Felix Mendelssohn's Jewish background in one of her lessons in the Concerts with Commentary series . In their opinion, Mendelssohn's father Abraham Mendelssohn converted to Protestantism for practical reasons, in order to give his son access to the music profession in Germany .

On May 25, 2005, Ruth Laredo died of ovarian cancer while sleeping in her New York City apartment . The diagnosis had been made four years before her death, but it had not stopped her artistic activity. She is buried in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla , Westchester County (New York) , a few meters from the grave of Sergei Rachmaninov, who was so important to her life. At the abdication ceremony on May 31, 2005, two of her colleagues who had been closest to her played, Wei Gang Li from the Shanghai Quartet and Courtenay Budd, with whom she and the St. Petersburg String Quartet performed the last “Concert with Commentary ”.

On May 18, 2006, their daughter Jennifer organized a memorial concert at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which was attended by the Guarneri String Quartet (with Paul Watkins, Jennifer's husband), Courtenay Budd, Nicolas Kendall, Pei Yao Wang , Edmund Battersby, James Tocco and Susan Wadsworth, Director of the Young Concert Artists , and flautist Paula Robison took part. Courtenay Budd sang Ruth Laredo's favorite song, Franz Schubert's An die Musik , the title of which Jennifer Laredo Watkins had chosen for the inscription on Ruth Laredo's tombstone.

In 2007, the Ruth Laredo Memorial Prize , financed by family members, friends and admirers of the pianist, was introduced in her memory as one of the awards at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions competition , which she won in 1962 and for which she later served as a juror (previous winners: Benjamin Moser , Germany, pianist, Bella Hristova, Bulgaria , violinist, Charlie Albright, USA, pianist, and George Li, USA, pianist).

education

Ruth Laredo, 1963, in Marlboro, Vermont, studying with Pablo Casals (Photo: private album Jennifer Laredo Watkins)

Ruth Laredo's mother Miriam Meckler was a piano teacher (especially for children) and taught Ruth first. When she could hardly teach her daughter anything, she sent her to Edward Bredshall for class. Bredshall had studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and was known for his original teaching methods. Laredo studied with Bredshall for four years and got to know and appreciate other Russian composers: Prokofiev , Stravinsky and Kabalewski .

Subsequently, due to her fondness for Russian music, she took piano lessons from Mischa Kottler, a Russian émigré who was also the teacher of the pianist and singer Muriel Elizabeth Charbonneau and later of the saxophonist and composer Rick Margitza and the jazz pianist Ray Cooke .

1951–1955 she attended Mumford High School in Detroit. During the summer holidays she went to the Indian Hill summer camps in Stockbridge (Massachusetts) . After graduating in 1955, she began studying with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Serkin had been introduced to her by the violinist Berl Senofsky and the pianist Seymour Lipkin , whom she had met during the summer camps. Serkin is said to have said to her when auditioning in Marlboro, Vermont : "I see you play like a tigress!" He accepted her as one of only four students.

Rudolf Serkin (1903–1991), a student of Arnold Schönberg and himself a world-famous artist, was known for his complete devotion to music and his absolute faithfulness to the work. Laredo's preferences for Russian music were a thorn in his side, he was more at home in the Central European culture of Mozart , Beethoven , Schubert and Brahms . Nevertheless, Laredo became known for her Scriabin and Rachmaninoff recordings and concerts.

In the summer semester break, she went to the Marlboro Music Festival (full name: Marlboro Music School and Festival ) near Brattleboro (Vermont) , which was founded in 1950 by Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch (then called the School of Music ). There she continued her studies with Serkin and studied chamber music with the cellist Pablo Casals . Colleagues of the summer festival were u. a. Murray Perahia , Richard Goode (today artistic director of the festival together with Mitsuko Uchida ), Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma . The final concert of every summer festival was traditionally Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 with Rudolf Serkin as soloist and the whole Marlboro community in the choir.

Ruth Laredo graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960 . Her graduation coincided with a 50th birthday party for American composer Samuel Barber , and she happened to have his Sonata in E minor, Op. 26 elected; Laredo thus unexpectedly became part of the festival. The composer sat among the audience, congratulated her warmly after the concert and wrote on her sheet music: "Brava, bravissima."

Teaching

Ruth Laredo was selected by violin teacher Ivan Galamian and cellist Leonard Rose for their students (including Arnold Steinhardt , Michael Tree , Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman ) at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the summer music festival of the Meadowmount Music School in Elizabethtown (New York ) to play the orchestral parts.

Ruth Laredo was a faculty member at Yale University, New Haven , the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and the Manhattan School of Music , New York City. She gave at these institutes as well as u. a. at the Eastman School of Music ( University of Rochester ), at Indiana University , Bloomington , at the New England Conservatory of Music , Boston , at the Music Academy of the West , Santa Barbara , and at Princeton University master classes . She held the Wiley Housewright Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University , Tallahassee , for some time . Among her students were the American composer and pianist Curt Cacioppo , Michael Kimmelman , chief critic of the New York Times , the Czech pianist Adam Skoumal and the Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder .

Ruth Laredo has served as a juror in a variety of competitions including the Young Concert Artists International Auditions , the Naumburg Foundation Competition , the Seventeen Magazine Competition , the New York Competition , all New York City, and the William Kapell International Piano Competition , Maryland . In 2004 she was a jury member at the International Piano-e-Competition in Minneapolis-St. Paul (Minnesota) . “Little did we know she was so sick,” the competition director, pianist Alexander Braginsky , told the Minneapolis Star Tribune . "She was so energetic and discussed so lively."

Concerts

Ruth Laredo made her first appearances at the Music Club of Metropolitan Detroit as a little girl . At eleven she gave her first recital at the Detroit Institute of Arts (including the first movement of Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto , in which her teacher Edward Bredshall played the orchestral part) and, under Karl Krueger , her first concert with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with whom she played the second and third movements of the concert.

Ruth Laredo, in 1995 at one of her “Concerts with Commentary”, a series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Laredo had created the series himself; it lasted from 1988 with at least three concerts a year until 2005 shortly before her death (Photo: private album Jennifer Laredo Watkins)

In the early years of her career, Laredo mainly worked as a companion to her husband Jaime Laredo. But she always wanted to pursue a solo career and made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1962 with the American Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski ; however, hardly anyone noticed her at first.

She was a founding member of the Music from Marlboro Concerts and made their first tour in 1965 with a visit to Israel . There she played Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for Three Pianos in D minor with Rudolf and Peter Serkin . She performed in the first Music from Marlboro Concert , " Isaac Stern and Friends," at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Her actual solo career began in 1974 when she made her debut with the piano concerto by Maurice Ravel in the Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center in New York City with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Pierre Boulez and received rave reviews. In 1976 Young Concert Artists presented her solo recital debut in the Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center with works by Beethoven, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel , whose “ La Valse ” was to become her signature piece. As an encore, she played Gershwin's Second Piano Prelude . In 1981 she made her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall with a program entitled "Homage to Rachmaninoff", which also included works by Chopin , Beethoven and Scriabin.

In 1988 Laredo took part in the gala concert at Carnegie Hall to mark the 135th anniversary of the first Steinway grand piano and the 500,000th Steinway grand piano. The concert, moderated by Van Cliburn , brought together 27 top-class pianists, including Alfred Brendel , Shura Cherkassky , Murray Perahia , Rudolf Serkin and Alexis Weissenberg . Laredo played Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32, No. 5 and Coquette from Robert Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9 .

Laredo played in New York City and Detroit a. a. also in Washington, DC ( Kennedy Center , Library of Congress, 1966 in the White House together with her then-husband Jaime Laredo for President Lyndon B. Johnson ), in Boston, Buffalo , Chicago , Cleveland , Houston , Indianapolis , Maryland, Nashville , Philadelphia , San Francisco , Santa Barbara and Toronto , at numerous festivals including the Amadeus Festival / Midsummer Nights Festival in New Jersey , the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado , the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival in Bridgehampton, New York , Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah (New York) , the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro (North Carolina) , the Maverick Concerts Festival in Hurley (New York) , the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston (South Carolina) , the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit , the Music Mountain Summer Chamber Music Festival in Falls Village, Connecticut, and the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico . She toured Europe ( Netherlands , Germany ) and Japan in the 1976/1977 season , and to Japan and Hong Kong in 1979 . Her 1989 tour to Russia (then RSFSR , Moscow , St. Petersburg [then Leningrad]) and the Ukraine (then USSR , Odessa ) deserves special mention . An American who comes to Russia to play the music of Russian composers, in the same room in the Moscow Conservatory where Rachmaninoff played, is received particularly skeptically. But Laredo met with a very warm reception; their concerts were sold out. In Moscow she had the opportunity to look at Rachmaninoff's manuscripts in the Glinka Museum.

Ruth Laredo played with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit and the American Symphony Orchestra and others. a. with the Philadelphia , Cleveland and American Composers Orchestras , with the Baltimore , Beaumont , Boston , Greenwich , Houston , Indianapolis , Jupiter , Madison , National , New Jersey , St. Louis and Terre Haute Symphony Orchestras , the Buffalo and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazimierz Kord , with whom she performed in a United Nations Day Concert in Warsaw in 1993 , which was broadcast on television across Europe. She then accompanied the orchestra on a US tour, which ended with a concert in Carnegie Hall with Rachmaninoff's 1st piano concerto .

In the 1988/1989 season she began her series "Concerts with Commentary" (initially called "Speaking of Music") in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The series lasted 17 seasons until the last concert on May 6th 2005 shortly before her death and was extremely popular; therefore she performed them a few times in other parts of the USA.

The series contained works by Brahms, Chopin, Dvořák , Fauré , Franck , Rachmaninow, Ravel, Clara and Robert Schumann , Scriabin and Tchaikovsky , which she discussed with great commitment before the performance. The last concert was the third in a series called "The Russian Spirit" with music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Shostakovich .

Ruth Laredo, 2004, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with the Shanghai Quartet, which he called the fifth member (Photo: Yi-Wen Jiang)

On September 13, 2001, Ruth Laredo celebrated the 25th anniversary of her debut at Alice Tully Hall with a recital there as the opening concert of the 2001 Lincoln Center season, despite the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City just two days earlier Before the concert, she explained to her audience why she had not canceled the concert: “It is important for me to play. Great music gives us spiritual nourishment and hope. That is why I play today. ”The program was similar to that of 1976 and included works by Robert Schumann, Beethoven, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Ravel with Waltz No. 1, Op. 69 from Chopin as an encore.

In September 2004 Laredo was invited by the Russian Ministry of Culture to the International Festival of the St. Petersburg Conservatory Rimsky-Korsakov . At this festival dedicated to the Russian composer Michail Glinka on the occasion of the 200th year of his birth , she played both chamber music and solo recitals and held a master class for Russian students.

Laredo often played chamber music. She took the view that soloists in particular needed this experience most in preparation for concerts with large orchestras. It becomes clear in each case that it was missing when a pianist regards the orchestra as pure accompaniment. She often played with the Shanghai Quartet (regularly at the Music Mountain Festival). a. with the American , Budapest , Emerson , Manhattan , Muir , St. Lawrence , St. Petersburg , Veronika and Vermeer Quartet , the Chappaqua , Manhattan Chamber , Orpheus Chamber and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , the Philharmonia Virtuosi , the Sea Cliff Chamber Players and the Orchestra of St. Luke's . She appeared on the Lincoln Center series Great Performers with the Guarneri Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet . She helped the Tokyo String Quartet several times when a member of the quartet failed, which temporarily turned it into a piano quartet. After their first joint appearance in 1980 at Alice Tully Hall, she toured every season with the flautist Paula Robison as the "Paula and Ruth" duo.

Ruth Laredo also played contemporary music, especially early in her career in Marlboro. This to the displeasure of Pablo Casals, who did not like music after the Brahms era and stayed at home whenever she performed one of his works with Leon Kirchner . In the 1983/1984 season she played the world premiere of Peter Martins ' Waltzes with the New York City Ballet . In 1989 she played Riegger's twelve-tone Variations for Piano and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall Wallingford with the American Composers Orchestra under Paul Lustig Dunkel . Her repertoire also included works by Franz Liszt , Arnold Schönberg, Béla Bartók , Anton Webern and Alban Berg .

In 1994 Laredo played with the jazz pianist Marian McPartland and from 1996 with her and the jazz pianist Dick Hyman under the title Three Piano Crossover .

In the last years of her life she had fewer appearances as a soloist with large orchestras and was content with recital and chamber music.

Laredo criticized the growing trend in the US to record live concerts for radio broadcasts. She preferred the European method of recording the concerts separately in advance in radio studios.

Recordings

In 1967, Ruth Laredo made a highly acclaimed recording of piano works by the French composer Maurice Ravel, also known for works with very high pianistic requirements.

In 1970 Laredo made her famous first recordings of Scriabin's ten sonatas on three LPs for Connoisseur Society on a Baldwin SD-10 grand piano at St. Paul's Chapel ( Columbia University ), New York City (1984 by Nonesuch Records in a three-LP -Box and reissued on a double CD in 1996, there are now numerous other complete recordings of the sonatas ). The LPs came out at a time when very little of Scriabin's music was available as recordings, and they became the cause of its rising popularity in the United States. "I was kind of a trailblazer for his music," said Laredo.

From 1974 to 1981, Rachmaninoff's complete solo piano works followed on seven LPs for CBS Masterworks ( reissued by Sony Classical on five CDs in 1993 ), which no pianist had dared to do before (at the same time the German-American pianist Michael Ponti also took the Scriabin and Rachmaninoffs Works on). At that time she was an exceptional pianist, especially as an interpreter of the technically demanding and strenuous works of Rachmaninoff. Besides her, there were only a few well-known pianists at the time, e. B. Gina Bachauer , Myra Hess and a little later Alicia de Larrocha . The New York Daily News gave her the name "America's First Lady of the Piano", a term that was henceforth used by many others. Laredo initially resisted this restriction based on her gender. She just wanted to be perceived as a pianist. She later came to terms with it and used the term herself, including it in her book and on her website.

Preparing the recordings of Rachmaninov's solo piano works turned out to be extremely exhausting. Laredo said she now understood why some of these pieces no one played: because they were just too difficult. Indeed, the 1.93 m tall Rachmaninoff, who had correspondingly large hands, had composed many works mainly for himself, and one was amazed at how the petite, barely 1.50 m tall Laredo managed the pieces with sometimes playing over 11 key grips at all. After practicing "Rocky's" music, as she called Rachmaninoff, she had to have hand massages done.

Ruth Laredo also recorded over 20 albums with works by other composers, including Isaac Albéniz , Bach, Beethoven, Lili Boulanger, Brahms, Chatschaturjan , Chopin, de Falla , Debussy , Fauré, Mozart, Poulenc , Ravel, Clara and Robert Schumann, Tchaikovsky, as well as the American composers Barber, Aaron Copland , Ives , Laderman , Kirchner, Rorem and Siegmeister . The 1996 recording of Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps for two pianos with James Tocco for Gasparo Records attracted particular attention .

She made her last recordings in 1999 with the Shanghai Quartet , by which she was called "the fifth member of the Shanghai Quartet", for Arabesque Records (piano quartets by Brahms) and on the occasion of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival with violinist Philip Setzer for Newport Classic (“Day Music” by Ned Rorem; the CD also contains “War Scenes” and “End of Summer” by Ned Rorem, played by other artists, including the composer at the piano). Both CDs were released in 2000.

Awards

  • Winner of the Gabrilowitsch Scholarship (1948/49)
  • Winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (1962)
  • Year's Best Recording Award from Stereo Review and Saturday Review (Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, La Valse; 1968)
  • Year's Best Recording Award from Saturday Review and High Fidelity (Scriabin: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1; 1970)
  • Best of the Month by Stereo Review (Skrjabin: Klaviersonaten, Vol. 1; 1970)
  • Musician of the Month from High Fidelity / Musical America (1974)
  • Nomination for the Grammy Award 1976 (Ravel: Trio for violin, cello and piano, with Jaime Laredo and Jeffrey Solow)
  • Best of the Month by Stereo Review (Rachmaninow, Klaviersolowerke, Vol. 5; 1979)
  • Best Keyboard Artist Award from Record World Magazine (Rachmaninow, Piano Solo Works, Vol. 5; 1979)
  • Nomination for the Grammy Award 1981 (Rachmaninow, Piano Solo Works, Vol. 7)
  • selected as one of five pianists for Carnegie Hall's 90th anniversary (1981)
  • Nomination for the Grammy Award 1983 (Barber: Sonata for Piano, Op. 26; Souvenirs, Op. 28; Nocturne, Op. 33)
  • Honorary Member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity (1983)
  • Distinguished Service to Music in America Award from the Music Teachers National Association (1989)
  • Music in Humanity Award at the Mount Gretna , Pennsylvania Music Festival (1994)
  • Best of the Year from Audiophile Audition Magazine (2nd new edition of the Scriabin Sonatas; 1997)

Discography

  • Mozart / Bach. Music from Marlboro; Mozart: Concerto in E-flat for two pianos (Rudolf Serkin, Peter Serkin); Bach: Concerto in C major for three pianos ( Mieczysław Horszowski , Peter Serkin, Rudolf Serkin); Concerto in D minor for three pianos (Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Ruth Laredo); Marlboro Festival Orchestra ( Alexander Schneider ). LP, CBS Masterworks ML 6247, 1964
  • Brook. Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, BWV 1046 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Myron Bloom, Robert Johnson (horns), John Mack, Ronald Richards, Peter Christ (oboes), Donald MacCourt (bassoon), Alexander Schneider (violin); Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, BWV 1047 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Robert Nagel (trumpet), Ornulf Gulbransen (flute), John Mack (oboe), Alexander Schneider (violin); Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048 ; Orchestral Suite No. 1, BWV 1066 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and John Mack, Joseph Turner (oboes), Joyce Kelley (bassoon), Ruth Laredo (piano); Marlboro Festival Orchestra: Pablo Casals. CD, Sony Classical SMK 46253, 1990, recorded 1964 (Brandenburg Concertos 1 and 3), 1965 (Brandenburg Concerto 2) and 1966 (Orchestral Suite)
  • Brook. Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, BWV 1049 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Alexander Schneider (violin), Ornulf Gulbransen, Nancy Dalley (flutes), Rudolf Serkin (piano); Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Ornulf Gulbransen (flute), Alexander Schneider (violin), Rudolf Serkin (piano); Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Peter Serkin (continuo); Suite No. 4 for Orchestra, BWV 1069 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Henry Nowak, Wilmer Wise , Louis Opalesky (trumpets), John Mack, Joseph Turner, Patricia Grignet (oboes), Joyce Kelley (bassoon), John Wyre (timpani), Ruth Laredo (piano); Marlboro Festival Orchestra: Pablo Casals. CD, Sony Classical SMK 46254, 1990; recorded in 1964 (Brandenburg Concerts) and 1966 (orchestral suite).
  • Brook. Goldberg Variations, BWV 1087 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Rudolf Serkin (piano); Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Ornulf Gulbransen (flute), Ruth Laredo (continuo); Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 , Members of the Marlboro Festival and Henry Nowak, Wilmer Wise, Louis Opalesky (trumpets), John Mack, Patricia Grignet (oboes), John Wyre (timpani), Ruth Laredo (continuo); Marlboro Festival Orchestra: Pablo Casals. CD, Sony Classical SMK 45892, 1990; recorded in 1976 (Goldberg Variations) and 1966 (orchestral suites)
  • Ravel. Gaspard de la Nuit , Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, La Valse . LP, Connoisseur Society CS-2005, 1968
  • Scriabin. The Complete Piano Sonatas; Sonata No. 1, Op. 6 ; Etude, Op. 2, No. 1; Sonata No. 2, Op. 19; Eight Etudes, Op. 42; Sonata No. 3, Op. 23; Sonata No. 4, Op. 30; Sonata No. 5, Op. 53; Sonata No. 6, Op. 62; Désir, Op. 57, No. 1; Caresse dansée, Op. 57, No. 2; Sonata No. 7, Op. 64; Sonata No. 8, Op. 66; Sonata No. 9, Op. 68; Sonata No. 10, Op. 70; Vers la flame, Op. 72. 2 CDs, Nonesuch 5973035-2, 1996 (new edition of the 3 LPs Connoisseur Society CS-2032 / CS-2034 / CS-2035, 1970 / Nonesuch 73035, 1984)
  • Robert Schumann. Music for piano and violin; Ruth Laredo (piano), Jaime Laredo (violin); Sonata No. 1, Op. 105; Sonata No. 2, Op. 121; Intermezzo from FAE Sonata. LP, Desto DC 6442, 1979; recorded in 1970
  • Laderman / victory master. Ezra Laderman: Duo for Violin and Piano; Elie Siegmeister: Sonata No. 2; Jaime Laredo (violin), Ruth Laredo (piano). LP, Desto DC 7125, 1971
  • Scriabin. 24 Preludes, Op. 11 ; 5 Preludes, Op. 74; Poem, Op. 32, No. 1st CD, Phoenix USA PHCD 114, 1990 (new edition of the LP Desto DC 7145, 1972)
The first of seven LPs of Rachmaninov's piano solo works, 1974 (Photo: Sony Music Entertainment)
  • Rorem / Kirchner. Ned Rorem: Day Music, Leon Kirchner: Sonata concertante; Jaime Loredo (violin), Ruth Laredo (piano). LP, Desto DC 7151, 1973
  • Rorem. Day Music: Jaime Laredo (violin), Ruth Laredo (piano); Night Music: Earl Carlyss (violin), Ann Schein (piano). CD, Phoenix USA PHCD123, 1991 (Day Music originally appeared on the LP Desto DC 7151, 1973; Night Music on Desto DC 7174, 1974)
  • Scriabin. Greatest hits; Morton Estrin / Ruth Laredo; Ruth Laredo plays Etude, Op. 2, No. 1; Sonata No. 4, Op. 30; Etudes, Op. 42, No. 3 and No. 4; Vers la flame, Op. 72; Sonata No. 5, Op. 53rd LP, Connoisseur Society CS-2046, 1973
  • Ravel. Music from Marlboro, The Marlboro Music Festival, Rudolf Serkin (director); Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano: Jaime Laredo (violin), Ruth Laredo (piano), Jeffrey Solow (cello); Sonata for Violin and Cello: Jaime Laredo (violin), Leslie Parnas (cello). LP, CBS Masterworks M 33529, 1973
  • Kirchner / Copland / Ives / Lees. Music for Violin and Piano; Leon Kirchner: Sonata Concertante (Jaime Laredo, violin; Ruth Laredo, piano); Aaron Copland: Sonata for Violin and Piano (Jaime Laredo, violin; Ann Schein, piano); Charles Ives: Sonata No. 4 for violin and piano (Jaime Laredo, violin; Ann Schein, piano); Benjamin Lees: Sonata No. 2 (1973, Rafael Druian, violin; Ilse von Alpenheim , piano). CD, Phoenix USA PHCD 136, 1997 (Kirchner originally appeared on the LP Desto DC 7151, Copland and Ives on Desto DC 6439, 1975, Lees on Desto DC 7174, 1974)
  • Rachmaninoff. The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 1; Fantasy Pieces, Op. 3; Salon Pieces, Op. 10; Moments Musicaux, Op. 16. CD, Sony Classical SMK 48468, 1993 (new edition on 5 CDs of Complete Works for Solo Piano on 7 LPs by CBS Masterworks M 32938 / M 33430 / M 33998 / M 34532 / M 35151 / M 35836 / M 35881, 1974– 1981)
  • Rachmaninoff. The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 2; Piano transcriptions; Chopin Variations. CD, Sony Classical SMK 48469, 1993 (new edition on 5 CDs of Complete Works for Solo Piano on 7 LPs by CBS Masterworks M 32938 / M 33430 / M 33998 / M 34532 / M 35151 / M 35836 / M 35881, 1974–1981)
  • Rachmaninoff. The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 3; Sonatas No. 1, Op. 28 and No. 2, Op. 36; Corelli Variations. CD, Sony Classical SMK 48470, 1993 (new edition on 5 CDs of Complete Works for Solo Piano on 7 LPs by CBS Masterworks M 32938 / M 33430 / M 33998 / M 34532 / M 35151 / M 35836 / M 35881, 1974–1981)
  • Rachmaninoff. The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 4; Preludes, Op. 23 and Op. 32nd CD, Sony Classical SMK 48471, 1993 (new edition on 5 CDs of Complete Works for Solo Piano on 7 LPs by CBS Masterworks M 32938 / M 33430 / M 33998 / M 34532 / M 35151 / M 35836 / M 35881, 1974– 1981)
  • Rachmaninoff. The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 5; Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 33 and Op. 39 ; Fragments; Lilacs; Daisies; Oriental Sketch; Fantasy Pieces. CD, Sony Classical SMK 48472, 1993 (new edition on 5 CDs of Complete Works for Solo Piano on 7 LPs by CBS Masterworks M 32938 / M 33430 / M 33998 / M 34532 / M 35151 / M 35836 / M 35881, 1974–1981)
  • Rachmaninoff. Romantic Piano Pieces: Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3; Morceaux de salon, Op. 10; Moments musicaux, Op. 16, Nos. 3 and 5; Preludes, Op. 23, Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10; Preludes, Op. 32, Nos. 2, 5, 10, 12 and 13; Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 33, no. 7 and Op. 39, no. 2nd CD, Sony Classical, SMK 89950, 2002 (collection of previously published material, 1974–1977)
  • Rachmaninov / Debussy / Scriabin / Prokofiev. Recital; Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp major, Op. 3, No. 2 ; Debussy: Feu d'artifice, Bruyères , La fille aux cheveux de lin , Reflets dans l'eau; Scriabin: Etude in C-sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1; Poem, Op. 32, No. 1; Sonata No. 9 in F, Op. 68 ("Black Mass"); Prokofiev: Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28th CD, Connoisseur Society 30CD-3020, 1980
  • Debussy / Scriabin / Rachmaninoff. Essential Piano Library, The Student's Essential Classics, with Earl Wild, Santiago Rodriguez, David Bar-Illan, Jorge Bolet, Gilbert Kalish; Ruth Laredo plays Debussy, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (Preludes, Book I), Reflections in the Water (Images, Book I), Fireworks (Preludes, Book II); Scriabin, Etude in C-sharp minor Op. 2, No. 1; Rachmaninoff, Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2.2 LPs Baldwin Piano Artists BDW-700/701, 1981
  • Scriabin / Prokofiev / Barber. Essential Piano Library, Masters Perform Master Works. LP, Baldwin Piano Artists BDW-805, 1981
  • Ravel. Miroirs, La Valse, Sonatine , Prelude in A major, Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn. CD, Sanctuary, 1998 (new edition of the LP CBS Masterworks M 36734, 1982)
  • Barber. Piano Sonata, Op. 26; Souvenirs, Op. 28; Nocturne, Op. 33 (Homage to John Field ). CD, Sanctuary, 1998 (new edition of the LP Nonesuch D 79032, 1982)
  • Chopin. Mazurkas, Op. 6, Nos. 2 and 3; Op. 24, No. 2; Op. 33, no. 4; Op. 56, No. 2; Op. 63, no. 3; Waltzes, Op. 25, No. 4; Op. 34, Nos. 1 and 2; Op. 42, Op. 69, no. 1 and 2; Etude, Op. 25, No. 4; Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 1; Scherzo, Op. 20th CD, Sanctuary, 1998 (new edition of the LP Nonesuch 71450, 1987; recorded 1982/1985)
  • Tchaikovsky. The Seasons, Op. 37a; Polka de Salon, Op. 9, No. 2; Mazurka de Salon, Op. 9, No. 3; Humoresque, Op. 10, No. 2; Natha-Valse, Op. 51, No. 4th CD, Sanctuary, 1998 (new edition of the LP Nonesuch Digital 79119, 1985)
  • Fauré / Lili Boulanger / Ravel / Poulenc. French Masterpieces for flute and piano, Ruth Laredo (piano), Paula Robison (flute); Gabriel Fauré: Sonata in A major; Lili Boulanger: Nocturne; Maurice Ravel: Pièce en forme de Habanera; Francis Poulenc: Sonata. CD, Pergola, 2006 (new edition of CD Musical Heritage Society 2003 or LP Amerco 1991/1992; recorded 1985)
  • Beethoven. Sonatas No. 23 (Appassionata) , No. 26 (Les Adieux) , No. 3 and No. 20th CD, Second Hearing GS 9007, 1986, live recording
  • Ravel. Pieces pour 2 pianos, Ruth Laredo, Jacques Rouvier ; Bolero , Mother Goose Suite, Sites Auriculaires, Frontispièce, La Valse. CD, Denon 33C37-7907, 1986
  • Albéniz / de Falla. Isaac Albéniz: Songs of Spain, Suite Española ; Manuel de Falla: Three Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat , Suite from El amor brujo . CD, MCA Classics MCAD-6265, 1988
  • Bach / Mozart / Beethoven / Chopin / Debussy / Robert Schumann / Prokofiev. My First Recital; Bach: Prelude No. 1 in C, BWV 846 ; Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C, BWV 772 ; Two-Part Invention No. 4 in d, BWV 775 ; Two-Part Invention No. 8 in F, BWV 779 ; Mozart: Fantasia in d, K. 397; Sonata in C, K. 545; Beethoven: For Elise ; Sonata No. 20 in G, Op. 49, no. 2; Chopin: Waltz in D, Op. 64, no. 1 (Minute Waltz); Waltz in A, Op. 69, no. 1; Grande Valse Brillante in E-flat major, Op. 18; Debussy: The Girl With the Flaxen Hair; Clair de Lune ; Schumann: Kinderszenen (From Foreign Lands and People, A Curious Story, An Important Event, Dreaming); Prokofiev: March from Peter and the Wolf . CD, ESS.AY CD1006, 1990
  • Bach / Mozart / Beethoven / Robert Schumann / Debussy / Brahms / Chopin / Tchaikovsky / Chatschaturian. My Second Recital; Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring ; Mozart: Rondo alla Turca ; Beethoven: Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78 , Adagio Cantabile, Allegro Vivace; Schumann: Arabesque; Debussy: Sarabande; Brahms: Waltz, Op. 39, no. 2 in E major; Waltz, Op. 39, no. 3 in G-sharp minor; Waltz, Op. 39, no. 4 in E minor; Waltz, Op. 39, no. 5 in E major; Waltz, Op. 39, no. 15 in A-flat major; Waltz in Intermezzo in E-flat major, Op. 117, no. 1; Chopin: Mazurka in F-sharp minor; Waltz in C-sharp minor; Nocturne in F-sharp minor; Tchaikovsky: Humoresque; Natha-Valse; Barcarolle; Khachaturian: Toccata. CD, ESS.AY CD1026, 1991
  • Stravinsky / Rachmaninoff. Music from the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music for Two Pianos; James Tocco and Ruth Laredo; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps ; Rachmaninoff: Suite No. 2 for 2 pianos. CD, Gasparo GSCD-313, 1996; recorded in 1995
  • Rachmaninoff. Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 , Vladimir Feltsman (piano), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra ( Zubin Mehta ); Morceaux de salon Op. 10, Nos. 2, 3 and 7, Ruth Laredo (piano); Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14, Nelly Lee (sprano), Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra (Arnold Katz); Prelude, Op. 23, No. 5, Prelude, Op. 32, Nos. 5, 1, 7, 8 and 12, Ruth Laredo (piano); Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 , Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra (Arnold Katz); Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39, Nos. 2, 5 and 6, Ruth Laredo (piano); Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 , Vladimir Feltsman (piano), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Zubin Mehta). 2 CDs, Sony Classical SB2K 64 343, 1996
  • Beethoven. 3 sonatas; Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 (Appassionata); No. 17, Op. 31, No. 2 (Tempest) ; No. 26, Op. 81a (Les Adieux); Bagatelle for Piano in A minor (Für Elise); Bagatelle for Piano in B flat major. CD, Connoisseur Society CD-4210, 1997
  • Mendelssohn / Robert Schumann / Clara Schumann / Brahms. Such Good Friends; Felix Mendelssohn: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14; Robert Schumann: Eight Fantasy Pieces, Op. 12 (In the evening, upswing, why ?, barbecue, in the night, fable, dream confusion, end of the song); Clara Schumann: Romance, Op. 11, No. 1; Johannes Brahms: Intermezzi, Op. 117, Nos. 1, 2 and 3; Piano pieces, Op. 118, no. 2, Op. 119, no. 1; Fantasy, Op. 116, no. 4th CD, Open Mike M 4022 (or Sanctuary CD 3001), 1999, recorded in 1998
  • Brahms. Piano Quartets No. 1, Op. 25; No. 2, Op. 26; No. 3, Op. 60; The Shanghai Quartet and Ruth Laredo (piano). 2 CDs, Arabesque Z6740-2, 2000; recorded in April 1999
  • Rorem. Chamber Music, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival; Day Music: Ruth Laredo (piano), Philip Setzer (violin); War Scenes: Kurt Ollmann (baritone), Ned Rorem (piano); End of Summer: Elm City Ensemble. CD, Newport Classic NPD 85663, 2000; recorded in June 1999

literature

Web links

Commons : Ruth Laredo  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data based on the information on the tombstone. All press releases from 2005 mention May 25th as the date of death.
  2. ↑ Rachmaninoff himself used as a transliteration of his name Rachmaninoff ; it is mostly adopted in the USA, where he emigrated in 1917 and where he died in 1943, although the usual English Rachmaninov would be. In this article the German transliteration Rachmaninoff is generally used except in English texts.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f The Ruth Laredo Becoming a Musician Book , Schott / European American Music, 1992, ISBN 0-913574-99-6 (English)
  4. ↑ a b c d Cheryl Branham, Piano / Forte: A Study Of Women Concert Pianists' Lives and Careers , Dissertation, University of Maryland, UMI No. 9622179, 1995 (English)
  5. ↑ a b c d David Dubal, Reflections from the Keyboard, The World Of the Concert Pianist , 2nd updated edition, Schirmer Trade Books, 1997 (1st edition 1984), ISBN 978-0-02-864776-0 (English)
  6. ↑ a b Elaine Strauss in: US 1 ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 118 across: pianist Ruth, six letters. Any clues? , Princeton, New Jersey, May 1998 (reproduced in PrincetonInfo.com) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 161.58.97.168
  7. ↑ a b Irma Commanday in: Jewish Women's Archive , 2005 (English)
  8. ↑ a b in: Gale encyclopedia (reproduced on www.answer.com, engl.)
  9. ↑ a b c Max Millard: 100 New Yorkers of the 1970s . Boson Books, 2005 (English, gutenberg.org ).
  10. ↑ Donal Henahan in: New York Times , Glittering Ravel; Boulez and Ruth Laredo Give Superb Reading of Piano Concerto in G , December 14, 1974 (English)
  11. ↑ John Rockwell in: New York Times , Ruth Laredo Plays Strong Piano Recital , April 18, 1976 (English)
  12. ↑ Donal Henahan in: New York Times , Ruth Laredo's Rachmaninoff , January 19, 1981 (English)
  13. ^ A b Daniel J. Wakin in: New York Times , Ruth Laredo, Pianist Who Recorded Rachmaninoff, Dies at 67 , May 27, 2005 (obituary in the New York Times, engl.)
  14. ^ Anne Midgette in: New York Times , A Pianist With Sustenance At an Anniversary Concert , September 15, 2001
  15. ^ Andy Newman in: New York Times , September 2, 1996 (English)
  16. ^ Bernard Holland in: New York Times , Re-enacting the Conflict Of Brahms vs. Wagner , December 13, 1989 (English)
  17. ↑ Donal Henahan in: New York Times , It Can Be Live, Real - And Fake , January 13, 1991 (English)
  18. ↑ Chris Pasles in: Los Angeles Times , Ruth Laredo, 67; Pianist Recorded Full Works of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff , May 28, 2005 (obituary in the Los Angeles Times )
  19. ↑ Barbara Rowes in: People , Her Career Finally Up to Scale, Ruth Laredo Gives Thanks to 'Rocky' for Pulling Her Through , August 10, 1981 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Laredo, Ruth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meckler, Ruth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American classical pianist
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 2005
Place of death new York