Search - Johannes Brahms, Camille Saint-Saens, Cesar Franck :: Tiegermann: The Lost Legend of Cairo

A definite must have!

Sunny | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Exceptional playing from a true master.

It seems that Tiegermann's fingers function as magic wands over the large percussive instrument, presenting unparalleled possibilities in performances which no one else can imitate.

"

Tragic delights

Stephen D. Haufe | Clinton, Iowa | 06/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ignance Tiegerman's story is bittersweet. He, like Feinberg, and Sirota, exemplifies the very highest accomplishments of pianistic art, yet was consigned to obscurity while Hofmann,d'Albert,Rosenthal, Horowitz,Rubinstein,Moiseiwitsch,Gieseking,Lhevinne,Rachmaninoff garnerd the headlines.



Tiegerman was a pupil of Freidman and Leschetitsky, and a friend of Horowitz when both were in Berlin.Horowitz is reported to have said Tiegerman was his greatest rival in Berlin,the only one who could eclipse Horowitz. Tiegerman was overwhelmed by Roaring 20's America,and at Freidman's urging in 1931 took over a conservatory in Cairo,whose climate was better for Tiegerman's asthma and lifestyle.



The story behind the search for these recordings, all taken from private recordings and radio,and all nearly lost forever, is fascinating. Would suggest you read the liner notes available at the Arbiter Records website.



The music:



Tiegerman's farewell concert in Cairo in 1963 featured eclectic selections: Saint Saens Egyptian Concerto and the Frank Symphonic Variations. The Concerto had always seemed a trifle to me,not worth purchasing; the Variations a simplistic, one-hearing work. As with all the greats, Tiegerman elevates these works, avoiding in the slow movement of the Concerto any semblance of banality in the "egyptian" theme, in fact transforming it beautifully; and creating a concerto from the Variations, exploring depths and detail in the opening section most pianists simply play through unaware, as most pianists apparently have no clue what to do with the opening slow section of the Variations. I will be listening several times now to both, as Tiegerman has opened doors.



There is wonderful,first class Chopin playing here, grand manner, wonderful tone and lyricism,and when required the titanic technique and sonority of his teacher,Freidman.In the 3rd Sonata, where most take the lyrical Largo as an overly- sacchrine ballad, Tiegerman quite originally takes a much quicker tempo, mf rather than p or mp, a vital lied instead. The entire Sonata is heroic, in the manner of the Scherzi . Yet, in the 4th Ballade, Tiegerman finds mainly quiet solitude where others often strain,IMO, to find more drama than there, simply because a "ballade."



Only the first 2 opening movements of the Brahms 2nd were found,from a 1954 live Cairo Symphony radio broadcast.Only the 1958 Gilels-Reiner,IMO, prepares one for what Tiegerman does here,and the young Gilels simply does not bring all the gravitas needed. Schnabel tried to so play,but did not have the technique;by the time I believe Backhaus would have liked to (his last concerto recording with Bohm in 1967), he did not have the technique. Tiegerman simply blazes through these movements, making a case Brahms of the 2nd may have been bearded, but in appearance only,these movements unfinished business from the 1st Concerto,or 1st Symphony, perhaps informed by reflections on a more passionate life Brahms' recent Italian trip may have suggested. Tiegerman takes great risk with such sweeping gestures,faster tempi, and intensity, such symphonic playing,bringing to mind the d'Albert Emperor, and his own teacher Freidman's approach to the Chopin Mazurkas, but then Brahms himself frequently complained his music was not being played correctly, too formally. Tiegerman knows no difficulty, the technique,sonority in this live performance staggering.One is almost emotionally relieved by arrival of,and in great need of, the pastoral 3rd movement which,alas, has been lost.



Yet, in some Field and Faure Nocturnes, Tiegerman is the intimate,lyrical colorist.



Per the generous liner notes: In May,1968 he was operated on for prostate cancer,an operation the doctors botched.One of his last pupils stayed at the hospital every day until another pupil,Prince Hassan of Morocco, arrived and stayed with Tiegerman through the night,feeding him by hand grapes and apple slices. Hassan and other pupils sought from the Egyptian Government a gesture of recognition, but only a low level functionary was sent, who knew nothing of Tiegerman.He came into the hospital room, and upon seeing Tiegerman, immediately fell to his knees and,kneeling at the bedside,kissed his hand.In an instant,he understood who Tiegerman was. And death came May 31.



Tiegerman lost his parents and brother to the Holocaust, his mother throwing herself before one of the camp-bound trains. Teigerman was buried in the Bassatine Jewish cemetary in Cairo, but refugees from the 1967 War in the Sinai who came to Cairo after the War moved into the cemetaries near Ma'adi,overturning or demolishing headstones,and the whereabouts of Tiegerman's grave now remains a mystery.



"Tiegerman was the greatest talent I ever worked with." Ignazy Freidman.



Suggest you give a listen, before you purchase your next Lang Lang, or Volodos, or Lugansky,or Kissin. Sound not perfect,weak in some places, but surprisingly good most often, definitely not an impediment here."