More Performances from
Menahem Pressler
The soloist Menahem Pressler was born as Max Pressler in 1923 in the German city of Magdeburg. His family is Jewish. After the Nazis came to power he fled the Holocaust in 1939 with his parents, initially emigrating to Palestine and then to the US in 1940. The other members of his family were murdered by the Nazis. In the year 1946, the young Pressler won the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco, and remained in California thereafter to continue his studies. In 1955, he founded the world-famous “Beaux Arts Trio”. The ensemble went on to make more than 50 recordings. Many musicians played with the trio until it gave its final concert in 2008. Pressler has also been performing as a soloist throughout his life. Menahem Pressler once said: "I'm still hungry for music." And he remained that way on into old age. The piano virtuoso died in London in 2023 at the age of 99.
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Chopin's Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp Minor
Click here for the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=36SSRVbziGA
Debussy: Clair de lune
YouTube Notes: Drenched in the light of the moon: Claude Debussy’s “Clair de lune” is an ode to the night sky. It’s one of the French composer’s best-known pieces and it was given an emotional interpretation on 17 October 2012 at a concert in the Salle Pleyel in Paris by piano virtuoso Menahem Pressler (1923 - 2023), who was almost 90 years old at the time.
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27
I. Allegro (* no clapping) II. Larghetto (* no clapping) III. Rondo, Allegro (* Bravo clapping)
Music was his elixir of life: On October 17, 2012, just before his 90th birthday, pianist Menahem Pressler gave a concert in Paris' Salle Pleyel. With the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi, Pressler played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595. Nimble fingers even at grand old age – Menahem Pressler is proof that it's possible.
The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major (K. 595) is the last of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756 – 1791) piano concertos, of a total of 21. He wrote it in 1791, the year of his death. At its premiere in Vienna, Mozart played the solo part himself – it was to be his final public appearance at the piano.
Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi was musical director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2010 – 2016. Paavo Järvi was born in Tallinn, but emigrated to the US in 1980. For a long time he was musical director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and is still in partnership with the ensemble as its Conductor Laureate. He’s been music director and chief conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since 2019. The Orchestre de Paris is one of the largest and most-respected orchestras in the world. Founded in 1967, it has been led by several conducting greats, including Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim. In 2015, it relocated from the Salle Pleyel to the Philharmonie de Paris in the French capital’s 19th arrondissement.
The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major (K. 595) is the last of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756 – 1791) piano concertos, of a total of 21. He wrote it in 1791, the year of his death. At its premiere in Vienna, Mozart played the solo part himself – it was to be his final public appearance at the piano.
Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi was musical director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2010 – 2016. Paavo Järvi was born in Tallinn, but emigrated to the US in 1980. For a long time he was musical director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and is still in partnership with the ensemble as its Conductor Laureate. He’s been music director and chief conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since 2019. The Orchestre de Paris is one of the largest and most-respected orchestras in the world. Founded in 1967, it has been led by several conducting greats, including Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim. In 2015, it relocated from the Salle Pleyel to the Philharmonie de Paris in the French capital’s 19th arrondissement.