Stanislav Neuhaus, the son of a greatest Heinrich Neuhaus, was ardently and loyally beloved by the public. He always had a high culture of thought and feeling. There are many pianists who can play faster, more precisely, externally more spectacular than Stanislav Neuhaus, but in terms of the richness of psychological nuance, the refinement of musical experience he had no equal; somehow they successfully said of him that his game is a model «emotional virtuosity».
It is worth watching a stunning documentary about Stanislav Neuhaus. There are few records about the playing of Stanislav Neuhaus – it did not like to write about himself, but there are memoirs of friends, pupils, contemporaries. All of them speak about him with love, all of them are tied by a particular, quivering tenderness for this person.
Neuhaus from an early age was in an intellectual environment, breathed air of artistic impressions. There were always interesting people near him: artists, musicians, writers. His talent had someone to support, to guide him in the right direction.
One day, at the age of about five, Stanislav picked up a tune from Prokofiev on the piano: he overheard it from his father. The family decided to start music classes for the boy. In the role of teacher was first grandmother Olga Neuhaus; she was later replaced by the teacher of the Gnessin Music School Valeria Listova: «It was a really thoughtful teacher… I, for example, did not like the finger simulator – scales, studies, exercises «on the technique». Valeriya Vladimirovna saw this and did not try to remake me. She and I only knew music – and it was beautiful…»
Neuhaus has been studying at the Moscow Conservatory since 1945. However, he entered his father’s class later, being already in the third year. Before that, Vladimir Belov worked with him.
At first my father did not believe in my artistic future. But, having looked at me once at one of the student concerts, apparently changed his mind, at least, accepted to his class. He had a lot of students, he was always overloaded with pedagogical work. I remember I had to listen to other people more often than I had to play by myself: I didn’t get the line. But by the way, it was also very interesting to listen: new music was recognized, and the father’s opinion about its interpretation. His comments and remarks, whoever they were intended for, were useful to the whole class.
It was often possible to see Svyatoslav Richter in Neuhaus’s house. He used to sit at the piano and studied, hours without going away from the keyboard. Stanislav Neuhaus had a kind of piano school: the best was difficult to wish for. He always remembered Richter’s work: “Svyatoslav Teofilovich was struck by his colossal persistence in his work. I would say, inhuman will. If some part of the work did not come out, he charged him with all energy and passion, until he crushed the difficulty. For those who watched him from the outside, it always made a strong impression…”
In the 1950s, the father and son Neuhaus often perform together in a piano duo. It was possible to hear the re-major sonata of Mozart, Andante with variations of Schumann, “In White and Black” Debussy, Suites of Rachmaninoff… The name Stanislav Neuhaus becomes known to the public, and the young musician is seen as the heir and successor of his father’s high performing traditions. Since graduating from the conservatory (1950) and later in postgraduate studies (1953), Stanislav Neuhaus has gradually established himself in a prominent position among Soviet pianists. Foreign audiences also met him.
As already mentioned, Neuhaus has been close to artistic circles since childhood; he spent many years in the family of the outstanding poet Boris Pasternak. Poems were heard around him. Pasternak himself liked to read them, and his guests – Anna Akhmatova and others read them. When he went to the concert stage, the audience immediately recognized him as the Poet.
He was usually awarded hot applause for performing Barcarola, Fantasia, Waltzes, Nocturne, Chopin’s Ballad. The sonatas and lyrical miniatures of Scriabin had great success at his evenings.
Playing Neuhaus seemed to improvise: the listener felt the vibrant flow of the musical idea of the performer – her variability, the exciting surprise of angles and turns. The pianist, for example, often went to the stage with the Fifth Sonata of Scriabin, with sketches (op. 8 and 42) of the same author, with Chopin’s ballads – each time these works looked somehow, in a new way… He could play differently, bypassing stencils, playing music a la impromptu – what could be more attractive in a performer?
There are pianists building indestructible blocks of musical form even in mazurkas Chopin; fragile sound flashes of Scriabin or Debussy – and they harden under their fingers like reinforced concrete. Neuhaus’s playing was the opposite. He may have lost something («technical losses», in the language of the reviewers), but he also won, and in the essential – Music.
One of the critics once inquired about his attitude to pedagogy. “I love to teach, – said Neuhaus. – I love to be among young people. Although… You have to give a lot of energy, nerves, strength. You know, listen to the lesson «not music» I can not. Trying to achieve something… Sometimes impossible with this student. In general, pedagogy is difficult love. After all, I would like to feel first of all performer.”
The rich erudition of Neuhaus, his peculiar approach to interpretation of musical works, many years of stage experience – all this represented values, and considerable, for the surrounding creative youth. He had a lot to learn. Perhaps, first of all – the art of piano sound. Art, in which he knew a little equal to himself.
Professor S. G. Neuhaus Autobiography I, Neuhaus Stanislav Genrikhovich, was born in 1927 on March 21 in Moscow in the family of Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus, Professor of the Moscow State Conservatory. In 1933 I entered the Gnessin Music School, in the class of V.V.Listova. At the same time he studied at secondary school No. 12 of the Leninsky district. In 1941 he graduated from a music school. From 1941 to 1943 he was evacuated to the city of Chistopol, Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where he continued his studies at a secondary school. Returning to Moscow in 1943, I entered the music school at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Associate Professor V. S. Belov. After graduating from college in 1944, I entered the class of Professor G. G. Neuhaus. He graduated from the conservatory in 1950 and in 1953 - graduate school. In 1957, I began my teaching career at the Moscow Conservatory, first as an assistant to Professor G. G. Neuhaus, and then, from 1964, as a teacher in the Department of Special Piano at the Conservatory. In 1966 I received the title of Associate Professor, in 1970 I was approved in the position of and. about. Professor of the Department of Special Piano at MOLGC and hold this position at the present time. During my work at MOLGC, 50 people graduated from the conservatory in my class and the class of my professor, including 30 students, 14 graduate students and 6 trainees from foreign countries. Many of them conduct intensive concert activity in the Soviet Union and abroad, and foreign students - at home. Many of them work as teachers and accompanists of higher and secondary educational institutions of the country. Some of them have become laureates of international competitions, such as: 1. G. Andrias (Romania) - 3rd prize at the Enescu International Competition in Bucharest. 2. V. Kastelsky - 5th prize at the International Competition named after M. Long and J. Thibaut in Paris. 3. E. Mogilevsky - 1st prize at the International Competition named after Queen Elizabeth in Brussels. 4. R. Lupu (Romania) - 5th prize at the International Competition in Vienna 1st prize at the International Competition named after Van Cliburn in the USA 1st prize at the International Competition named after Enescu in Bucharest 1st prize at the International Competition in Leeds in England 5. V. Krainev - 2nd at the International Competition in Leeds, 1st prize at the International Competition in Lisbon, 1st prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition 6. L. Baranyan (Hungary) - 3rd prize at the International Liszt Competition in Budapest. All of them give a lot of concerts in different countries of the world. Currently, there are 7 students, 2 interns and 1 graduate student in my class. Cool evenings are held annually in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, students take part in cathedral and faculty concerts. The class repeatedly went on tour to other cities of the Soviet Union, for example, several concerts were held in Leningrad, Kyiv, Riga, Tbilisi, Sverdlovsk, where students performed solo and symphony concerts. Students do a lot of social work, take part in patronage concerts, on trips of concert teams, work in a newspaper, etc. At the same time as teaching, I conduct a large concert activity. Since 1949, as a soloist of the Touring Bureau, and then as a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic. Repeatedly gave concerts, in addition to Moscow and Leningrad, in all the republics of the Soviet Union, as well as abroad in the cities of Hungary, Italy, France, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Benelux, Poland, etc. During the tour I hold meetings with teachers and students of conservatories, schools and music schools, I give consultations, lessons, free concerts for students. In 1966 he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Republic (RSFSR). S. Neuhaus 1972 (From the archive of G.S. Neuhaus)
