Leff Pouishnoff
Encyclopedia
Leff Nicolas Pouishnoff (28 May 1959) was a Ukrainian
-born pianist
and composer
, who made his home in the United Kingdom
and whose career was largely in the West, from the 1920s onwards. He was especially associated with performances of the works of Frédéric Chopin
.
or Odessa
, was drawn to the piano as a young child, and, having acquired some aptitude before the age of ten, gave two public concerts. His parents, not wishing him to be exploited, discouraged this, but after his father's death (when Leff was 9), financial constraints led to his accepting concert engagements, and he rapidly gained a reputation. Special arrangements were made for his schooling, where he had a particular interest in chemistry. At the age of 14 he joined the State Opera Company orchestra, but a chance meeting with Feodor Chaliapin
persuaded him to pursue his piano studies.
(piano), with instruction from Rimsky-Korsakov
, Liadov and Glazunov
(composition) and Nikolai Tcherepnin
(conducting). He was one of the most brilliant students of his time, and emerged in 1910 with a first class diploma, a Gold Medal, and a cash prize equivalent to £120 for a voyage to Europe. In that year he competed for the St Petersburg Rubinstein Prize against Arthur Rubinstein
, Alexander Borovsky, Julius Isserlis, Edwin Fischer
and Alfred Hoehn (the winner). However, instead of embarking at once on a high profile recital career, he chose instead to make a musical tour through various European countries, studying their music and meeting their musicians, which greatly broadened his experience.
Returning to Russia, he made a recital tour with the distinguished Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer
, and followed this with a solo tour giving piano recitals, which resulted in many offers of engagements in the major European centres. His international reputation was growing when World War I
interrupted his progress. Owing to short-sightedness, he was exempt from military service but, being confined to Russia, he played in military camps and gave a series of concerts for wounded and convalescent men in hospitals.
), the first eminent European pianist to do so. After his successful completion of it he returned and soon afterwards escaped across the Russian frontier and made his way to Paris. In 1920 he moved on to London, where he was unknown, but gave his first and highly acclaimed recital at the Wigmore Hall
on 2 February 1921, where he was greatly admired by Ernest Newman
. From this point he made his home in Britain.
His career now burst upon the European scene. He made numerous orchestral appearances in Britain, in London at the Queen's Hall
and Royal Albert Hall
, with the Hallé Orchestra
in Manchester
and with the Scottish Orchestra. His many compositions for orchestra, violin and piano were still in MS in 1924, but his piano pieces were by then being published. He began to make regular visits to the principal cities of France
, Germany
, Belgium
and the Netherlands
, and was in the United States
in the seasons of 1924-5 and 1925-6, when he toured major cities. His career eventually became worldwide.
In summer 1926 he devoted a whole week of recitals to playing over seventy of the principal works of Chopin, and repeated this in 1927 to much acclaim. In recordings he is heard around 1930 as an extremely articulate and intelligent accompanist to Frank Titterton
in Schubert
song repertoire. He was among the earliest pianists to broadcast from Savoy Hill in 1925, and in 1938 he became the first to be broadcast on television, from Alexandra Palace
. During World War II
he gave concerts to factory workers, miners and dockers, and made extensive tours among the forces in the Middle East.
Pouishnoff made a substantial number of recordings, especially of Chopin and Liszt
. He had a very extensive technique, and a delicacy and sensitivity of nuance without effeminacy which won extremely high praise from some critics. He ended his own life, in London. His widow Dorothy, a former pupil, died only three weeks after he did.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
-born pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, who made his home in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and whose career was largely in the West, from the 1920s onwards. He was especially associated with performances of the works of Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
.
Childhood and early studies
Pouishnoff, born into an aristocratic Russian family in either KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
or Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, was drawn to the piano as a young child, and, having acquired some aptitude before the age of ten, gave two public concerts. His parents, not wishing him to be exploited, discouraged this, but after his father's death (when Leff was 9), financial constraints led to his accepting concert engagements, and he rapidly gained a reputation. Special arrangements were made for his schooling, where he had a particular interest in chemistry. At the age of 14 he joined the State Opera Company orchestra, but a chance meeting with Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...
persuaded him to pursue his piano studies.
Formal study and training
He studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory under Anna YesipovaAnna Yesipova
Anna Yesipova was a prominent Russian pianist. Her name is cited variously as Anna Esipova; Anna or Annette Essipova; Anna, Annette or Annetta Essipoff; Annette von Essipow; Anna Jessipowa.Yesipova was one of Teodor Leszetycki's most brilliant pupils...
(piano), with instruction from Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, Liadov and Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
(composition) and Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in Saint Petersburg and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory...
(conducting). He was one of the most brilliant students of his time, and emerged in 1910 with a first class diploma, a Gold Medal, and a cash prize equivalent to £120 for a voyage to Europe. In that year he competed for the St Petersburg Rubinstein Prize against Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
, Alexander Borovsky, Julius Isserlis, Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, particularly in the traditional Germanic repertoire of such composers as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert...
and Alfred Hoehn (the winner). However, instead of embarking at once on a high profile recital career, he chose instead to make a musical tour through various European countries, studying their music and meeting their musicians, which greatly broadened his experience.
Returning to Russia, he made a recital tour with the distinguished Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer
Leopold Auer
Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, conductor and composer.-Early life and career:...
, and followed this with a solo tour giving piano recitals, which resulted in many offers of engagements in the major European centres. His international reputation was growing when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
interrupted his progress. Owing to short-sightedness, he was exempt from military service but, being confined to Russia, he played in military camps and gave a series of concerts for wounded and convalescent men in hospitals.
Career in the West
He remained in Russia through the Russian Revolution, suffering considerable want, and in 1919 had the opportunity to make a concert tour in Persia (IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
), the first eminent European pianist to do so. After his successful completion of it he returned and soon afterwards escaped across the Russian frontier and made his way to Paris. In 1920 he moved on to London, where he was unknown, but gave his first and highly acclaimed recital at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
on 2 February 1921, where he was greatly admired by Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman was an English music critic and musicologist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His style of criticism, aiming at intellectual objectivity in contrast to the more subjective...
. From this point he made his home in Britain.
His career now burst upon the European scene. He made numerous orchestral appearances in Britain, in London at the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
and Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, with the Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and with the Scottish Orchestra. His many compositions for orchestra, violin and piano were still in MS in 1924, but his piano pieces were by then being published. He began to make regular visits to the principal cities of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and was in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the seasons of 1924-5 and 1925-6, when he toured major cities. His career eventually became worldwide.
In summer 1926 he devoted a whole week of recitals to playing over seventy of the principal works of Chopin, and repeated this in 1927 to much acclaim. In recordings he is heard around 1930 as an extremely articulate and intelligent accompanist to Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton was a well known British lyric tenor of the mid twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship.Titterton's career was mainly in the concert hall...
in Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
song repertoire. He was among the earliest pianists to broadcast from Savoy Hill in 1925, and in 1938 he became the first to be broadcast on television, from Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he gave concerts to factory workers, miners and dockers, and made extensive tours among the forces in the Middle East.
Pouishnoff made a substantial number of recordings, especially of Chopin and Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
. He had a very extensive technique, and a delicacy and sensitivity of nuance without effeminacy which won extremely high praise from some critics. He ended his own life, in London. His widow Dorothy, a former pupil, died only three weeks after he did.
Sources
- D. Brook, Masters of the Keyboard (Rockliff, London 1946)
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924)
- J. Methuen-Campbell, Chopin Playing from the Composer to the Present Day (Gollancz, London 1981)