Death of top Romanian pianist Valentin Gheorghiu, aged 95

by Norman Lebrecht

Valentin Gheorghiu. Sursa foto: UCMR

The venerable, self-effacing Valentin Gheorghiu has died at 95.

A formidable interpreter of intractable scores, he was a noted expert in Liszt, Enescu and Rachmaninov.

First published at Slippedisc, July 17, 2023

Biography (from the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society, March / April 2023):

Valentin Gheorghiu was born in Galaţi, Romania in 1928. He was first a pupil of Constanța Erbiceanu at the Bucharest Academy of Music and then of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris, France. He is one of the leading Romanian pianists of the twentieth century.

He was a member of the Romanian Trio, together with Ştefan Gheorghiu and Radu Aldulescu. At the first edition of the George Enescu International Competition in 1958, he won first prize for the best performance of the third sonata by Enescu, together with his brother the violinist Ştefan Gheorghiu.

Gheorghiu's wide repertoire includes many Romantic composers such as Schumann, Grieg, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Chopin, Schubert and Rachmaninoff, in addition to music by Beethoven, as well as modern compositions by Romanian composers, George Enescu, Paul Constantinescu and himself. 

Watch on YouTube (click here).

Watch on YouTube (click here).