March 2, 2026
Athens, GR 14 C
Expand search form
Blog

Death of two eminent French pianists

Death of two eminent French pianists

We have been informed of the passing of two important players.

Bernard Ringeissen, who died on April 4 at the age of 90, was an early champion on record of the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan, a composer whose textual difficulties defeated most mortal pianists.

Jean Fonda, who was 88, was the son of Pierre Fournier, with whom he recorded classical duets. Jean was, for me, an invaluable source of information about the Karajan clique and his father’s role within it. In 1985 he received a truly hateful review of a Beethoven-Schummann recital at the 92nd Y from Bernard Holland in the New York Times.

(Better, maybe, than no review, which is what most pianists in NY recieve today.)

The post Death of two eminent French pianists appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

Maestro move: Korea picks an Abbado

Next Article

Ruth Leon recommends… Bessie Smith – St. Louis Blues 1929

You might be interested in …

Keep it quiet in atonal music

Keep it quiet in atonal music

From the Lebrecht Album  of the Week: Music of the Second Vienna School was condemned as noise on first reception. How deaf is that? The greatest asset of these revolutionary works is their quietude. The […]

Orchestra halves conductor’s age

Orchestra halves conductor’s age

The Brandenburg Staatsorchester in Frankfurt an der Oder has a new chief conductor, starting next year. He is Felix Mildenberger, 35, principal guest conductor of the Filarmonica Teatro Regio di Torino and a former Simon […]