ELLEN BALLON (1898-1969)
Canadian pianist

Ellen Ballon was a child prodigy, praised by no less a luminary than Joseph Hofmann whose student she later became.  Artur Rubinstein is said to have declared her "the greatest pianistic genius I have ever met".  She was sent by the Canadian Prime Minister to study with Rafael Joseffy in New York.

She was a child when she made her New York debut in 1910, playing concertos of Mendelssohn (G minor) and Beethoven (C major) with the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch.  She continued her studies with Hofmann in New York, and subsequently with Wilhelm Backhaus in Vienna.

The list of conductors with whom Ellen Ballon played is a veritable who's who of 20th century conductors: Antal Dorati, Désiré Defauw, Walter Damrosch, Josef Stransky, Ernest Ansermet, and Sir Ernest MacMillan, inter alia.  She played with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, Concertgebouw, and Suisse Romande orchestras.  She was invited to the White House to play for President Taft (1912), Roosevelt (1934) and Eisenhower (1954).  That she was a pianist of great significance over a span of a 50 plus year career is of no doubt.  That virtually no one I know has ever heard of her is a shame.

The few recordings we have to listen to are insufficient to get a really good sense of her playing.  I have been able to find several pieces by Villa-Lobos to whom Ellen Ballon was a friend and champion.  She commissioned and premiered his first piano concerto in 1946 in Rio de Janeiro under the composer's direction and gave the American and Canadian premieres as well.

There is a Bach Prelude transcribed by Siloti and a complete recording of the f minor concerto by Chopin.  But you can be sure that I'll be on the lookout for more.

Bach/Siloti  Prelude from Prelude & Fugue in G minor, BWV 535

recorded in 1950