MAGDA TAGLIAFERRO
Brazilian-French pianist (1893 - 1986)

Magda Tagliaferro studied at the Paris Conservatory with Antonin Marmontel and subsequently with Alfred Cortot. Fauré invited her to tour with him and Albéniz was impressed by her playing. She was a soloist with the greatest conductors of her time, Weingartner, Dobrowen, Monteux, Furtwängler, Knappertsbusch, Paul Paray, Vincent d'Indy, Inghelbrecht, Ionescu-Galati and Georgescu, and performed chamber music with the likes of Cortot, Jacques Thibaud, Georges Enescu, Jules Boucherit and Pablo Casals.  She was sought after by composers to premier their works, Hahn, Rivier, Pierné, and Villa-Lobos included.

Follow the link to the Tagliaferro plays Concerti page to hear her in performances of concerted works by Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Hahn, Villa Lobos and Prokofiev.

She also taught extensively in Paris and later in Brazil.  Pnina Salzman, Cristina Ortiz, Jorge Luis Prats and James Tocco were among her students.

Magda Tagliaferro's playing is big and bold.  Her Chopin, while devoid of the often delightful mannerisms that make his music distinctly Polish, is nonetheless exciting.  The Largo movement from the Chopin b minor sonata is splendid, as is her playing of the 4th Ballade and the Op 26 Polonaise.

While her recordings of the third of the Liszt Liebesträume and "La Leggierezza" are lovely, I can't help feeling that her Schumann often misses the mark.  Where is the requsitie Teutonis moroseness?  Where are Florestan and Eusebius?  She plays with too much élan for my taste.  But the 1934 recording of the Op 28 Romance is quite beautiful.

There are beautiful performances of the Spanish composers Granados Albéniz and de Falla.  My only slight disappointment is that I sometimes find myself missing that essence of the Spanish rhythm that pervades their music.  It is a bit like playing a mazurka without that hop on the third beat.  It can be lovely, but something of importance is lost in the translation.

Her way with the French composers is wonderful, though a certain lack of languor makes her a less than ideal interpreter of the nocturnes of Fauré. As for her Debussy, it  is exquisite.  The earlier video containing both "Poissons d"or" and "Feux d'artifice" allows the viewer a perfect window on her marvelous technique.  The second of the Debussy Possons d'Or was recorded when she was 92 years old.  While by no means the Magda Tagliaferro of old, it is an astonishing document.

And it is fascinating to compare her 1930 and 1967 versions of "Jeune filles au jardin" by Federico Mompou, a fine composer whose music is all to little known on this side of the Atlantic. 

Although she played beautifully into her nineties, I think her finest recordings date from the 1930's to the mid-1950s.

Weber  Rondo Brillant in E♭ major "La Gaité"

recorded in 1936