Janos Starker
Cellist Janos Starker was born in Hungary to music-loving Russian parents. His two brothers were violinists, and he was given a cello before he was six. He made public appearances at ages six and seven. Soon he entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, making his debut there at 11. He had begun teaching other children at eight, and by the time he was 12 he had five pupils. Starker regarded the experience as important to his artistic development. He found himself having to articulate phenomena that students his age rarely grasp, let alone impart to others. Starker was especially influenced by Leo Weiner, a composer who taught chamber music. He said that for more than 50 years Weiner taught every prominent Hungarian musician to learn and understand music as a language.
At 14 Starker made his professional debut playing the Dvorák concerto. He left the conservatory in 1939. After the war, when musical activities resumed, Starker became principal cellist of the Budapest Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic orchestras. Soviet Red Army forces had occupied the country, and the Communist Party was gaining dominance. Starker left the country in 1946 when relatively free travel was still possible.
He gave a successful concert in Vienna, then remained there to prepare for the Geneva Cello Competition, held in October 1946. He won only a bronze medal. "I played like a blind man," he said. "What happens to the bird who sings and doesn't know how it sings? That's what happens to child prodigies." Starker set out to rebuild his technique. He analyzed all aspects of playing, from breathing to the physics of applying muscular force to the bow and the instrument, to phrasing, bowing, and fingering. By October of the following year he had regained his confidence. He decided to stay in the West due to the deteriorating political situation in Hungary, and headed for the United States, where Hungarian musicians had important positions.
Antal Dorati, music director of the Dallas Symphony, made Starker the orchestra's principal cellist. A year later Starker accepted Fritz Reiner's invitation to become principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1953 Reiner began a brilliant period as music director of the Chicago Symphony, and brought Starker with him to lead the cello section. Starker remained in Chicago until 1958, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1954 and bringing his family to the country. In 1958 he resigned his Chicago position in order to pursue his solo career. In the meantime, he had already begun making important recordings, including an early set of Bach suites. Easing the transition was an offer from Indiana University School of Music to join the faculty on a two-year trial basis. Starker quickly found Bloomington a congenial base, and attracted exceptionally talented students.
Starker's stage demeanor and public persona were rather restrained and undemonstrative. The unwary draw the same mistaken conclusion that also plagued Jascha Heifetz, charging Starker with coldness and lack of emotion. Discerning critics, however, have always tended to speak of the warmth and expressiveness of his playing. Another similarity to Heifetz lies in Starker's very focused tone, with a light, narrow, and quick vibrato. He proclaimed himself happier if, after a concert, people say "What beautiful music Schubert wrote" rather than "How well Starker plays." Similarly, he considered it at least as important to turn out the next generation of fine cello teachers as the next generation of star players.
© TiVo
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J.S. Bach: Works for Cello & Harpsichord (Live)
Janos Starker, Zuzana Růžičková
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on May 5, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms, Schumann: Sonatas For Piano And Cello
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on Oct 18, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini : String Quintet, Op. 42, No. 2 - Schubert : String Quintet in C major, Op. 163 (Janos Starker Celebration)
Chamber Music - Released by Delos on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
János Starker - Kodály: Duo Op. 7 with Elmira Darvarova, Sonata for Solo Cello Op. 8 (2023 remastered edition)
Janos Starker, Elmira Darvarova
Classical - Released by Urlicht on Aug 18, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Romantic Music Of Spain
World - Released by Trigger Records on Oct 14, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonates pour violoncelle & piano de Prokofiev, Cassado, Beethoven & Hindemith (Enregistrements 1961 à 1983) (Janos Starker - Alain Planès)
Chamber Music - Released by INA Mémoire vive on Sep 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bohuslav Martinů, Sergei Prokofiev, Ernő Dohnányi: Cello Concertos [In Memoriam János Starker]
Janos Starker, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Nelson, The Philharmonia, Walter Susskind
Concertos - Released by Praga Digitals on Nov 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
János Starker Plays Hindemith, Prokofiev & Rautavaara
Janos Starker, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Andreas von Lukácsy, Ernest Bour, Herbert Blomstedt
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on Oct 7, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Young János Starker
Janos Starker, Leon Pommers, Georges Szolchanyi
Classical - Released by Parnassus on Oct 28, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar & Walton: Cello Concertos - Delius: Caprice & Elegy
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on Oct 18, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Harold In Italy; Bloch: Voice In The Wilderness
Daniel Benyamini, Janos Starker, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony No. 3 - Psalm - Kaddish
Seattle Symphony, Janos Starker, Gerard Schwarz
Classical - Released by Naxos on Dec 11, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Cello Concerto in A Minor, Lalo: Cello Concerto in D Minor (The Mercury Masters, Vol. 3)
Janos Starker, London Symphony Orchestra, Stanisław Skrowaczewski
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák : Cello Concerto in B Minor - Fauré : Élegie for Cello and Orchestra
Classical - Released by Past Classics on Aug 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Road to Cello Playing
Classical - Released by Parnassus on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonata For Unaccompanied Cello, Op. 8
Classical - Released by Period Records on Feb 24, 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonatas For 'Cello and Piano
Classical - Released by Period Records on Mar 6, 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn and Chopin Sonatas for Cello and Piano (The Mercury Masters, Vol. 2)
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Three Sonatas for Cello and Piano (The Mercury Masters, Vol. 9)
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Starker Plays Italian Sonatas (The Mercury Masters, Vol. 8)
Janos Starker, Stephen Swedish
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1967
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johannes Brahms
Janos Starker, Abba Bogin, Jean Fournier, Antonio Janigro, Paul Badura-Skoda
Classical - Released by Altair on Jul 24, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo