In Saturday’s (6/30) New York Times, Margalit Fox writes, “Brigitte Engerer, a Russian-trained French pianist known for her immense sound, prodigious technique and probing musicality, died on June 23 in Paris. She was 59. The cause was cancer, according to her agent, Bureau de Concerts de Valmalète. Ranked among the world’s foremost pianists, Ms. Engerer was better known in Europe than in North America. … Ms. Engerer specialized in the work of Russian and French composers—Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saëns—as well as that of Robert Schumann. A prizewinner in major international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky and the Queen Elisabeth, she collaborated with some of the world’s most eminent conductors, among them Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and Daniel Barenboim. … Ms. Engerer, who taught at the Paris Conservatoire, was also active as a chamber musician. She was known in particular as half of a piano duo with the Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky. Her recordings include Liszt’s ‘Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses,’ Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ and Tchaikovsky and Schumann concertos.”
Posted July 2, 2012
