Death of Naxos superpianist
RIPThe prolific Hungarian pianist and teacher Jenő Jandó has died at the age of 71.
In the early years of the Naxos label he recorded more or less the complete Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Bartók and Chopin.
He was professor of piano at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.
Prolific and excellent. RIP
Wonderful musician. I had the honor of accompanying him several times (Tchai 1). A delightful man, the post concert rounds of beer and schnaps were an essential part of the ritual…
What a shame – he was so young, too. When I started collecting CDs 40 years ago his name was everywhere and I’d never heard of him, but on a chance I picked up two disks of him doing the Liszt piano concertos – and they’re terrific! So if I wanted something and he had recorded it there were no reservations. He was an excellent musician. But dang, 71…way too young. RIP. Now two of my favorite pianists of the obscure repertoire have left us: Joseph Banowetz and now Jando.
He opened the door to Liszt for me with a concert on the Island of Mainau back in the 90s.
Thank you.
R.I.P.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtm8fYO8tP8
In the past Naxos = Jenö Jandó
Rest in peace. With your albums you helped so many people to love classical music!
I’m so sorry to hear this news – and he left us way too soon, as others have pointed out. He enriched my youth immeasurably, and will not be forgotten: fortunately his fine recordings live on. As a cash-strapped music student, I was always glad to be able to afford a larger-than-usual number of Naxos discs, and I took full advantage of it. R.I.P.
I fondly recall a superb evening at the Liszt Academy’s concert hall, during the Budapest Spring Festival of 2000 or so. Jandó performed Bartók, interleaved with the folk group Muzsikás performing the folk songs and dances on which the Bartók pieces were based. And then, when Jandó performed the Allegro barbaro, Muzsikás rendered it as a wild folk dance; I don’t recall whether they played an authentic source or simply performed a folk-like arrangement. Whichever, the two performances simply raised the roof and brought the house down!
Béke hamvaira.
A fantastic pianist.
Now he can play for Heavens…
Suddenly was asked to play Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet…..
Picked up Jando’s recording as a reference………LOVELY…!
This is very sad news. I feel he was an under-rated musician.
He came to Romania when I was a student at the University of Bucharest (mid-’80s) and played at the Romanian Athenaeum. He was very young then (in his late 20s). So sad!
He was in his mid 30s (34 y.o.) in 1986…
He also recorded Mozart’s Complete Piano Concertos and Complete Piano Sonatas. You should have mentioned it…
A great pianist… RIP!
The world of music has lost one of the truly great pianists. He left us way to early and it makes me very sad. From now on, maestro Jando will live in his great recordings and will continue making impact on his listeners by enlightening people’s lives in the most beautiful way. I’m greatful forever!
Thank you maestro, and rest in piece.
Sad news RIP- my word he must have been a busy man- recording virtually the entire central piano repertoire for Naxos. A fine and sensitive pianist in the Hungarian tradition with a rock solid technique, virtually guaranteed for reliable- ‘urtext’ style renditions- which lacked the last spark of individuality or inspiration- but perhaps thats the ‘house style’ Naxos demanded. There’s as fine live performance by him of the Liszt Mephisto Waltz- played with real swagger & totally unconstrained by the recording studio- which shows him in a totally different light.
Fantastic Schubert/Liszt Wanderer Fantasy!
With all these lovely comments about such a remarkable pianist, let’s spare a moment for the man who all but discovered him and enabled him to make those many recordings. When Naxos started as a small budget label outfit in Hong Kong, its founder realized he could not compete with major labels in terms of talented artists. But he was well aware that away from those labels were some remarkable musicians who deserved to be heard on CD. That man was Klaus Heymann, a highly astute businessman and a great lover of music, who searched out soloists, conductors and orchestras to enable his Naxos label to offer high quality as well as low price. In this he has always been aided by his wife, the excellent violinist Takako Nishizaki, who came second to Itzhak Perlman in the Leventritt Competition. Now in his 80s he still runs the company from its unpretentious Hong Kong headquarters and has created a label with a wider variety of all forms of music than any other. Hopefully there will be other remarkable artists of whom we will soon be hearing.
I always marveled at this pianist’s phenomenal abilities. There is simply no way that you could learn all of this repertoire without having a technique and understanding that would permit you to produce recordable versions with comparatively little practice time. And thanks to Naxos for making the discs available for very reasonable prices.
RIP
I loved his Liszt ‘Annees de Pelerinage’
I have his Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn sonata series amongst other things. A great and intelligent musician and his interpretations always a joy to hear. He will be missed. It was his interpretations of the Schubert sonatas that brought them alive for me.
Catching up on SD news and so sad to read this news. I acquired many of his lovely Naxos recordings during the COVID lockdowns, and especially love his un-mannered, elegant renditions of Mozart, Haydn, and Bartok.
Most wonderful Schubert.
This article on late Mr. Jeno Jando contains errors. The complete works for solo piano and for piano and orchestra of Brahms and Chopin were recorded for Naxos by Idil Biret on 27 CDs, not by Mr. Jando. The author may want to take note. Thanks.
For me, he will remain as a wonderful performer of J. Haydn’s piano sonatas. I have been admiring his recordings (Naxos) for over 20 years.