EDITH FARNADI
Hungarian pianist (1921 - 1973)

As a child, Edith Farnadi studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music under Arnold Székely and Bela Bartók.  Louis Kentner had been one of his pupils.  By the age of twelve, she performed the 1st piano concerto of Beethoven, conducting from the piano.  Twice, she was awarded the Franz Liszt Prize.

She was also an avid chamber musician often playing with the great Hungarian violinist Jenö Hubay as well as the renowned Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, and with Gerhard Taschner and André Gertler with whom she made several recordings.  She also recorded with the Barylli Quartet.

During her illustrious career, Farnadi performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Vienna State Opera and London Philharmonic Orchestras, with such conductors as Karl Böhm, Ernest Ansermet, Adrian Boult and Hermann Scherchen.

Edith Farnadi was a superb interpreter of the piano works of Liszt, perhaps the finest in the last 100 years.  I dare you to listen to the opening measure of the B minor sonata and find the will to stop before the end. The drama, the lyricism, the pacing, and her tone are as good as it gets.  In her playing of the many works by Liszt on this page it is apparent that she makes beautiful music of passages that are so often accused of being little more that filler at the hands of lesser pianists.  Her approach to even the most electrifying of passages is never without charm and subtlety.  The question is again begged, what must have it sounded like with Liszt himself playing?

In the early 1950s, she made a definitive recording of all 19 of the Hungarian Rhapsodies.  Nowhere are to be heard the almost clownish antics of pianists from Paderewski to Bugs Bunny to Lang Lang.  She takes a serious approach to the music to great effect.

In addition to solo works by Liszt, we hear her play chamber music by Beethoven, Grieg, Dvořák, Ravel and Bartok, and concerti by Liszt and Tchaikovsky.  How wonderful her Beethoven must have been.

Edith Farnadi's records played a prominent role in my teenage years of discovery.  I am ashamed to admit that I had no idea what a great pianist she was until so many years later.

Schubert-Liszt  Valse Caprice 1 "Soirée de Vienne"

recorded in 1956