Alexander Brailowsky

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Brailowsky in 1965

Alexander Brailowsky (16 February 1896 – 25 April 1976) was a Russian-born French pianist who specialised in the works of Frédéric Chopin. He was a leading concert pianist in the years between the two World Wars.

Early life

Brailowsky was born in

Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire, to a Jewish family, and as a boy, he studied piano with his father, a professional pianist. When he was 8, he studied in Kiev with Vladimir Puchalsky, a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky. At the age of 18, he attended Kiev Conservatory, graduating with a gold medal in 1911. He went on to study with Leschetizky in Vienna until 1914, then with Ferruccio Busoni in Zürich, and finally with Francis Planté
in Paris. He became a French citizen in 1926.

Career

Brailowsky made his concert debut in Paris in 1919.

Brailowsky programmed all 160 piano pieces by

Aeolian Hall
in New York City in 1924.

He toured the United States in 1936. During a series of nineteen recitals in Buenos Aires, he never repeated a single work.

During World War II, he gave recitals for the

USO
. In 1960, he played the Chopin cycle again in Paris, and in Brussels in honor of the 150th anniversary of Chopin's birth.

Between 1925 and 1930 he recorded at least twenty three works for the Ampico reproducing pianos, preserving his earliest recorded legacy in this medium.

Brailowsky's first audio recordings were produced in Berlin from 1928 to 1934 and released on 78 rpm discs. In 1938, he recorded in London for HMV. Later discs were produced for RCA Victor and, in the 1960s, for CBS. Besides his huge output of Chopin, his repertoire also included Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Debussy and others.

Death

Brailowsky died in New York City at the age of 80 from complications brought on by pneumonia and was survived by his wife Felicia Brailowsky who died in 1993. He and his wife are buried on the Mount Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens.[2][3][4]

Technique

Brailowsky said that the technique used to play Chopin's music should be "fluent, fluid, delicate, airy, and capable of great variety of color."

Selected recordings

  • Chopin: The Fourteen Waltzes (Columbia MS-6228)
  • Chopin: The Complete Mazurkas Vol. 1 (Columbia)
  • Chopin: The Complete Mazurkas Vol. 2 (Columbia)
  • A Chopin Recital (Columbia MS-6569)
  • Chopin Nocturnes Vol. 1
  • Chopin Nocturnes Vol. 2
  • Chopin Polonaises (Columbia)
  • Chopin: The 24 Preludes (Columbia MS-6119)
  • Chopin: Concerto No. 1 in E Minor. Op. 11
  • Chopin: The Complete Etudes (RCA)
  • Chopin Concerto No. 1, Liszt: Todtentanz (Columbia)
  • Brailowsky Plays Liszt (RCA LM1772)
  • Liszt: 15 Hungarian Rhapsodies
  • Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 (RCA)
  • Schumann: Etudes Symphoniques (RCA)
  • Chopin: Sonata in B Minor Op. 58 (HMV DB 3701)
  • Chopin: Waltzes (Volume 1) *Op. 18 *Op. 34, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 *Op. 42 *Op. 64, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 (Victor Red Seal Records M863)

References

  1. ISBN 978 2 3505 5192 0
    .
  2. ^ "Felicia "Ela" Brailowsky (1908-1993) - Find a..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  3. ^ "Alexander Brailowsky | Jewish Genealogy | Jewish Cemeteries | Jewish Tombstones | Jewish History". jewishdata.com. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  4. ^ Mount Judah Cemetery (Chmelnicker Society)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Brailowsky.
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