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Acclaimed Pianist Dmitry Rachmanov Named CSUN’s Jerome Richfield Scholar

It was a dream come true when, more than 10 years ago, Cal State Northridge associate music professor Dmitry Rachmanov got an opportunity to play on rare instruments used by legendary pianists and composers like Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

During a concert in 2004, Dmitry Rachmanov performs on a Bluthner piano from the Frederick Historic Piano Collection that was built in Leipzig, Germany, in 1878.

Thanks to CSUN’s selection of Rachmanov as the 2008-09 Jerome Richfield Scholar, the music professor and pianist said his dreams have been surpassed. The grant has enabled him to be the first ever to record the four-hand music of Ludwig van Beethoven and three of his teachers on early 19th century pianos.

“This has been a fascinating experience,” said Rachmanov, who noted that pianos built before the 20th century are rare and usually only available “under glass” in museums. “It’s like you’re going back in time.”

Rachmanov will speak on “Recording the Music of Beethoven on the Pianos of His Era” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at the 17th annual Provost’s Colloquium in the Oviatt Library Presentation Room. His talk is open to the public.

His presentation will include a discussion of the “historical performance practice.” He also will show a video of the Frederick Historic Piano Collection, which provided the instruments used for the recordings and clips from the live performance. The privately owned, Massachusetts-based Frederick Historic Piano Collection includes more than 20 original pianos in playing condition, specifically, the sorts of pianos known to important composers from about 1790 to 1907. Rachmanov, who has received accolades for his playing from The New York Times, made the historic recordings as part of the collection’s biannual concert series.

“I would like to get the audience excited by the beauty of these instruments and the historical relevance of it and the music we perform,” Rachmanov said. “This is very unique.”

A Richfield scholar is selected annually by the university in memory of dean emeritus and philosophy professor Jerome Richfield. It salutes an outstanding faculty member conducting research in the arts, sciences or humanities. The scholar receives a fellowship equivalent to three units of release time from teaching, up to $5,000 in funding and presents a lecture as part of the colloquium series.

Rachmanov, who is in his second year teaching at CSUN, has a doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Julliard.