Vlado Perlemuter

Vlado Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher.

Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in Lithuania). At the age of three, he lost the use of his left eye in an accident.

His family settled in France in 1907. In 1915, aged just 10, he was accepted by the Paris Conservatoire, studying first with Moritz Moszkowski (1915–17) then with Alfred Cortot. At 15, he graduated from the Conservatoire, where he won the First Prize playing Gabriel Fauré’s Thème et variations before the composer, although Fauré was already deaf by that time. Perlemuter got to know Fauré rather well at that time, because he lived very close to him in the beginning of the 20's. Perlemuter played to Fauré several Nocturnes, Ballade and the Variations and often played chess with him in the afternoons. There is also a photo in existence of a mock wedding party with Perlemuter dressed up as a miller, and Fauré as a mayor.

In 1925 Perlemuter heard Jeux d'eau for the first time, and then he decided to study all the music of Maurice Ravel. In 1927 a friend of Perlemuter suggested him to sent Ravel a letter to ask for coaching of his works, this because Ravel was already very popular at that time. Ravel agreed and Perlemuter studied all of Ravel's solo works for piano with the composer himself for a period of six months at his home in Montfort l'Amaury. Although Ravel was very critical and could often be very harsh to Perlemuter, he became one of the leading exponents of Ravel's music. In 1929 Perlemuter played all of Ravel's complete piano works in two public recitals attended by the composer, a feat he repeated in 1987 at London’s Wigmore Hall to mark the 50th anniversary of Ravel’s death. Although Ravel was very reserved, he must have liked Perlemuter's playing because Ravel asked him to play Ma mère l'Oye together with him.

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