Daniell Revenaugh

Daniell Revenaugh (May 30, 1934 – March 12, 2021) was an American classical pianist and conductor.

Revenaugh was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He made his debut as a pianist at the age of 14 playing Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra.

He studied with Ferruccio Busoni's pupil Egon Petri from 1951 until Petri's death in 1962. In 1959 he graduated from Florida State University, where he studied with Ernst von Dohnányi and Lewis Pankaskie. He later founded the Busoni Society with Rudolph Ganz and Gunnar Johansen, and has amassed a large and important collection of Busoni and Petri materials.

In 1973 Revenaugh became the first General Director of the Institute For Advanced Music Study in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, a full scholarship international programme with faculty which included Zino Francescatti, Gregor Piatigorsky, Ib Lanzky-Otto and Rudolf Kempe.

Daniell Revenaugh invented and patented a lower lid for the grand piano, which projects the sound more effectively. It has been used in concert by pianists such as Martha Argerich, Peter Serkin, André Watts,^[1]Radu Lupu and Alexander Toradze. He also patented a muting device for grand pianos, which protects downstairs neighbors.

Revenaugh created the Electric Symphony Orchestra.^[2][3] In the 1980s he created the Classical Cabaret, which performed solo and chamber works to the accompaniment of jugglers, paddleballs, yo-yos, Indian clubs and fire eaters. He was involved in a project to convert opera composer Carlisle Floyd's former home in Tallahassee, Florida into an artist's residence.

He had four children and three grandchildren and had homes in Berkeley, California; Tallahassee, Florida; and Lausanne, Switzerland. Revenaugh owned many pianos, among which was the 1840 Érard upon which Franz Liszt played the first solo piano recital. The Erard is autographed by Liszt himself. In 2008 Revenaugh made a DVD of Carlisle Floyd's Piano Sonata, which included an hour of coaching by Floyd himself.

• Interpretación del Concierto para piano n.º 2 de Dohnányi con George Cleve y la Orquesta Sinfónica de San José en 1977, conmemorando el centenario del nacimiento de Ernst von Dohnányi (27 de julio de 1877).
• En 1992, impulsó un concierto dedicado íntegramente a Darius Milhaud en Mills College, con motivo del centenario de Milhaud (4 de septiembre de 1892). Durante sus estudios de posgrado, Revenaugh estudió en Mills College con Milhaud.
• Un ciclo de las sonatas completas para piano de Schubert en el Teatro Julia Morgan de Berkeley, en homenaje al bicentenario de Schubert (1797). Cada uno de los cinco conciertos incluyó una sonata de su período temprano, una de su período tardío y dos de su período intermedio (20 en total).

• En 1967, Revenaugh grabó el Concierto para piano de Busoni con John Ogdon (piano), la Orquesta Filarmónica Real y el Coro John Alldis en los estudios Abbey Road para EMI. Esta grabación ganó el Premio Deutscher Schallplatten, el Premio Montreux, una nominación al Grammy y ha permanecido en el catálogo de EMI durante 51 años. Se grabó junto con los Dos estudios de Busoni de su ópera Doktor Faust : «Sarabanda y cortejo», Op. 51.
• un disco de EMI de "Clásicos populares para piano", que contiene obras populares de trece compositores famosos. ^{[ 4 ]}
• La música completa para dos pianos de Busoni, con Lawrence Leighton Smith (EMI).
• En 2009 se estrenó la grabación de la Sonata para piano de Carlisle Floyd , el compositor de ópera más reconocido de Estados Unidos. Floyd la compuso en la década de 1950 para Rudolf Firkušný , quien la interpretó en un recital en el Carnegie Hall . Floyd impartió clases a Revenaugh sobre la Sonata durante una hora. Revenaugh la grabó en una sola toma; ambas versiones están disponibles en un DVD a través de Arkiv Musik y CD Baby.

• BUSONI EN EL CARNEGIE HALL. Daniell Revenaugh, estudioso e intérprete de Busoni, es entrevistado por John Whiting, con extractos de entrevistas a Philipp Jarnach y Benvenuto Busoni. 8 de diciembre de 1965.