Description
Louis Kentner, one of the outstanding pianists of his generation, was born in 1905 in Karwina, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Karviná in the Czech Republic). Following his debut in Budapest at the age of thirteen, his career has taken him many times around the world and he has been a pillar of English musical life since making his home in London in 1935. An admired exponent of Liszt, he founded the British Liszt Society and performed his works with authority, eloquence and colour. Kentner also specialized in playing Kodály and Bartók. He gave the first Hungarian performance of Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto (Budapest, 1933), the first European performance of his Third in London (1945), and the British première of the Scherzo, Op. 2 in 1962. He contributed his own chapter of reminiscences to this symposium, which also includes authoritative essays and notes on the many facets of his work as a performer, composer and teacher, together with a discography and characteristic photographs. The book closes with a number of tributes from organisations and individuals who knew him well.
