| Label: CMR Catalog: CD1174 Format: CD SARI BIROWholenote Discoveries - July/August 2011
Born in Budapest in 1912, Sari Biro was an exceptional pianist whose talent was recognized from the age of four when she would play from memory pieces that her older sister had performed. She won a scholarship to the legendary Franz Liszt Academy. Composer Vincent D’Indy said that “To hear Sari play makes one a better human being.” Biro left Hungary in 1939 and arrived in New York with her concert gowns and sheet music and very little money. It was on 4 May, 1941 that she made her New York debut and the critics fell over themselves heaping praise on her playing. The New York Times: “Sari Biro plays the piano as well as she looks, which is saying a lot.” The New York World Telegram: “Definitely belonging in the front group of the contemporary pianists, male or female.” She concertized from coast to coast, also South America, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, always generating rave reviews for her playing, her consummate artistry and sensitivity. She was heard from coast to coast on the NBC radio network, appeared on many television programs and in 1958 she presented 13 live programs on KQED, San Francisco’s Public television station. She was not a stranger to radio or television for about the next two decades. After 1974, she retired from the concert platform but continued to conduct master classes until 1990, the year of her death. Listening to a recent set from Cambria Recordings gives the listener a pretty fair idea of her varied and enormous repertoire, from Bach to Scarlatti, Rameau, Kodaly, Milhaud, Beethoven, Bartok, Kabalevsky, Mussorgsky, Mozart, Prokofiev, Gershwin... two dozen composers in all. Her playing has intimacy. Her textures are transparent. Where appropriate, her touch is remarkably non percussive but with full dynamics. She embraces and adapts to the various styles with apparent ease: for example listen to her Bach and immediately play a 20th century opus and you may find it hard to believe it is the same pianist. But you will certain that that pianist is an astounding interpreter of whatever she plays. The CDs in this omnibus collection are derived from Remington Records LPs and from recitals. Considering the dates and circumstances under which these were made it is somewhat surprising that the sound is free of any artifacts and is consistently excellent without reservation. This set has a holy mission to bring back a once important, extraordinary and superb musician who otherwise has slipped out of memory. I am pleased to note that Cambria has done it most successfully. Bruce Surtees |