ALINE van BARENTZEN (1897-1981)
Franco-American pianist

Aline van Barentzen was a fellow student of Rubinstein and Kempff in Berlin, a pupil of Leschetizky in Vienna, and the teacher of Jean-Philippe Collard and Cyprien Katsaris in Paris. Had she been a man, we would all know her name.

She was a wonder from her earliest years.  She gave her first recital at the age of four.  Under the tutelage of Marguerite Long, she won a first prize in Piano at the Paris Conservatory at the age of eleven, the youngest ever to have done so. 

Aline van Barentzen counted among her friends were Enesco, Poulenc, Messaien, Roussel, and Villa Lobos, whose works she often premiered.
She learned all 24 Debussy Preludes during a vacation, and the Brahms Paganini Variations in five days. She boasted an active repertoire of over 500 works. Her technical prowess was such that Leschetizky worked almost exclusively on developing her interpretive skills.  And a fine job he must have done for her Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann are all exquisite, as you will hear.  Did I mention her Brahms and her Liszt? To die for.

Aline van Barentzen was a noted teacher.  Among the schools at which she taught were the Philadelphia Musical Academy, the Buenos Aires Conservatory, and from 1954 as Professor of Piano, the Paris Conservatory. She was highly decorated by the French government being awarded the "Chevalier des Arts et Lettres" (1962), the "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur" (1966), and the "Officier de l'Ordre National du Merite" (1975). In 1976 she received the Villa-Lobos Gold Medal from the Brazilian government.  But we do not know her despite the fact that she was American by birth and spend much of here life in this country. Maybe if she had changed her name to Alan, or Alfred, or even Aloysius she would have received the accolades here that she deserved.

The following quotation from a Hungarian music critic (Clavier, Feb. 1981) pretty well sums it up: "Aline van Barentzen is an artist of great temperament who possesses magnificent dynamism and a technique above all praise which permits her to bring all the finesse and the lyric poetry necessary to the works she interprets."

Aline van Barebtzen plays Piano Favorites

DAQUIN : The Cuckoo
01:54 ➢ RAMEAU : The Hen
05:03 ➢ MOZART : Rondo alla Turca (from Sonata K 331)
07:52 ➢ BEETHOVEN : Bagatelle "Fur Elise"
10:28 ➢ WEBER : Perpetuum Mobile (from Sonata OP 24)
14:26 ➢ SCHUBERT : Moment Musical, D 780~3
16:20 ➢ MENDELSSOHN : Song Without Words, Op 62~6 "Spring Song"
18:37 ➢ MENDELSSOHN : Song Without Words, Op 67~4 "Spinning Song"
20:22 ➢ SCHUMANN : 7 Traumerei from Kinderszenen, Op 15
23:10 ➢ CHOPIN : Waltz 7 in C minor, Op 64~2
26:38 ➢ LISZT : Hungarian Rhapsody 2
36:09 ➢ LISZT : Liebestraum 3
39:54 ➢ BRAHMS : Waltz, Op 39~15
41:28 ➢ DEBUSSY : Clair de Lune from Suite Bergamasque
45:33 ➢ RAVEL : Rigaudon from Le Tombeau de Couperin
48:49 ➢ POULENC : Mouvement Perpetuel 1
50:17 ➢ VILLA-LOBOS : O Polichinelo

recorded ca1960