Russell Sherman (March 24, 1930 – September 30, 2023) was an American classical pianist, educator and author. He performed internationally, known especially for playing the music of Beethoven and Liszt. Driven by a "lifelong battle to reconstitute Liszt as a serious composer", he wrote for a recording of his Transcendental Études: "The poetic idea is central, and the virtuoso elements become so many layers to orchestrate the poetic content".
Sherman was a teacher at the New England Conservatory in Boston for more than half a century, influencing generations of students.[1]
Life and career
Russell Sherman was born in Manhattan on March 24, 1930, the youngest son of four. He grew up in the Essex House hotel, where neighbors included Rudolf Bing, Lily Pons, Lauritz Melchior and Clifford Curzon.[2] His father was a manufacturer of women's raincoats. His mother had tried to encourage all children to learn the piano, but was successful only with him—he began lessons at age six. At age eleven, he was accepted by Eduard Steuermann,[1] who had studied and become friends with Arnold Schoenberg and Ferruccio Busoni.[3] Steuermann taught him that "music was about joy and play, not just technical mastery".[1] Sherman also studied humanities at Columbia University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1949,[1] and later studied composition, with Erich Itor Kahn.[2][4]
Pianist
Sherman made his debut as a pianist at the Town Hall in New York City in 1945, at age 15,[1] as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.[1] In 1959, he went on a hiatus from public performances, moved to the West and focused on teaching.[1][2]
Sherman's book of short essays on piano playing-related concerns, Piano Pieces, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1996. Among the observations in Piano Pieces is Sherman's comment, "Music dispels the fear of mortality and the need for rigid and permanent identities. Music rejects the nine-to-five schedule, the hunger for cash, the encroachments and limits of crass appetite."[12]
Personal life
Sherman was first married to Natasha Koval, a pianist from now Ukraine; they had two sons, and were divorced. In 1974, he married Korean-born pianist Wha Kyung Byun.[1] They sometimes celebrated their anniversary by performing together. Sherman was a baseball fan and a photographer interested in trees, light and shadow. He read science books, to think about challenging concepts.[2]
Schuller, who had invited Sherman to teach in Boston, also made Sherman record for GM records, which Schuller founded. Sherman became the first American pianist to record all Beethoven's piano sonatas and piano concertos.[2] He recorded an album entitled Russell Sherman: Premieres and Commissions,
music composed for him in the 1990s, by Schuller, Robert Helps, George Perle, and Ralph Shapey. He also recorded Bach's English Suites, all Mozart's piano sonatas, Chopin's mazurkas, and music by Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg.[2]
He recorded many works by Franz Liszt, driven by a "lifelong battle to reconstitute Liszt as a serious composer". He recorded the Transcendental Études in 1974, and again in 1990, explaining in the liner notes: "The poetic idea is central, and the virtuoso elements become so many layers to orchestrate the poetic content".[2]