Czech pianist, Ivan Moravec died on July 27 at the age of 84. He was one of the greats, although perhaps less well-known to some than he should have been. Born and trained in Prague, his international career was launched in 1964 when he appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra and George Szell.
His Chopin, Debussy, and Mozart playing was outstanding, and he performed Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms to acclaim as well. Maybe the range of Moravec's repertoire and recordings wasn't as large as some internationally renowned pianists, but the quality of his playing, the thoughtfulness of his interpretations, and the beauty of the sound, made him a pianist's pianist.
As he told the Gramophone interviewer in 2004, " Life is so short and I have concentrated on what I feel I do best."
I became aware of Ivan Moravec early in my personal discovery of classical music by finding his old Vox recording of music of Claude Debussy. It was my introduction to the piano music of this great French composer, and the passage of time has only confirmed what an extremely fine recording it is.
On Wednesday afternoon's program on Classical 101, I'll have a sampling of Ivan Moravec playing Debussy. Although he made more fine recordings for several labels, one of his best is the 1965 recording of the Chopin Nocturnes that was reissued in 1991 by Nonesuch. Here's a sample from that release: