26 Facts About Radu Lupu

Radu Lupu was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.

From 1970 to 1993, Radu Lupu made over 20 recordings for Decca Records.

Radu Lupu additionally recorded works of Mozart and Schubert for piano four-hands and two pianos with Murray Perahia for CBS Masterworks, Schubert songs with Barbara Hendricks for EMI, and works by Schubert for piano four-hands with Daniel Barenboim for Teldec.

Radu Lupu was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning one in 1996 for an album of two Schubert piano sonatas.

In 1995, Radu Lupu won an Edison Award for a disc of three major piano works of Schumann.

From his earliest days, Radu Lupu "had always expressed himself by singing", and was given his first piano at the age of five.

Radu Lupu began piano studies in 1951, as a six-year-old, with Lia Busuioceanu.

Radu Lupu made his public debut in 1957, at age 12, in a concert featuring his own compositions.

Radu Lupu gave up composing about four years later, saying that he thought he would be "much better as a pianist".

Radu Lupu was a student of Maria Curcio, a student of Artur Schnabel.

In 1965, Radu Lupu was placed fifth at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna.

Shortly after the competition, in April 1967, Radu Lupu made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City in a program of Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin.

However, Radu Lupu reportedly turned down many of the other engagements that came with the prize, instead choosing to further his studies in Moscow.

In February 1974, Radu Lupu performed a recital at Hunter College in New York, which was praised by Allen Hughes of The New York Times.

In 1975, Radu Lupu debuted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and gave the premiere of the Andre Tchaikowsky Piano Concerto, Op.

In 1989, Radu Lupu was awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize by the Italian Critics' Association; he was awarded the prize again in 2006.

In 2006, Radu Lupu was awarded the Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and in 2016 was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music.

Radu Lupu used a regular, straight-backed chair at the piano as opposed to a standard piano bench.

Radu Lupu told Clavier in 1981 that while sitting on a bench he tended to lean forward, raise his shoulders, become impossibly stiff and develop pains all over.

Radu Lupu said that he practiced with a chair at home and found it natural.

Radu Lupu's playing garnered admiration not only from music critics, but by fellow major artists.

Nikolai Lugansky said in an interview that Radu Lupu "possesses the rare power of letting the music speak for itself", and Andras Schiff stated that Radu Lupu had the "rare gift to illuminate anything that he plays with rare musical intelligence".

Radu Lupu's first recording was made in the spring of 1970.

Radu Lupu additionally recorded works of Mozart and Schubert for piano four-hands and two pianos with Murray Perahia for the CBS Masterworks, two albums of Schubert songs with Barbara Hendricks for EMI, and a disc of works by Schubert for piano four-hands with Daniel Barenboim for Teldec.

Radu Lupu lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, with his second wife Delia, a violinist in the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.

For most of his career, Radu Lupu often refused to grant interviews to the press out of "fear of being misunderstood or misquoted".