Smith, Ronald
Smith, Ronald
Smith, Ronald, English pianist, writer on music, and composer; b. London, Jan. 3, 1922. He won the Sir Michael Costa Scholarship for composition and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, later completing his training in Paris. In 1942 he made his debut at a London Promenade concert. In 1951 he made his debut on the Continent as a soloist with Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, and subsequently appeared as a soloist with many orchs. He toured Australia in 1975, 1977, 1981, and 1983, the Far East in 1977, the U.S. and Canada in 1982, 1983, and 1987, and Russia in 1985. As a leading interpreter of the music of Alkan, he gave an Alkan centenary concert at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1988. He also championed the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, and the Russian masters of the 19th century. He publ, the major study Alkan, Vol. I: The Enigma (London, 1976) and Alkan, Vol. II: The Music (London, 1978). Among his other Writings were Alkan, The Man and His Music (London, 1975) and Alkan in Miniature (London, 1978). He composed several orch. works.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire