Good news: Murray Perahia makes welcome return
NewsAfter a six-year absence from the concert stage with persistent hand problems, the legendary pianist is making an altogether unheralded appearance at Wigmore Hall late this month.
Here’s the discreet announcement:
Murray Perahia will continue his long-standing relationship with the orchestra as he joins ASMF Chamber Ensemble at Wigmore Hall on Tuesday 16 April. In what will be his first performance in six years, Murray will perform Schumann’s Piano Quintet, as part of ASMF Chamber Ensemble’s celebration of its artistic collaborators, in a programme that will also feature Sally Beamish’s Partita for String Octet, a work specially commissioned by ASMF in 2019 during Beamish’s time as ASMF Composer-in-Residence, and the Mendelssohn Octet in E-Flat Major led by Music Director Joshua Bell. The concert forms part of the Marriner 100 series, celebrating the centenary of its founder, Sir Neville Marriner.
On his return to perform with ASMF, Murray Perahia says: “It is an honour to be returning to the stage in what will be an incredibly special celebration for my dear friend, Sir Neville Marriner. I am delighted to be performing once more with the Academy musicians with whom I feel a very special connection – and to be returning to the Wigmore Hall.”
Good news indeed
Thanks
Thats wonderful news!
Great news!
I hope that if his problems keep him from performing full time he tries some more conducting: he is so deeply musical I’m sure it will work out and will let him keep contributing to my happiness.
Well said. He’s been contributing to my happiness for over forty years. Wonderful guy.
Brilliant news – he really has suffered over the past 20 years or so
Perahia is one of the few pianists today that I can identify blind-folded, mainly due to his legato phrasing and singing style particularly in Mozart and Beethoven.
… and don’t forget his Mendelssohn.
Schumann’s piano quintet is a considerable test for the fingers (Mendelssohn in fact played the premiere). I hope it goes wonderfully and signals a greater return to the platform for this artist.
This news fills my heart with joy, and I hope it leads to further touring for him. But if it is simply a one-off I will cherish the memory of his concerts. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear him live 18 times since 1985 and count some of his performances among the most memorable I’ve ever attended – Goldberg Variations, Brahms Handel Variations, Beethoven Op. 106, Op 111, and Concerto #4 among them.
And to have this article appear just below one announcing the return of Herbert Blomstedt – a double dose of good news. Live long and prosper to them both!
You’ve really heard him perform Op. 111? When was that? I dream of hearing this sonata performed by him, but he didn’t record it, and it seemed to me that he didn’t play it in concerts either. He said he was afraid to approach it.
His Bach is a miracle. No other performer comes close (in my opinion) in terms of making Bach come alive. Perahia has such a profound spiritual connection to the music that I simply don’t hear in other performers, not even the great harpsichordists. (Take the menuett of the partita in B-flat, for instance.)
Does anyone else agree he is the greatest living pianist?
Murray Perahia has few equals and no superiors among living pianists. No 1? This is to a 100m race.
Typo: This is not a 100m race.
Argerich, Pires, Zimerman, Levit, Pletnev…
Yes- quite Petros. Perahia is a truly great pianist & artist first and foremost. A comeback to the stage will be most welcome & refreshing in view of the over marketed/hyped mediocrities currently in circulation.
I don’t quite agree that he is the “only” pianist to make Bach come alive: there are many others, foremost among them Samuil Feinberg, Tatyana Nikolayeva and Rosalyn Turreck, who have left us superlative Bach. But Perahia’s Bach is up there, unlike the middling efforts of that most overrated of pianists, Andras Schiff. As I wrote elsewhere, I “pray” that MP records the WTC before it’s too late, along with the late Beethoven sonatas (and Diabellis!). As for him being the greatest living pianist, probably. Certainly far greater than another hugely overrated pianist who is often spoken of so highly, namely, Argerich. That said, depending on what he does over the years, I’d be tempted to bestow that honor on Anderszewski, whose Bach is at least the equal of Perahia’s.
I totally agree with that. Ever since I first heard it, it has been an absolute benchmark for me. Everyone else I’ve heard before just pales in comparison. It’s impossible to play better than him. He’s music itself.
I fervently hope he manages two recording projects before he retires completely or is otherwise eternally silenced: the Bach WTC and Beethoven’s late piano sonatas. It’s an injustice and some kind of cosmic joke that the mediocre Schiff has managed to do both – the former twice – while the vastly superior Perahia has not. I recall an article on here about Lupu from a former Decca producer describing Schiff as a narcissist of limited talent while contrasting him with Perahia, whom Lupu regarded as his only equal among that generation of pianists. I remember reading that and thinking it was exactly correct, as I’d always felt that myself. At any rate, wishing MP continued good health and a long life, for all of our sakes.
I heard the Lupu comment about Schiff (and worse) from a former long time Decca exec. RL was not wrong, and it is to be thanked that RL and MP recorded together. I wonder if MP will ever perform Enescu in public; he was reportedly learning some a few years back.
It is quite possible to exalt in the achievements of Murray Perahia without denigrating András Schiff whose contribution to the musical world is beyond calculation. Sure he divides opinion but such meanness of spirit is to be regretted
Gabriel, you are entering dangerous territory. The post is to celebrate the return of Murray Perahia to the concert stage not to lament Sir András Schiff’s presence on it. Sure, he has had his detractors and attracts critical comment (mea culpa) but I would defy anyone to attempt 1/10th…nay 1/100th of what he has done and not be lost for words. In an age of musical dumbing down and trivialisation his seriousness of purpose (like it or not) is to be applauded. To the point – let’s rejoice at Perahia’s return and wish him many happy and creative years on the concert platform.
That’s so exciting to hear. I’ve only seen him live, once at Lincoln Center, but I have so many recordings of his. As a kid growing up in South Africa , he was my spiritual mentor through those recordings as I learned piano, wishing to sound like him. I’m a nobody, but I always imagined and pretended to be him playing a full house, with multiple standing ovations….ahh, dreams of a kid.
Perahia in the Schumann AND the Mendelssohn Octet?! If my passport wasn’t expired, I’d hijack a plane for this.
I wish he would come to New York!
The concert was great, Murray played the Schumann brilliantly. Standing ovation.