Born in Warsaw in 1908, Felicja Blumental won a scholarship to the Polish National Conservatory where she studied under Karol Szymanowski, among other teachers. In the early 1940s Blumental fled to Brazil, where she became closely associated with Villa-Lobos who dedicated his Fifth Piano Concerto to her. Undoubtedly a pianist of the "old school", it was observed by Hans Wolf that Blumental, who died in Tel Aviv in 1991, brought with her "the breath of a now vanished, cultivated, and perhaps gentler age". This generously filled (77 minute) disc from Brana Records, who are reissuing much of Blumental’s recorded legacy, makes a suitable ‘sampler’ for anybody interested in investigating the pianist, and contains a handful of gems for existing fans.
For the last thirty years of her life, Blumental concentrated on recording works she considered…
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