# RIP Alexis Weissenberg



## Guest (Jan 8, 2012)

Sad news--this great pianist has passed away.
http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/01/sad-news-great-pianist-dies.html


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)




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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

One of a kind, rest in peace.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Another marker taken up. AW's recordings will remain in _my_ life.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Amazing pianist, may he RIP.

Accounts like this one of Stravinsky's Petrushka have this electricity and energy which is hard to match...


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## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

Oh man! I was just listening to him this morning!


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I'm a big fan of his Kinderszenen especially. If I recall correctly, he had a tough early life. He certainly made up for it.


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2012)

Sid James said:


> Amazing pianist, may he RIP.
> 
> Accounts like this one of Stravinsky's Petrushka have this electricity and energy which is hard to match...


Agreed. His Rachmaninov Sonatas on DG are unmatched in my experience, too. I'm so sorry that I never got to see him in concert.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

Another of the greats is gone. He will live forever in our memories as we have the joy of his recordings.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

The recent obituary in the LA times -

Alexis Weissenberg dies at 82, French pianist's music saves him from death camps


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Sid James said:


> The recent obituary in the LA times -
> 
> Alexis Weissenberg dies at 82, French pianist's music saves him from death camps


Thanks for the link, _Sid_; more there than I knew.

I enjoy a lot of AW's recordings, notably his Bach; but the most appreciated thing his playing did for me was the revelation of a different 'attitude' in interpreting Chopin. He showed me a stronger, darker music, particularly in the Nocturnes.

:tiphat:


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

His recording of complete Rachmaninoff's preludes is my all time favorite


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Another thing not mentioned is Mr. Weissenberg's abilities as a composer and arranger.

During the mid 20th century, he anonymously arranged some songs of French songwriter Charles Trenet. Some of them are on youtube played by Marc-Andre Hamelin, HERE is one. I think they are great, very accomplished, etc. The reason they were done anonymously is that the classical music establishment at the time would have none of a "serious" classical pianist arranging popular songs. Now it's totally different of course. There was no score that survived, so Hamelin had to write them down after listening to Weissenberg's original recordings of them.

Then there's an interesting_ Sonata in a state of Jazz _that Weissenberg wrote in the 1980's. Quite a Gershwin-y vibe in that, but more modern. It's also on youtube, its various movements paying tribute to the tango, the charleston, the blues and the samba. The genres that shaped jazz in the 20th century.

These works, and others by the likes of Nikolai Kapustin, are on THIS album by Mr. Hamelin...


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2012)

Stephen Hough has a nice tribute: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100059504/white-heat-rip-weissenberg/


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2012)

At least he had a long life to 82. My son's closest friend died last night of brain cancer and he was merely 27, leaving a wife and grieving family. We are all deeply shocked and, strangely, I do not want to listen to any music. I'm too raw and I crave only silence.


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