70904 for PDF 11/05 - Ivory Classics

Shura Cherkassky (1911-1995)
Born in Odessa on October 17, 1911, Shura Cherkassky was among the last of the post-
Romantic tradition of master pianists. During his youth, he immigrated to Baltimore, and
studied in Philadelphia with the renowned Josef Hofmann, a pupil of Anton Rubinstein. His
debut concert tour in 1923 included appearances with Walter Damrosch and the New York
Symphony and a command performance at The White House for President Warren G.
Harding.
Shura Cherkassky’s enormous popularity in Germany and Austria sprang from his first
major European tour in 1946, when a concert in Hamburg established him as one of the leading
pianists of the day. All over Europe Cherkassky had his following of enthusiastic admirers,
from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. He regularly performed at the prestigious music
festivals of Europe, including those of London, Salzburg, Bergen, Zagreb, Carinthia and
Vienna, and had collaborated with some of the world’s most distinguished conductors:
Comissiona, Dorati, Giulini, Haitink, Karajan, Kempe, Leinsdorf, Ormandy, Shostakovich,
Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Charles Groves and Sir Georg Solti.
Shura Cherkassky’s concert career encompassed the entire musical world. In addition to
Europe, he made several tours throughout the Far East, including China, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Thailand, and Japan. He also toured Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and
India. His triumphant return to his native Russia in 1976 had great emotional significance
for him, and he was re-invited for subsequent tours in 1977 and 1979.
Early in 1976 Shura Cherkassky returned to the United States after an absence of ten
years. His New York recital was received with such resounding acclaim that he devoted an
important part of each season to North America. An international artist might be expected to
remain stationary during his holidays, but not Cherkassky. His passion for constant travel
took him to Afghanistan, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, the Greek Islands, the African Coast,
Northern Europe, the South Pacific, Latin and South America, Siberia and China.
Shura Cherkassky, died in London, on December 27, 1995. Writing in Gramophone,
music critic and long-time friend, Bryce Morrison stated: “Few, if any pianists, have made
music so entirely their own, coloring and projecting every bar and note with an instantly recognizable
zest and brio. Rejoicing in spontaneity and listening askance to younger colleagues
with set and inflexible ideas, he could turn a work – whether a Beethoven sonata, a Chopin
Scherzo, a contemporary offering or a delectable trifle from a bygone age by Rebikov or
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