NADIA REISENBERG (1904-1983)
Lithuanian born American pianist

Nadia Reisenberg studied piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Leonid Nikolaiev.  Alexander Glazunov, who was at the time director of the conservatory, took a particular interest in her.  After the Russian revolution, she and her family left, and in 1922 emigrated to the United States.  Rachmaninoff and Josef Hofmann are said to have taken note of her talent.  She became Hofmann's pupil, eventually becoming his teaching assistant at the Curtis Institute.

I can't say I am overly enamored of Nadia Reisenberg's Chopin which I find a tad heavy handed and her Ravel is disappointing, though I must confess her playing of Haydn sonatas brings the music to life for me in a special way, and the Scriabin and Rachmaninoff preludes are quite wonderful.  And It is always interesting to hear the playing of those who have taught, and formed, so many of the musicians we know well, pianists of the renown of Richard Goode and conductors like Andrew Litton.

There is also a piano roll two piano version of the Litolff Scherzo which sparkles and dazzles appropriately, and in which one can hear what Rachmaninoff and Hofmann might have heard that impressed them so.  And the Mozart four-hand sonata and the two viola sonatas (Clarinet sonatas adapted by Brahms) are included to demonstrate her excellence as a chamber musician, something Nadia Reisenberg particularly enjoyed.

Haydn  Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:6 (L 13)

ii Adagio