– Gyorgy Sandor in Recital – WNCN-FM, New York – November 9, 1983 –
More history this week. The celebrated Hungarian Pianist Gyorgy Sandor in recital at New York station WNCN-FM and was broadcast on November 9 , 1983.
Unlike most recitals, this one is very relaxed, with Sandor and the announcer talking back and forth between pieces. And because it takes place in WNCN’s radio studio, there’s an invited audience.
Gyorgy Sandor was one of the most celebrated pianists of the mid-century. Friends with fellow Hungarian Bela Bartok, he offered what were termed definitive performances of many of Bartok’s piano works.
Gyorgy Sándor was born in Budapest. He studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest under Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and debuted as a performer in 1930. He toured as a concert pianist through the 1930s, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1939. He became an American citizen and served in the Army Signal Corps and the Intelligence and Special Services from 1942 to 1944.
Following World War II, he returned to the concert stage. His technique was described as “Lisztian” and his repertoire universal, although later in his career his playing of Bartók was much in demand. Initially he recorded numerous piano works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Schumann and others for Columbia Masterworks. Then with Vox, he recorded the complete works for solo piano of Zoltán Kodály and of Sergei Prokofiev; and the complete piano works of Béla Bartók; for the latter he won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy in 1965.
In this recital he runs a wide range of pieces, from a Bach-Busoni arrangement to Chopin. The conversation goes on between the pieces so everything is identified in the course of the program.
So not only is it a historic recital, it’s also a rare interview.
The perfect Anti-Road Rage Wednesday concert.
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