NAUM SHTARKMAN
Soviet-Russian pianist (1927 - 2006)

Naum Shtarkman studied at the Moscow Conservatory where he was a disciple of Konstantin Igumnov until that great pianist's death in 1948. He continued his study on an informal basis with Sviatoslav Richter.  He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1949 and achieved success in several important competitions, gaining a first place at the Vianna da Motta competition, a fifth place at the fifth Chopin competition, and a third at the first Tchaikovsky competition.

But shortly thereafter Naum Shtarkman ran afoul of the law and was arrested and convicted for homosexuality, spending a number of years in prison.  For over twenty years after his release, he was allowed to perform only in remote parts of the USSR or in second or third rate venues in major cities.  He was not allowed to travel outside the USSR and was unable to obtain official teaching positions.  It was not until 1987, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, that he was named a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and allowed to resume a serious concert career.

There is a truly lovely performance of the Rachmaninoff second concerto from the time of the Vianna da Motta competition, warm and beautifully crafted, and the slow movement from the Chopin first concerto brings tears to my eyes due to the beauty of Naum Shtarkman's innately pure musicianship.

The complete recordings of both Chopin concerti dating from 2002 when the pianist was 75 years old are also exquisite performances combining the youthfulness of the music with a maturity of musicianship rarely attained by those who play these concerti.

Naum Shtarkman treats us to several entirely unfamiliar (to me) Tchaikovsky waltzes, an equally obscure piece of fluff by Mozart, and a number of the Schubert-Liszt transcriptions, wonderfully played.

In short, the playing of this pianist has been nothing short of a revelation to me. Even, or perhaps I should say especially, the so often performed encore pieces by Rachmaninoff and Grieg have lost their familiarity and shown themselves to me as if for the first time.

Mozart  Rondo in D major, K 485