Grant Johannesen
Grant Johannesen emerged in the mid-20th century as one of the foremost American pianists of the postwar generation. He was best known for his interpretations of French music, particularly works by Fauré, whose entire solo output he recorded: Saint-Saëns, Poulenc, Milhaud, and Dukas. But he also played standards by Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin and championed what was then contemporary music by American composers like Copland, Barber, Diamond, Harris, Mennin, and others, including first wife Helen Taylor. Johannesen performed on many live radio broadcasts and appeared numerous times in the 1950s and 1960s on the popular American television show The Bell Telephone Hour. He made many tours of Europe, the Soviet Union, and South America and produced a sizable discography, though a relatively small number of his recordings are still in the catalog. Such labels as Vox, Vai Audio, and Centaur offer some of them.
Grant Johannesen was born in Salt Lake City, UT, on July 30, 1921. He began piano studies at age five and became a pupil of Robert Casadesus at Princeton in 1939. Johannesen had later studies with Egon Petri, and then took lessons in composition from Roger Sessions in New York and Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau, France.
In 1944 Johannesen debuted in New York, the city he would make his base of operations for much of his career. 1949 was a pivotal year: Johannesen won the Ostend Concours Internationale Competition and then went on tour in Europe with the New York Philharmonic. Tragically, Johannesen's first wife, composer Helen Taylor, was killed in an auto accident in 1950. (Johannesen was married to cellist Zara Nelsova from 1963-1973.)
Johannesen made further successful European tours with the NYPO in 1956 and 1957. From 1960-1966 he taught piano at the Aspen School of Music, while maintaining a busy concert schedule, including radio and television appearances. Johannesen toured the Soviet Union with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in 1965 and gave highly successful recitals there in 1962 and 1970. From 1974-1977 Johannesen served as director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and then as its president from 1977-1985.
Johannesen remained active in his later years, even taking on new repertory when he recorded an album on the Bonneville label in 1995 entitled Rare Russian Music, containing transcriptions of orchestral music by Prokofiev and songs by Rachmaninov. On a visit to friends in Germany Johannesen died in Berlin in 2005.
© TiVo
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Grant Johannesen Plays French Piano Music
Grant Johannesen, Luxembourg Radio Orchestra, Bernhard Kontarsky, Louis De Froment
Classical - Released by Vox Box on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 4 Impromptus & 4 Polonaises (Mono Version)
Mieczysław Horszowski, Grant Johannesen
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mono Version)
Grant Johannesen, Otto Ackermann, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Polonaises
Classical - Released by Allegretto on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 (Album of 1955)
Grant Johannesen, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Goehr
Classical - Released by GazzaLadra on 8 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Bagatelles Op. 33, WoO 52, WoO 56, Op. 119, Op. 126
Classical - Released by Mezzoforte on 24 Jul 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Arthur Shepherd: Selected Works
Grant Johannesen, Rhoda Vaun Young, JoAnn Ottley
Classical - Released by Tantara Records on 28 Aug 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 2, Six Intermezzi
Classical - Released by Infinity on 1 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Grant Johannesen, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Goehr
Classical - Released by Ginkgo Classical on 31 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 12 Polonaises (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Concerto pour piano, Op. 16 - Mendelssohn: Les Hébrides, Op. 26 (Mono Version)
Grant Johannesen, Walter Goehr, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 3 (Mono Version)
Grant Johannesen, Walter Goehr, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Polonaises "Militaire" & "Héroïque" (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Extraits du catalogue de la Guilde internationale du disque (Mono Version)
Alexandre Schreiner, Grant Johannesen, Otto Ackermann
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Schumann: Piano Sonata in G Minor, Op. 22 - Intermezzi, Op. 4
Concertos - Released by Mezzoforte on 6 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
Grant Johannesen, Otto Ackermann, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Mezzoforte on 24 Jan 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grant Johannesen / Niederländisches Philharmonisches Orchester / Otto Ackermann play: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 24, KV 491
Grant Johannesen, Niederländisches Philharmonisches Orchester
Concertos - Released by Classico Ivano on 30 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grant Johannesen / Niederländisches Philharmonisches Orchester spielen: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 24
Grant Johannesen, Niederländisches Philharmonisches Orchester
Concertos - Released by Classico Ivano on 14 Nov 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grant Johannesen play: Ludwig van Beethoven: Klaviersonate Nr. 31, Op. 110
Classical - Released by Classico Ivano on 20 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
French Piano Rarities, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J. S. Bach & Schumann
Fernando Valenti, Grant Johannesen
Classical - Released by Altair on 26 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo