Alexander Brailowsky (16 February 1896 – 25 April 1976) was a Russian-born French

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

who specialised in the works of

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

. He was a leading concert pianist in the years between the two World Wars.

Early life

Brailowsky was born in

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 ...

, then part of 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. ...

, 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 Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky, pl, Teodor Leszetycki; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915 was an Austrian-Polish pianist, professor, and composer born in Landshut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land of ...

. 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 Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

in Zürich, and finally with

Francis Planté Francis Planté (2 March 1839 – 19 December 1934) was a French pianist famed as one of the first ever recording artists. Planté was born in Orthez. He studied piano under Antoine Marmontel, his career beginning at the age of seven in Par ...

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

for playing in a series of six concerts. In 1924, he gave a recital in Paris of the complete cycle of the works of Chopin, the first in history, using the composer's own piano for part of the recital. He then went on to present a further thirty cycles of Chopin's music in Paris, Brussels, Zurich, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. A highly successful world tour followed. Brailowsky's American debut was at 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 The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

. 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 American Piano Company (Ampico) was an American piano manufacturer formed in 1908 through the merger of Wm. Knabe & Co., Chickering & Sons, and Foster-Armstrong. They later purchased the Mason & Hamlin piano company as their flagship piano. The ...

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 Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, Saint-Saëns,

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 ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and others.

Death

Brailowsky died in New York City at the age of 80 from complications brought on by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

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.Mount Judah Cemetery (Chmelnicker Society)
/ref>

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

External links

All Music AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

br>Interview with Felicia Karzmar Brailowsky, ca. 1982
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brailowsky, Alexander 1896 births 1976 deaths 20th-century French male classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Ukrainian classical pianists Ukrainian Jews Soviet emigrants to France Musicians from Kyiv Pupils of Theodor Leschetizky Russian classical pianists Russian pianists Russian Jews Russian classical musicians