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1. These days he is remembered almost entirely as a composer, but for much of his lifetime this Russian-born musician was at least as well known as a virtuoso pianist. He often appeared as soloist in his own five compositions for piano and orchestra, consisting of four concertos and a "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". What is his name?
2. The Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, elder brother of the philosopher Ludwig, had a successful career as a pianist despite what handicap, caused by an injury during the First World War?
3. The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-82) became almost as famous for his eccentric behaviour while playing as for his acknowledged musical brilliance. Which of the following behaviours marred many of his performances, both live and recorded?
4. This female English pianist, born in 1890, was a distinguished interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven, but is best remembered as instigator of a series of some 1,700 lunchtime concerts at London's National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, held during the Second World War when the majority of London's concert halls had closed during the evenings because of the blackout.
5. A few pianists have branched out into other activities, although these are usually music-related, such as conducting. But what non-musical position did the famous Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski hold between January and December 1919?
6. Born in 1948 in Japan, this pianist became a British citizen, and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2009. She is especially renowned for her performances of the Mozart piano concertos directed from the piano, but she also champions the piano works of twentieth century composers such as Berg and Schoenberg.
7. Some fine pianists work mainly as recital accompanists. The most famous of these is probably Gerald Moore (1899-1987), who accompanied many of the twentieth century's greatest singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Ángeles and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. What title did he give to his 1962 volume of memoirs?
8. This famous pianist, born in Kiev in 1903, left the Soviet Union in 1925 to live and work in the West. He did not return until 1986, three years before his death, when he gave an acclaimed solo recital in Moscow. What is his name?
9. The great British pianist John Ogdon died in 1989 at the age of 52, as a result of pneumonia related to undiagnosed diabetes. But what medical condition caused his temporary retirement from performance from 1973 until the early 1980s?
10. This Argentine-born Israeli pianist made his public debut in 1950 at the age of seven in Buenos Aires. He has performed as a pianist under most of the world's greatest conductors, and is now well known as a conductor himself. In the twenty-first century, he has become especially associated with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Source: Author
stedman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
ralzzz before going online.
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