DAME HARRIET COHEN (1895-1967)
British pianist

Harriet Cohen was a giant figure in the musical world of the first half of the 20th century.  She gave many world premiere performances including Ralph Vaughan Williams' Piano Concerto (which was written for her), and made the first recording of Edward Elgar's Piano Quintet with the Stratton Quartet under the composer's supervision. A number of the important composers of the day composed works for her, including John Ireland, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Ernest Bloch, Dmitri Kabalevsky and E. J. Moeran.  And Sir Arnold Bax, who was Harriet Cohen's lover, wrote most of his piano music for her.

In the 1930s, she was actively involved in making the plight of the Austrian and German Jews known to the world.  She played concerts to raise money to help Jewish scientists get out of Germany.  Her efforts won her the friendship of such notables as Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, Eleanor Roosevelt and Ramsay MacDonald

Harriet Cohen numbered among her close friends the likes of Elgar, Walton, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and D. H. Lawrence, and  Arnold Bennett, as well as many important politicians and businessmen.  She was certainly one of the most famous musicians of her day and was was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1938.

As a pianist, Harriet Cohen had a tremendous range, from Orlando Gibbons up to the music that was still beng written as she practiced.  But for me she was at her most magical playing Chopin.  The performance of the Opus 25 etude is nothing less than a three dimensional tone sculpture.  The F minor Nouvelle Etude gives Cortot a run for his money, particularly in the middle section which she plays as one long phrase, so gradually building to its understated climax that I daren't breathe until it has been reached.

Gibbons Five Pieces : 1 Ayre - 2 Alman (0:55) - 3 Toy (1:24)
4. Coranto (2:12) - 5 Mr. Sanders His Delight (3:36)

recorded in 1947