{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{short description|American classical pianist (born 1964)}} '''Eric Le Van''' (born June 14, 1964) is an American classical pianist particularly known for his interpretations of the music of Brahms and Scriabin.<ref>Young, John Bell (January 4, 2005). [http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2005/01/levan1.htm " A poetic approach, Eric Le Van plays Scriabin Mazurkas"] Music and Vision Daily</ref> He is also an archivist of unusual repertoire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Erich Zeisl Official Website|url=http://www.zeisl.com/performances.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sheva Collections|url=http://www.shevacollection.it/downloads/EricSolene.pdf}}</ref> He has been guest soloist and recitalist in major festivals and venues in the United States and in Europe, notably the Weimar Franz Liszt Festival<ref>{{cite web|title=2003 Konzerte|url=http://www.hfm-weimar.de/v1/veranstaltungen/konzerte/2003/10/seite.php?lang=de}}</ref> and the Beethovenfest in Bonn,<ref>Beethovenfest. [http://www.beethovenfest.de/media/content/geschichte/archiv/05_P_II_2005_fuer_Download_gross.pdf 2006 Programme]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}, p. 6</ref> the Fetes Romantiques de Nohant Festival in France,<ref>{{cite web|title=1994 Fetes Romantiques de Nohant|url=http://www.festivalnohant.com}}</ref> as well as the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.<ref>{{cite web|title=American Liszt Society|url=http://www.americanlisztsociety.net/festivals/2002.php}}</ref>
Early on he entered the class of Earle C. Voorhies, whose own professor was Alexander Siloti, one of Liszt's pupils, and a cousin and teacher of Rachmaninov.<ref name="Scriabin - A Circle of One, Part 5 (Mazurkas - Le Van)">{{cite web|last=Donald|first=Satz|title=Scriabin – A Circle of One, Part 5 (Mazurkas – Le Van)|url=http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A2=ind0307&L=classical&D=0&P=54067}}</ref> After graduating from the University of Southern California, he moved to Europe in 1986 where he became a protege of Rudolf Buchbinder at the Musik-Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. In Basel, he studied chamber music with Walter Levin, founder and first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet, and pianist Gérard Wyss. Later, he was a Fulbright scholar in the class of Karl-Heinz Kammerling at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany, and pursued doctoral studies at La Sorbonne in Paris.
In chamber music, his partners include Michaela Paetsch,<ref>{{cite web|last=Don|first=Satz|title=Classical Net|url=http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tdr07109a.php|publisher=Classical Net}}</ref> and Axel Strauss.<ref>{{cite web|title=LACMA |url=http://www.lacma.org/event/strauss-le-van |publisher=LACMA |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603205115/http://www.lacma.org/event/strauss-le-van |archivedate=June 3, 2013 }}</ref>
He was artistic director of the Franz Liszt Festival in Alsace, France from 1997 to 2003.<ref name="Jazz à Munster, entre tradition et découvertes">{{cite web|title=Jazz à Munster, entre tradition et découvertes|url=http://www.lalsace.fr/haut-rhin/2013/05/06/jazz-a-munster-entre-tradition-et-decouvertes|publisher=L'Alsace}}</ref> He now lives in the Los Angeles area with his family. {{Further|The Le Van Family Musicians}}
==Reception== {{COI|section|date=December 2021}}
Le Van's recordings have been praised for their sensitivity, emotional depth, and power.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Pizzicato|title=Pizzicato|date=October 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Fanfare|title=Fanfare|date=Nov–Dec 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Musica e Dischi|title=Musica e Dischidate=November 1998}}</ref>
His debut CD of Brahms' Sonatas no.1 & no.3 for Gallo Records immediately drew positive reviews. Jacques Bonnaure in ''Repertoire'' stated that he is one of the most important Brahms interpreters since Julius Katchen, and compared Le Van to Curzon and Arrau.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Repertoire|title=Repertoire|date=October 1998}}</ref> ''Le Monde de la musique'' praised Le Van's "lyrical generosity and expressive sincerity."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Le Monde de la Musique|title=Le Monde de la Musique|date=December 1998}}</ref> The ''Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande'' wrote of him as "an artist of the highest caliber."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande|title=Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande|date=December 1998}}</ref> The ''BBC Music Magazine'' described his performances as "powerfully impressive".<ref>{{cite journal|journal=BBC Music Magazine|title=BBC Music Magazine|date=January 2009}}</ref> Bernard Jacobson in ''Fanfare Magazine'' elaborates on his "profound understanding" and his "sovereign technical facility".<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Fanfare Magazine|title=Fanfare Magazine|date=Nov–Dec 1998}}</ref>
Le Van's survey of Liszt's chamber music, with cellist Guido Schiefen for Arte Nova (BMG), earned them the ''Neue Musik Zeitung'''s award "Critic Choice" for Best Chamber Music Disc of the Year in 2000.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Critics' Choice |journal=Neue Musik Zeitung |year=2000}}</ref> Adrian Corleonis in ''Fanfare'' qualified the performers' contribution to the Liszt discography as "significant", and lauded their "consummate artistry and hand-in-glove collaboration."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Fanfare|title=Fanfare|date=Nov–Dec 2000}}</ref> Donald Vroon in ''The American Record Guide'' expressed that "Le Van here is better than any pianist on any chamber recording of these pieces."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The American Record Guide|title=The American Record Guide|date=Nov–Dec 2000}}</ref>
As for the premiere of Raff's works for piano and violin on Tudor Records, the Joachim Raff Society published an online review stating that: "if you plan to buy only one Raff recording this year, then this is the one."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Joachim Raff Society|title=Joachim Raff Society|date=August 2003}}</ref> On ''Classical Net'', Donald Satz extensively reviewed the CD, concluding: "This is one of the most enjoyable recordings I have listened to in the past few years. Great music does not play itself; it needs exceptional performers to highlight its architecture and the compelling nature of its musical lines and progression. Neftel and Le Van have done this with a level of artistry and technique that is stunning. I give the recording a 10/10; the Satz Rating Scale shows the disc to be off the charts."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Classical Net|title=Classical Net|date=December 2005}}</ref>
Likewise, his readings of the complete Scriabin Mazurkas for Music & Arts were described by Bryce Morrison in ''Gramophone'' as "magically fleet and affectionate," "youthful, ardent and communicative."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Gramophone|title=Gramophone|date=June 2004}}</ref> The ''BBC Music Magazine'' gave it 4 stars, with Matthew Rye praising the "freshness and lustre of his tone—captured in one of the most natural piano recordings I have heard for some time."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=BBC Music Magazine|title=BBC Music Magazine|date=April 2004}}</ref> ''Fanfare'' Magazine, citing "artistry of the highest order", described Mr. Le Van as " uncannily sensitive to Scriabin's nuances of phrase and harmonic subtleties," and Peter J. Rabinowitz selected the recording for the Want List 2004 of indispensable new recordings to have: "Eric Le Van plays with a rhythmic flexibility that few other living pianists could carry off. It's what you might call a polemical disc—certainly, it offers an extreme and distinctive interpretive perspective. But Le Van expresses his position in a way that's convincing, even mesmerizing."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Fanfare|title=Fanfare|date=January 2004}}</ref> In an in-depth review on the website ''MusicWeb International'', critic Donald Satz concluded: "it is not an easy task to be competitive with the greatest Scriabin pianists of the past as Vladimir Sofronitsky, Samuel Feinberg, Sviatoslav Richter, Roberto Szidon, Vladimir Horowitz, and Scriabin himself. Le Van deserves to be placed in this exalted company, and he enjoys the best sonics that modern techniques can offer."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=MusicWeb International|title=MusicWeb International|date=August 2005}}</ref>
Of second Brahms CD, the ''American Record Guide'' commented: "it is exhilarating to hear Brahms playing that feels so alive."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=American Record Guide|title=American Record Guide|date=Jan–Feb 2011}}</ref> ''L'éducation musicale'' hailed Le Van as "a worldwide Brahms authority."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=L'Éducation Musicale|title=L'éducation musicale|date=August 2011}}</ref>
Le Van's recording "Exil. Piano Music by Composers with Roots in Two Continents" was released in 2013 with Music & Arts. It features the works – including world premieres – of five Jewish composers who were amongst the wave of intellectuals and artists who left Europe in the 1930s for the United States: Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Erich Zeisl, Ernst Toch, Arnold Schoenberg, and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. These emigres, fleeing the upsurge of European fascism, contributed to make Southern California one of the capitals of world culture, and profoundly altered the horizons of American music and the arts. Zeisl biographer Malcolm Cole heralds these composers' works as "magnificently served" in Le Van's own readings, and Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg, daughter of Erich Zeisl and daughter-in-law of Arnold Schoenberg, endorses the CD as "deeply moving and thrilling": "Le Van played my father's pieces with so much emotion and beauty. I have listened to all the pieces on the CD and he plays them all wonderfully, including the Schoenberg which I have heard many times: he renders them so lyrically which makes them sound, though modern, so romantic and beautiful!" The New York Times' chief music critic Anthony Tommasini has praised the CD as "a fascinating new recording.".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/classical-playlist-john-adams-prokofiev-harrison-birtwistle-and-more/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|title=Classical Playlist: John Adams, Prokofiev, Harrison Birtwistle and More|last=Tommasini|first=Anthony|website=ArtsBeat|access-date=May 25, 2016|date=March 12, 2014}}</ref> Le Van's recording was featured on HBDirect's magazine, and was also recommended on Expedition Audio.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.expeditionaudio.com/exil-piano-music-korngold-schoenberg-zeisl-castelnuovo-tedesco|title=Exil: Piano music by Korngold, Schoenberg, Zeisl & Castelnuovo-Tedesco / Eric Le Van, piano|last=Ballyk|first=Paul|date=January 14, 2014|website=Expedition Audio|language=en-US|access-date=May 25, 2016}}</ref> He has given several interviews on this release, including for Pizzicato magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pizzicato.lu/eric-van-about-his-cd-exile-to-composer-there-is-nothing-worse-than-the-feeling-that-he-is-irrelevant/|title=Eric Le Van about his CD 'Exile': "To a composer, there is nothing worse than the feeling that he is irrelevant"|last=Franck|first=Remy|date=May 16, 2014|website=Pizzicato|access-date=May 25, 2016}}</ref>
==Discography==
*Brahms: Sonatas No.1 & 3. Eric Le Van (piano). Label: Gallo CD-946 *Liszt: Complete Works for Cello and Piano. Guido Schiefen (cello); Eric Le Van (piano). Label: BMG-Arte Nova 74321 76809 2/ Oehms Classics OC 246 *Raff: Sonatillen for violin and piano Op.99 & 6 Morceaux for violin and piano Op. 85. Michaela Paetsch Neftel (violin); Eric Le Van (piano). Label: Tudor 7109 *Scriabin: Complete Mazurkas. Eric Le Van (piano). Label: Music & Arts CD-1125 *Brahms: Sonata No 2, Scherzo Op. 4, Ballades Op. 10. Eric Le Van (piano). Label: Gallo CD-1203 *Exil. Piano Music by Composers with Roots in Two Continents. Eric Le Van (piano), Label: Music & Arts CD-1271
==Sources== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://pianistericlevan.com Official website] *[https://archive.today/20130630130001/http://www.pianistericlevan.com/press/2112 "An American pianist in France: An Interview with Eric Le Van"] by Bernard Jacobson. [http://www.fanfarearchive.com/indices/itop/reviewers/h1_079.html Fanfare Magazine]. Jan./Feb.2002 * [https://archive.today/20130630200207/http://www.pianistericlevan.com/press/2111 "Musical Maverick" An Interview with Eric Le Van"]. Clavier Magazine. February 2006. Volume 45, No.2.
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Van, Eric}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Los Angeles Category:University of Southern California alumni