Farewell Menahem

This week we lost one of the greatest pianists of our age—Menahem Pressler, who was 99. Pressler was born in Magdeburg, Germany and lived through the terror of Kristallnacht at age 14. He and his family fled to Palestine in 1939, and Pressler settled in the US after winning an international piano competition in 1946 in San Francisco.

Pressler is most associated with the Beaux Art Trio which he founded and played in for 53 years. I went to hear them whenever I could, particularly when I was a law student in Boston, and later in New York and Washington, DC.

In this intimate chamber music setting, Pressler was sublime. By sublime I mean his piano sang, no matter the quality of instrument he played, no matter the piece. He was that rare pianist who had ensemble running through his veins; he seamlessly merged with the cello and violin (in my time they were Bernie Greenhouse and Isidore Cohen), and never overpowered them, even with the piano lid up. He shared his delight at the keyboard through whimsy and joy. It was a priceless gift to be in his presence and hear that kind of music.

Here’s?Menahem Pressler playing Chopin late in his life. [Please forgive the ads, they’re short!]

And here he is, playing this transcendent section of the?Andante movement from the Brahms Piano Quartet in C Minor. This piece speaks to me so powerfully, and is so meaningful that it has prominent play in my upcoming novel, DUET FOR ONE.

Last week I had a wonderful conversation with Blaine DeSantis on?Books & Looks Podcast?in a conversation he entitled?Mystery, Muses and the End of Newspapers: Delving into Diverse Stories and Changing Times (interview starts at about 4 mins 50 secs in).

If you would like to see the Holocaust Remembrance Day Panel I moderated at Politics & Prose with authors Jai Chakrabarti, Karen Baum Gordon, and Ari Joskowicz?here is the link.

A couple pictures from my travels over the last two weeks—

ICYMI, here’s?my most recent newsletter,?with some new book news.

Love to all,

Martha