Ignaz Friedman

Ignaz Friedman studied at University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and Leipzig University. Training under Theodor Leschetizky and Hugo Riemann is recorded. Thora Bratt is recorded as having studied under Ignaz Friedman. The recorded working language is Polish. The field of work recorded is chamber music.

• Name — Ignaz Friedman • Birth Name — Salomon Izaak Freudmann • Born — February 13, 1882 • Birthplace — Podgórze, Galicia, Austria-Hungary • Died — January 26, 1948 (age 65) • Place of death — Sydney, Australia • Occupation — Pianist, composer • Illustration — Berlin memorial plaque, Pariser Straße 21, in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany

Born to an itinerant Jewish musician in Podgórze near Kraków (his birthplace exists at the Kalwaryjska str. 22) as a son of Nachman (sometimes Wolf or Wilhelm) Freudmann, sometimes Freudman (born in Monasterzyska, now Ukraine, July 10, 1857) and Salomea Eisenbach (born in Krakow March 26, 1854), Ignaz Friedman was a child prodigy. He studied with Hugo Riemann in Leipzig and Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna, and participated in Ferruccio Busoni's master classes. • Illustration — House at the 22, Kalwaryjska Str., Krakow, where Ignaz Friedman was born (50.043165, 19.945430) Friedman lived in Berlin until 1914 and settled in Copenhagen in 1920.

His official début in Vienna in 1904 featured a program of three piano concertos, rivaling the similar programs of established titans like Busoni and Godowsky, and he remained a titan throughout his career. His style was quiet and effortless, imbued with a sense of rhythm and color, grounded in a sovereign technique, and much has been written about his peerless interpretations of Chopin in particular. • Illustration — Friedman's grave at the cemetery of Petit-Saconnex in Geneva, Switzerland. As with his compatriot and contemporary Moriz Rosenthal, Friedman's Chopin interpretations, particularly those of the mazurkas, are considered by many to be unsurpassed. Despite having given 2,800 concerts during his career, he sometimes received lukewarm reviews in America in later years, as younger critics were becoming accustomed to modernist playing which stripped romantic interpretation of its agogics and essence. Rachmaninoff admired Friedman's playing very much and considered him as a great virtuoso in a style more romantic than his own. Friedman was never successful in an America that had adopted a much more modern and straightforward presentation with recording technology that prompted a different sensibility. Therefore, Friedman remains as one of the last representatives of the bygone era even during the life of Rachmaninoff. According to, his playing may hold the key to understanding the musicianship of the composers he represented. His devotion to the score and the intricate detail through an evolving rubato is Friedman's hallmark.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Friedman was in Europe, but managed to escape when a concert tour in Australia was offered at the last moment. He settled in Sydney and remained there until his death (which occurred on Australia Day, 1948). His last concert was in Sydney on July 24, 1943, after which neuritis in his left hand forced him to retire from the concert platform.

• Masters of Chopin (Arbiter 158): Selection including previously unpublished recordings.

• Ignaz Friedman: Piano Works - Michael Schafer (Genuin Classics, 89149)(2009) • Friedman: Original Piano Compositions - Joseph Banowetz (Grand Piano GP711)(2016) • Complete Songs - Şen Acar (soprano), Szymon Chojnacki (bass-baritone), Jakub Tchorzewski (piano) Acte Préalable AP0523 (2022)