Hungarian born
pianist Sari Biro (Budapest on 24 March 1912), came to the United
States in 1940 (according to the short biography on the cover of Remington
record R-199-133), but other sources mention 1939. On May 4th 1940
she gave her first concert on US soil, in New York City's Town Hall.
According to the liner notes written by George Curtiss on the cover
of the Mussorgski recording, the day after the concert the New York
Herald-Tribune wrote: 'Coming completely unheralded, Sari Biro proved
to be not only one of the most absorbing instrumentalists heard this
season, but indubitably one of the most gifted pianists of her sex."
Sari Biro was
heralded by many a critic. The New York Times wrote: "Sari Biro must
be reckoned among the foremost women exponents of the keyboard of
the time." as the liner notes of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
mention.
The New York World Telegram stated: "The most striking thing
about Sari Biro's piano playing was her strength, her man-sized tone,
the fury and tempest she could unleash at will ... her fleetness of
fingering and the manner in which she could launch into unrestrained
and subtle song on occasion."
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Sari
Biro at thirty, at the time she had made her debut in New York.
Photo by Harry R. Fischer, ARPS,
taken from a booking ad, edited by R.A.B (From the SoundFountain
Remington Site Archive)
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Sari Biro
began her musical career at the age of four when she startled her
family by sitting down at the piano and playing from memory a simple
piece her older sister had been practicing. She was eight when she
entered the Franz Liszt Royal Academy (Liszt Ferenc Zenemüvészeti
Egyetem) of Budapest where she finished her 'course' in half the allotted
time. One of her teachers was Leo Weiner.
After completing her studies she concertized as soloist with the leading
European symphony orchestras: Budapest, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, London,
Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, The Hague, Prague, Salzburg, Zürich, Stockholm,
Warsaw, etc.
After her American
debut Sari Biro reappeared on different occasions in Town Hall and
also in Carnegie Hall. She gave recitals in the major American music-centers
and also earned great success when performing with the symphony orchestras
of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Denver, New Orleans and
New Haven. She also toured Central and South America.
Since Sari Biro
did not have a contract with a record company and was well known by
the new York audience, undoubtedly Don Gabor saw in her an interesting
artist to complement his small but steady growing catalog.
The
Remington recordings of Sari Biro:
R-199-70
- Mozart: Piano concerto No. 24, Austrian Symphony Orchestra
and Wilhelm Loibner, conductor (coupled with Overture to "The Marriage
of Figaro" with the Austrian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert
Heger). The record was released in June 1952.
R-199-75 -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Released in June 1952.
R-199-133
- Kabalevsky: Sonata No. 3, Bartok: Peasant Songs and Dances (Nos.
7 to 15), Kodaly: Dances from Maroszék. The recording was released
in December 1953.
R-199-108
is a 3x 12" record set of with the Partitas Nos.1-6 of Johann Sebastian
Bach, played by pianists 
Jörg Demus
(Nos. 1 & 6) and Sari Biro (No. 2), and pianist/harpsichordist
John
Gillespie (Nos. 3, 4 and 5).
At the end of World Qar II John Gillespie spent two years at
the Conservatoire Nationale de Paris, studying organ with André
Marchal and Marcel Dupré. He later returned to Paris for two
years of study at the Sorbonne. He completed his studies in the US
and received the Ph.D. in musicology in 1951.
The recording of Sari Biro was not available separately as the Partita
covered only one side. Warren De Motte's evaluation: "The Remington
album which divides the chore among two pianists and a harpsichordist,
contains some conscientious playing, quite well recorded." The set
was released early 1953.
It is known
that only the most necessary splicing was done and hardly any additional
takes were recorded. In many cases this resulted in a less than optimal
performance on record. When comparing the various recordings of Mussorgsky's
'Pictures' with other pianists like Julius Katchen (Decca/London),
Leonard Pennario (Capitol), Alexander Uninsky (Philips/Epic) and Wladimir
Horowitz (RCA), critic
Warren
DeMotte found the Biro performance of Mussorgsky 'prosaic'
which was still a better mark than received by Katchen and Pennario.
The less dynamic approach of Sari Biro can also be caused by the rather
dull recording or less dynamic cutting of the matrix.
The performance
of the Mozart Concerto has moments of subtle feeling, especially in
the slow movement.
But the most interesting of the three is R-199-133. Miss Biro evidently
feels more at home with the repertoire of Béla Bartók,
Zoltán Kodály and Dimitri Kabalevsky. Sari Biro excelled
in the more modern repertoire.
There is a CD with live recordings from 1949 in Carnegie Hall of performances
of Gian Carlo Menotti's Piano Concerto, Leo Weiner's Concertino for
Piano and Orchestra, and Darius Milhaud's Concerto for Piano. The
conductor is Emanuel Vardi.
From 1956 on she lived in San Francisco and appeared also on radio
and televison. She did much for the recognition of women pianists.
Sari Biro passed
away on 2 September, 1990 in San Francisco.
In 1995 the Franz
Liszt Academy in Budapest established 'The Sari Biro Memorial Award',
a monetary prize which is awarded to an outstanding piano student.
Rudolf A. Bruil,
fall 2002
Note: The official
spelling is Mussorgsky. In early days the name was written Moussorgsky,
the French way.
