A child prodigy of the piano, Clifford Curzon (born Siegenberg, 1907-1982) taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London from an early age, after having been a pupil there. Gold medallist at the MacFarren competition at the age of 17 in 1924, he perfected his skills with Arthur Schnabel, whom he soon rivaled, Wanda Landowska and Nadia Boulanger, whose interpretation he soon became. Although this Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Dvorak specialist remained loyal to Decca throughout his life, he often opposed the publication of recordings he deemed unsatisfactory. His legacy is nonetheless considerable, as demonstrated by the 23-CD boxed set published for the thirtieth anniversary of his death in 2012(The Complete Recordings). Knighted in 1977 and awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1980, Sir Clifford Curzon remains one of the UK's greatest, if not its greatest, pianists. His achievements include Schubert's Impromptus (1941), Brahms' Concerto No. 1 (1962) and Sonata No. 2, and Mozart's Concertos Nos. 20 to 27 (1967-1970).
