# Sir Clifford Curzon on YouTube



## itywltmt

*This is the twelth of Pierre's Twelve Days of Blogging :trp:*








Finally, we come to the end of this blogging marathon - 12 blogs in 12 days. What was I _thinking _of when I decided to do this?

Our final blog of thsi 12-day series is our last of three "on YouTube" tributes to great pianists of the past. My choice: *Sir Clifford Curzon (1907-1982)*.

Curson, shall we say, flies under the radar when it comes to most people's lists of famous pianists, and that's a shame.

Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he won the prestigious Macfarren Gold Medal in 1924, at the age of 17, Curzon was the youngest pupil ever to have been accepted into the senior school, and completed his studies in 1926. Between 1928 and 1930 he took further instruction from Artur Schnabel in Berlin. He then studied under Wanda Landowska and Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Curzon was particularly well known for his interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. Even though he left a considerable recording legacy, his distaste for recordings was well known, and he very often prohibited the release to the public of records which he felt were not up to his best standard.

Here are three of my favourite Curzon interpretations, found on YouTube. To begin, *Mozart's Piano Concerto No.24 in C Minor, K.491* in a great recording with Istvan Kertesz and the London Symphony:






[Complete Performance]

From Schubert, the great *Piano Sonata B-flat major, D. 960*






[Complete Performance]

Finally, here is a performance of Schumann's *Kinderszenen op.15 *






[Complete Performance]

Another performance you can find on my YouTube Channel (featured not too long ago), is Curzon's version of the great Liszt Piano Sonata in B Minor.

Enjoy!

*January 6, 2012, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will be adding a new montage "Grieg & Schumann" to its Pod-O-Matic Podcast. Read our English and French commentary January 6th on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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