Solomon (pianist)

Solomon Cutner , known by his stage name Solomon , CBE (born August 9, 1902 in London ; † February 2, 1988 ibid) was a British pianist .

Life

Born in the East End of London as the son of Jewish immigrants (father of Polish, mother of German descent) , he was taught by Mathilde Verne , a student of Clara Schumann , from 1908 and brought out as a “child prodigy”. At the age of seven he played the piano version of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture . In 1911 Mathilde Verne announced him as "Solomon - aged 8 years" and gave him his stage name. In 1917 the boy, overwhelmed by his early career, whose parents had ended their relationship with Mathilde Verne in 1915, wanted to give up his career and gave a farewell concert; In 1919 he suffered another nervous breakdown from which he recovered slowly. At the beginning of the 1920s (after studying with Simon Rumschinsky, a student of Leschetizky and with Lazare Lévy in Paris), he had a successful comeback, followed by an important international career as a concert pianist, which ended abruptly in 1956 with a stroke.

Solomon was undoubtedly one of the great pianists of the 20th century, and many of his recordings produced by Walter Legge attest to the extraordinarily sensitive tone quality and depth of his piano playing, which was never ostensibly virtuoso, despite the fact that he had effortless, great piano technique. For more than 30 years of his life, Solomon was no longer allowed to actively make music.

In 1946, Solomon was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

literature

• Jeremy Siepmann: The Piano. Smithmark Pub, London 1996, ISBN 978-0-765-19833-4 . ( Limited preview in Google Book search)

Web links

• Works by and about Solomon in the catalog of the German National Library
• Bruce Eder's biography at Allmusic Guide, English