Biography
Murray (Moshe) Perahia was born in the
Bronx borough of
New York City to a family of
Sephardi Jewish origin.
[1] According to the biography on his Mozart piano sonatas CD, his first language was
Ladino. The family came from
Thessaloniki. His father moved to the United States in 1935; many family members perished in the
Holocaust a few years later.
[2]
Perahia began studying the piano at age four with a teacher he says was "very limiting" because she made him play a single piece until it was perfect. He says his musical interests blossomed at age fifteen for reasons he can't explain, and he began to practice seriously.
At seventeen, Perahia attended
Mannes College, where he studied keyboard, conducting, and composition with his teacher and mentor
Mieczyslaw Horszowski. During the summer, he also attended
Marlboro, where he studied with musicians
Rudolf Serkin,
Alexander Schneider, and
Pablo Casals, among others. He played duets for piano four hands with Serkin, who later made Perahia his assistant at the
Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia, a position he held for over a year.
In 1965 Perahia won the
Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 1972, he was the first North American to win first prize at the
Leeds Piano Competition, helping to cement its reputation for advancing the careers of young pianistic talent.
[3] Dr. Fanny Waterman recalls anecdotally (in Wendy Thompson's book
Piano Competition: The Story of the Leeds
) that Horszowski had phoned her prior to the competition, announcing that he would be the winner. Other American contestants had apparently withdrawn their applications upon hearing that Perahia would be competing.
Perahia resides in
London.
Music career
In 1973 he worked with
Benjamin Britten and
Peter Pears at the
Aldeburgh Festival, and with fellow pianist
Radu Lupu. He was co-artistic director of the Festival from 1981 to 1989.
[4]
In the 1980s, Perahia was invited to work with
Vladimir Horowitz, an admirer of his art. Perahia says this had a defining influence on his pianism
Perahia's first major recording project was the complete
piano concertos by
Mozart, conducted from the keyboard with the
English Chamber Orchestra. In the 1980s, he also recorded all the
Beethoven piano concertos, with
Bernard Haitink and the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Hand injury
In 1990, Perahia suffered a cut to his right thumb, which became septic. He took antibiotics for this condition, but they affected his health.
[5] In 1992, his career was threatened by a bone abnormality in his hand causing inflammation requiring several years away from the keyboard, and a series of operations. During that time, he says, he found solace through studying the music of
Johann Sebastian Bach. After being given the all-clear, he produced in the late 1990s a series of award-winning recordings of Bach's keyboard works, most notably a cornerstone rendition of the
Goldberg Variations
.
Current activities
Perahia has since made recordings of
Chopin's
études, and of
Schubert's late
piano sonatas. He is currently editing a new
Urtext edition of
Beethoven's piano sonatas.
Besides his solo career, he is active in chamber music and appears regularly with the
Guarneri and
Budapest Quartets. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with which he records and performs.
[6]
In early 2005, Perahia's hand problem recurred, prompting him to withdraw from the concert stage on the advice of his doctors. He cancelled several appearances at London's
Barbican, as well as a ten-city national tour of the United States, but has returned in fine form with recitals in German cities in 2006 and at the Barbican in April 2007.
In the autumn of 2007 he completed a triumphant ten-city tour of the United States and conducted master classes in Salt Lake City. Owing to his hand problem, and on the advice of his doctor, Perahia cancelled a tour in the United States with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (March and April 2008).
[7] He returned to the platform in August 2008, touring with the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of
Bernard Haitink, and had an Asian recital tour in October and November.
Since his return at the 2008
Proms season, Perahia has been continually active on the concert scene. New recordings of Bach partitas and Beethoven sonatas were issued in 2008.
Jerusalem Music Center
In January 2009, Murray Perahia was appointed president of the
Jerusalem Music Center established by violinist
Isaac Stern.
[2] He believes in the importance of music education and regards classical music as the "incarnation of democracy." In an interview with
Haaretz newspaper he said: "Music represents an ideal world where all dissonances resolve, where all modulations - that are journeys - return home, and where surprise and stability coexist."
[2]
Awards
Seventh International Schumann Festival
- 2000 Robert Schumann Society Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
- 1989 Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance
- 2003 Chopin: Études, Op. 10, Op. 25
- 1999 Bach: English Suites no. 1, no. 3, no. 6
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London and in 2007 he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Jesus College, Cambridge.
On March 8, 2004,
Queen Elizabeth II made him an
honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire. This entitles him to use the
post-nominal letters KBE, but not to the title "Sir".
Discography
1970s
- Schumann: Davidsbündlertanze, Op. 6
; Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
(1973)
1980s
- Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy
; Schumann: Fantasy in C major (1986)
- Mozart, Beethoven: Quintets for piano and winds (1986)
- Mozart: Sonata (K. 448); Schubert: Piano Sonata for four hands (1986; with Radu Lupu)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 (1986)
- Brahms: Piano Quartet (1987)
- Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 17, 18 and 26 (1987)
- Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor
) (1987)
- A Portrait of Murray Perahia
(1987)
- Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (CD 1987, but recorded in 1974 and originally issued on LP) — with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 11, 12 and 14 (1987)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 and 24 (1987)
- Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1, Barcarolle, etc. (1987)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (1987)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 21 (1987)
- Schumann: Symphonic Études, posthumous études, Papillons; Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 (1988)
- Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze; Fantasiestücke (1988)
- Beethoven: The five piano concertos (1988) — with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
- Schumann: Piano Sonata, Op. 22; Schubert: Piano Sonata, D. 959 (1988)
- Bartók: Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion; Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1988)
- Schumann, Grieg: Piano concertos (1989)
1990s
- Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (1990)
- Murray Perahia in Performance
(1991)
- Murray Perahia Plays Franck and Liszt
(1991)
- Brahms: Sonata No. 3, Rhapsodies, etc. (1991)
- Mozart: Concertos for 2 and 3 pianos, Andante and Variations for piano four hands (1991) with Radu Lupu
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 and 27 (1991)
- The Aldeburgh Recital
(1991)
- Mozart: Piano Sonatas (K. 310, 333, and 533) (1992)
- Bach: Harpsichord Concertos (1993)
- Immortal Beloved Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(1994)
- Greatest Hits: Grieg
(1994)
- Chopin: Ballades, Waltzes, Mazurkas, etc. (1995)
- Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Op. 2, Nos. 1–3) (1995)
- Murray Perahia: 25th Anniversary Edition
(1997)
- Schumann: Kreisleriana
, Piano Sonata No. 1 (1997)
- Schumann: Complete works for piano and orchestra (1997) — with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
- Murray Perahia Plays Handel and Scarlatti
(1997)
- Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 and 6 (1998)
- Songs Without Words
: Bach/Busoni, Mendelssohn and Schubert–Liszt (1999)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 27 (1999)
- Glenn Gould at the Movies
(1999)
- Bach: English Suites Nos. 2, 4 and 5 (1999)
From 2000
- Bach: Goldberg Variations
(2000)
- Chopin: Études (2001)
- Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 4 (2001)
- Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7 (2002)
- Schubert: Late Piano Sonatas
(2003)
- Murray Perahia Plays Bach
(2003)
- Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 127; Piano Sonata, Op. 101 (2004) (The string quartet is transcribed for full string orchestra and conducted by Murray Perahia)
- Bach: Partitas Nos. 2, 3, 4 (2008)
- Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op. 14, Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 26, Op. 28(Pastorale) (2008)
Videography
- Murray Perahia in Performance (1992)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 and 27 in rehearsal and performance (1992)
- Schubert: Der Winterreise
(with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 (1988)
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 4 (1988)
- Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 (1988)
References
- Expanding the Love of Music
- Expanding the Love of Music
- "Previous Winners", ''Leeds International Piano Competition Official Website'', 2006. Accessed June 3, 2007.
- "Perahia, Murray", ''Grove Music Online'', 2007. Accessed June 3, 2007.
- 'I don't really have any technique'. ''Telegraph'', 27 February 2003.
- "Murray Perahia", ''The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Official Website'', 2006. Accessed June 3, 2007.
- Cancellations
- Expanding the Love of Music
- Expanding the Love of Music