Tag Archives: etude

Stephen Heller: Etude in E Major, Op. 45, No. 9 (Gerald Moore, Piano)

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Stephen Heller (1814-1888)

Stephen Heller was a Hungarian pianist and composer. He showed musical talent at an early age. When he was 10 years old his father took him to Vienna, Austria where he studied piano with the noted pianist Anton Halm. He toured Germany and lived there from 1830-1838. Composer Robert Schumann heard about him and wrote about him in his music journal (Schumann was a music critic for a time). Heller then went to Paris, France which was a major hot spot for artists, writers, and musicians. He met Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, and other important figures of the time and in a short period of time built up a reputation as a pianist and piano teacher. Stephen Heller wrote mostly for the piano. He had a gift for writing beautiful melodies. In many pieces there is a grace and sunny character.

Gerald Moore (1899-1987)

Gerald Moore was a famous British piano accompanist. He accompanied many of the great singers and instrumentalists of the 20th Century including: Victoria de Los Angeles, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, Yehudi Menuhin, Josef Hassid, Jacqueline Du-Pre, and others. Here is a rare recording of Gerald Moore playing Stephen Heller’s Etude in E Major, Op. 45, No. 9. It was recorded in 1949. Gerald Moore is his best recordings played with a singing tone, fluidity, and natural timing. I hope that you enjoy this simple but nice little piano piece.

Horszowski – Chopin nocturne in Eb major & Etude in F minor

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Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892-1993)

Mieczyslaw Horszowski was a Polish-American pianist.  He had one of the longest performing and teaching careers in history.  As a pianist, Horszowski was known for producing an unforced, beautiful singing tone, and for his skill in balancing the intellectual and emotional qualities of the music he was playing.

His repertoire was very diverse and extensive.  It included composers as diverse as Honegger, d’Indy, Martinu, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Villa-Lobos, and of course Chopin.

Mieczyslaw Horszowski was also a very respected teacher.  Anton Kuerti was one of Horszowski’s students.  Horszowski taught piano until a week before he died at the age of 100.

When Horszowski was 97 years old he gave a solo piano recital at Carnegie Hall.  Here is a clip of him playing a Chopin Nocturne and Etude from that Carnegie Hall recital.  Enjoy!