Alexander Uninsky ( ua, Олекса́ндр Юні́нський; russian: Александр Юнинский, translit=Aleksandr Yuninskij, pronounced You-nin-skee;

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Dallas, 19 December 1972) was an American classical pianist of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

origin.

Life and career

Alexander Uninsky was born in

(then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, now in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). He initially studied piano there in the conservatory which had been opened in 1913, and whose other graduates included

Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...

and

Alexander Brailowsky 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 bor ...

. He subsequently moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1923, where he studied with

Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy, also hyphenated as Lazare-Lévy, (18 January 188220 September 1964) was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedagogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe Europe is a large peninsu ...

. He was awarded the conservatory's first prize for piano. In 1932 he won the

II International Chopin Piano Competition The II International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, II Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 6 to 23 March 1932 in Warsaw. Popular with the public, it attracted correspondents from all over the world, not lea ...

. In fact, Uninsky tied for first place with the blind Hungarian pianist Imre Ungar, and the judges decided to award victory on the basis of the toss of a coin. Ungar lost. In 1955, he took up a teaching post at the

Toronto Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

, where he numbered among his pupils the Canadian composer

Bruce Mather Bruce Mather (born May 9, 1939) is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger ...

. Mather commemorated his teacher in his 1974 composition ''In memoriam Alexander Uninsky'' Subsequently, he taught at the

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. His pupils included

Jeffrey Swann Jeffrey Swann (born November 24, 1951) is an American classical pianist. Swann was born in Arizona but moved to Dallas, Texas, as a young child. He began piano studies at the age of four. While attending St. Mark's School of Texas, he studied for ...

, David Morgan, Carmen Alvarez, Boaz Heilman, Dr. Henry Doskey,

David Golub David Golub (March 22, 1950 – October 16, 2000) was an American pianist and conductor. Biography Born in Chicago, Golub moved with his family to Richardson, Texas when he was five years old. He began piano lessons not long thereafter wh ...

and

Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak (born 7 February 1940 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian pianist and music teacher. Early life Tomsic received private lessons at a very young age and continued with education at the Music Hi ...

. He played his last concert in San Jose, Costa Rica, on October 19, 1972 for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the National Theatre. He played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 Opus 23 with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerald Brown. He was suffering an advanced arthritis. He died in his sleep two months later, on December 19, 1972 in Dallas, Texas, aged 62.

Recorded legacy and reputation

Uninsky was quickly signed up in the early 1950s by the newly formed

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

recording company. His Chopin playing is well represented in his recordings, including the complete

Étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...

s, recorded in the 1950s, the complete

Mazurka The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...

s and

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

s recorded between 1959 and 1971, the

Scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ref ...

s and

Waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

es, as well as the piano concertos. His other recordings included works by

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

. His style is greatly reminiscent of

Nikita Magaloff Nikita Magaloff (russian: Никита Магалов; 26 December 1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland. Hi ...

, who underwent the same influences of pre-revolutionary Russia and post-revolutionary Paris. His playing is unsentimental and elegant, but with a

rubato Tempo rubato (, , ; 'free in the presentation', literally ) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rub ...

that marks him as coming from an essentially early twentieth century aesthetic. It is not surprising that his clean, sober playing impressed the jury of the second Chopin Competition, which has been founded to combat the mannered, virtuoso tradition of Chopin playing which had marked the late 19th century. An indication of the 'modernness' of Uninsky's playing comes from a comment by

Dinu Lipatti Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...

in a review he wrote in 1937 for ''

Libertatea Libertatea is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper of t ...

'' in which he says "How is it possible that Emil Sauer must play in the small

Salle Érard Salle Érard The salle Érard is a music venue located in Paris, 13 rue du Mail in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. It is part of the hôtel particulier which belonged, from the 18th century, to the family of piano, harp and harpsichord manufact ...

, despite his glorious past, when a Brailowsky or Uninsky can pack the

Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...

?" Marston - Biography of Emil von Sauer on the Marston Records website

Recordings

*Fr. Chopin: Polonaises (Nos. 1–6),

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

LP -LC 3623 *Fr. Chopin: Etüden,

LP Nr. A 00405 L undated *Fr. Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 e-moll op.11, Das Residenz-Orchester Den Haag (W.Van Oterloo Dir.),

LP Nr. A 00651 R 1958 *Fr. Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 e-moll op.11, Fontana Weltserie Folge 34 LP Nr. 695 033 Kl undated *Fr. Chopin: Polonaise Nr. 6 As-dur op. 53 e-moll op.11, Fontana Weltserie Folge 34 LP Nr. 695 033 Kl undated

References

External links

Archive photo of Uninsky

Spanish concert programme
from 1942 with photo and brief biography which was used as one of the sources for this entry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Uninsky, Alexander 1910 births 1972 deaths International Chopin Piano Competition winners Russian classical pianists Male classical pianists Musicians from Dallas Classical musicians from Texas The Royal Conservatory of Music faculty Southern Methodist University faculty 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians