Yakov Flier

The trustworthiness of pianist Yakov Flier (also transliterated as Fliyer) faded after his death in 1977, but recent desire for his recordings and career has somewhat revived his name. Actually, he was among the leading Soviet pianists of his day time and might have experienced far greater achievement internationally had Chilly War politics not really encumbered his profession. Gilels, after that Richter, and lastly Lazar Berman had been granted authorization by Soviet social czars to concertize overseas, and so as well was Flier. But, unlike that star-studded trio, Flier didn’t live lengthy after he 1st made an appearance in the Western. Having said that, he also performed a significant part in restricting his performing profession by devoting a lot of his energies to teaching, and by abandoning single concerts for a complete decade (1949-1959). It isn’t surprising after that that he produced fewer concert trips than many lesser-known pianists and created relatively few recordings. Still, in the 1960s and ’70s Flier were able to create a conspicuous pursuing in Western European countries and america, not forgetting the Soviet Union. His repertory was abundant with Romantics, favoring Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, and Rachmaninov, though it do consist of contemporaries like Kabalevsky. Flier’s recordings had been designed for the Soviet label Melodiya, but many of them have already been reissued today on Excellent Classics, World, and Russian COMPACT DISK. Yakov Flier was created on Oct 21, 1912, in the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo (east of Moscow), Russia. He researched piano on the Moscow Conservatory beneath the renowned pedagogue Konstantin Igumnov. Flier graduated in 1934 among the USSR’s most guaranteeing keyboard leads. He resided up compared to that wish: in 1936 he earned first prize on the renowned Vienna International Piano Competition, before Emil Gilels. The next year he became a member of the faculty on the Moscow Conservatory and would ultimately become a teacher (1945) and seat from the piano section (1965). Over time his learners included composer Rodion Shchedrin, Viktoria Postnikova, and Mikhail Pletnev. In 1938 Flier completed third in the Eugene Ysaÿe Competition in Brussels, a meeting earned, ironically, by Gilels. After fading relatively through the postwar years due to his exclusive concentrate on chamber concerts, he started building a global popularity in the 1960s: his debut in the U.K. is at 1962 and even though he drew high compliment internationally, he was generally eclipsed overseas by Richter and Gilels during his last decade-and-a-half.