The world mourns Menahem Pressler
RIPTributes are pouring in. Here is a select handful:
Today the world gained a King.
But today we also lost one.
Farewell Menahem, and thank you. For everything.May his memory be a blessing.
Menahem Pressler, 1923-2023 pic.twitter.com/t7mLFrIQsh— Daniel Hope (@HopeViolin) May 6, 2023
Boulanger Trio (pictured): Remembering a wonderful artist who inspired us so much on our journey of finding our unique sound as an ensemble. Menahem Pressler gave us the most remarkable and touching advices whenever we worked with him.
In a lesson with Dvorak’s f minor Trio he told us about a certain bar in the 3rd movement:
“Look, this note is a stranger. And that is why you have to play it most gentle and lovingly and take extra care about it. Because that is what you do to strangers.
Wir trauern um die Klavier-Legende Menahem Pressler. Unvergessen ist uns der gemeinsame Auftritt beim Silvesterkonzert 2014.
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We mourn the passing of legendary pianist Menahem Pressler. We will never forget his performance with us at the New Year’s Eve concert in 2014. pic.twitter.com/yJt4lutckc— Berliner Philharmoniker (@BerlinPhil) May 7, 2023
Ido Zeev: esterday, we lost a great man.
I had the great honor of working with Menahem Pressler in Oxford in 2019.
It was one of these very rare moments in this life journey in which one knows s/he is going to be a different person very soon, but does not know in which way.
I started playing the first notes of L’isle Joyeuse by Debussy, and immediately felt how the room, the music and me, are influenced and inspired by the presence of the great man. I shall never forget how, as we started working, Mr. Pressler’s eyes lit up by his incredible inner fire and passion for this celestial music.
A loud silence fell upon the audience as he moved from the piece to his touching story of his journey from Germany to Israel, about him trying to find his own voice in music. He was in his teenage years back in 1939, so was I in 2019, but with some ~80 years difference. Nothing external mattered for me anymore, not the audience, not my stream of thoughts – it was about life, when suddenly music got its place in the universe. I have never experienced the present moment like I had during that short period of time.
At the end of this life lesson, Maesteo Papadopoulos, director of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra told me with: “Ido, you will never forget this experience”.
I wish you, Mr. Pressler, wherever you are now, to be surrounded by the most glorious Muses, by great music and warmth.
My sincerest condolences to his family, Lady Annabelle Weidenfeld, his students and music lovers around the world.
Sad to learn of the death of Menahem Pressler – such an expressive musician, whose every phrase spoke so vividly. So many wonderful performances, both with and without the trio. And what a character! Bubbling with energy and joie de vivre, musical and personal, well into his 90s. pic.twitter.com/Xsmr6ghQr2
— Steven Isserlis (@StevenIsserlis) May 7, 2023
Christiaan Kuyvenhoven: “To really learn, to really study, is a painful process. Because you are made aware of what you don’t know. And you run up against material which forces the most out of you. You are not sure: will I measure up, or not? So you try again, and again.”
Thank you, dear Menahem Pressler, for being a source of great wisdom, kindness, and generosity. You’ve enriched the world with your beautiful musicianship for almost a century! I’ll give it a try, but am pretty sure I can’t measure up to that. Rest in peace.
The Vienna Philharmonic is saddened to learn about the passing of Menahem Pressler.
We remember his visit in December 2019 with gratitude, when we, jointly with him and with Lady Weidenfeld, delved into letters by Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler from the Historical Archives.
Roberta Cooper: I’m so sad to hear that the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler has passed away at 99 years old. He lived a full, extraordinary life and deeply touched many as a musician, teacher, and as a dear friend.
He was a very fine pianist & lived to a grand old age. Fantastic recordings with the Beaux Arts & as a soloist in his younger years (a very lovely Chopin 2) then his Indian summer. I knew a few of his pupils at Indiana University however- who said he could be a rather sadistic & unhelpful teacher- I don’t think Louis Lortie got on great with him for one.
I know IU grads who loved the man. Don’t think I will witness another musician with such longevity…
Hate to speak ill of the dead, but was famously sadistic and ill-tempered. Those many students and colleagues who suffered his problematic personality would corroborate.
I agree 100%. He was a tyrant and incredibly abusive in lessons and master classes. In one instance I saw him literally scream at a student BEFORE she even started to play, and then followed up with comments such as “Why do you make such a disgusting sound?” (even when, objectively, the student was playing quite well). If you were a female, you also had to interview with his wife in order to be admitted to his studio – no idea why IU allowed that for so long, but interpret that however you want. Good riddance.
RIP
What a Life, dearest Menahem Pressler has completed his Earth journey. Equally loved as a musician and a human, he was incomparable in his warmth, openness, accessibility, generosity and energy. Always surrounded by young people thriving in his company, learning our lessons in simplicity and kindness beyond invaluable music guidance. Every meeting was overwhelming, full of beautiful thoughts and wisdom. There was something mystical about him that connected you to something divine and true.
Two questions always popped in Mr Pressler’s presence:
Am I kind enough?! I’m not, not a fraction. He has always shown how easy (“easy”) and essential extra kindness is, that it’s a lifeline to other starving eyes, hearts… and often, stomachs!
And the second question: I feel I’m in a presence of something divine- (not the man himself, he’d never position himself above a leaf of grass)- some divine acceptance of one’s moment of crumbling desire to understand, of witnessing.. worshiping this great music full of purity, kneeling in front of it, but also feeling there is this grain of substance in ourselves (we never tapped into), something what makes us long for it further, lean forward, reach out, and humbly take over that offering- yet again, an impossible task, agonising to aspire to, a responsibility
“In a lesson with Dvorak’s f minor Trio he told us about a certain bar in the 3rd movement:
“Look, this note is a stranger. And that is why you have to play it most gentle and lovingly and take extra care about it. Because that is what you do to strangers.”
This is such a touching statement. It shows the depth which a great musician has, spiritually, that a great teacher can impart and pass on to his or her students. It isn’t just the correct notes, but thoughtful notes which makes music touch our souls.
http://www.bruceduffie.com/pressler.html
Nice transcribed interview to read with Bruce Duffie from former WNIB presenter.
I did a phone interview with Mr. Pressler that was, in all my years as a music journalist, the most perfect I’d ever experienced. He must have enjoyed it too, because when he appeared that summer at the music festival in Vail, Colorado, he asked the organizers if he could meet me backstage after the concert. I was in awe when we met. He was so gracious and kind. I always loved to watch him with his colleagues in the Beaux Arts. He spent more time gazing at them, barely observing his hands at the piano — as if someone else was in charge of those fingers. His touch on the keys, his phrasing. Impeccable. A consummate chamber musician. And a truly lovely human being.
He was an incredible pianist, an engaging teacher, and a gentle soul. I was lucky enough to both play for him as a student, then later in my career, work as his booking agent. In a world where hyperboles are carelessly thrown around.. he was a true genius and legend in his own time.
One of the most touching testimonies in recent hours is that of his student Maxim Bernard which was posted on FB. It captures the essence of what made Menahem such an inspiration.
Ilya Friedberg, his assistant for many year’s was also a pillar in Menahem’s life.
But nothing could have been possible without Annabelle who was his joy and provide unparalleled support. She made his music making possible during the extraordinary indian summer he enjoyed after the Beaux-Arts trio stopped playing. We are greatly indebted to her as we mourn a friend who impacted our lives like very few.
Dear Pierre-Martin Thank you for those very touching words which are no small consolation as I struggle with the impossibility of a meaningful life without that magical human-being and musician by my side. You have, however, neglected to mention a key friend and supporter of Menahem during that amazing Indian summer of his. It was you who facilitated and directed his last recording of French music for Deutsche Grammophon when he was 94! It was you who filmed his 90th Birthday concert at Salle Pleyel in Paris and the previous recital also in Paris, with Beethoven Chopin Debussy and Schubert when he was 88 and who joined us with close friends for his 99th birthday last December. He loved you and was immensely grateful for all of that and so much more.
Oh Annabelle, I’m so very sorry for your loss. From my eyes your devotedness to Mr. Pressler was that of a loving angel to him. I never saw a bigger and more genuine smile on him than when he told me from the car window at Adamant how he had dedicated the Debussy to “my Annabelle”. You clearly were the light of inspiration to so much that he did. After playing so ravishingly the Mozart Concerto at Tanglewood, the very first thing he said to my wife and I backstage afterward was “ohh have you met my Annabelle?” If you might recall, I’m the guy at Adamant the summer before Covid who was showing Mr. Pressler all the old pianist recordings at dinner. I’m still so very grateful for that little extra ounce of time with him. You were so kind in allowing our conversation to carry on the way it did amidst the little unwiped whipped cream still on his lips from dessert, and it really has always meant the world to me that you let that golden moment exist. I’m sure sharing his time with so many of us took the patience and elegant poise of a Saint at each event. Having him reach back describing the time he actually met Paderewski (born in 1860!) was a magical bridge to anyone at our table that night. I remember him gazing distantly while saying “vunce.. he vuz a verry gentle man you know..”
Yesterday I was actually showing a young student of mine the recording of his Claire de Lune on my iphone as an example of playing freely since has been currently working on it and boom it hit me. Here was a part of Mr. Pressler still teaching, creating for another generation the recipe for meaningful inspiration. Only this time he has become the divine notes themselves. A joy and tear conjoined, so perfect and temporary. Many prayers to you at this time.
Most amiably,
Joe Infurchia
My late mother who came from Iran to Israel was a student of Leo Kestenberg for 4 years and she told me many times about Kestenberg what a musical personality he was and what a pedagogue and Kestenberg is the man who formed and influenced Menahem Presler
May he rest in peace
I wish I could say I had some profound relationship to Mr. Pressler. All I can say is that greatness smiled on me when I would meet him sometimes in the school or on the way there and a joyous quiet “good morning” would issue forth when I would greet him.
I had the pleasure of turning pages for him at a Beaux Arts Trio concert in the late 70s. Although he must have done so with goodness-knows-how-many page turners before, he couldn’t have been nicer when he patiently went through the scores with me beforehand, alerting me to repeats, etc. During the concert, he looked at me a few times with a smile which as much as said, “Isn’t this music wonderful?” A charming gentleman, and a first-class musician.
I did not know Mr. Pressler very well- I didn’t go to IU and although we’d met many times I wasn’t at all a part of his orbit. Of course every time I heard him I was blown away.
In my third or fourth season as CM of the Milwaukee Symphony, I got a call to step in for a performance with Mr. Pressler and the Fine Arts Quartet (Brahms piano quintet maybe the next day). Of course I accepted and we met for maybe 30 min just before the concert (I do not recall why they had a missing violinist)
I specifically remember a few things- first that the concert was way better than it probably should’ve been given our lack of rehearsal. Second, that the quartet and Mr. Pressler were extremely supportive and gracious to me the entire time- of course I was slightly intimidated jumping in, etc. We all seemed to hit it off in a strange way.
Mr Pressler could not have been nicer and of course gave a truly committed and heartfelt performance. I’m sure I was a stranger to him (although we met many times in the ensuing years). For me he always set an example of what a great artist and human could be. And his almost childlike enthusiasm always amazed me. I love hearing him and working with him, a true inspiration.