Sandor, Gyorgy 1912–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born 1912 in Budapest, Hungary; died of heart failure, December 9, 2005, in New York, NY. Musician, educator, and author. Sandor was a classical pianist who was particularly respected as a champion and interpreter of the works of composer Bela Bartok. Formally educated at the Liszt Ference Conservatory, he also studied under Bartok, as well as Zoltan Kodály. After touring Europe during most of the 1930s, Sandor had his American premier at Carnegie Hall in 1939. He continued to tour and record the music of Bartok for decades to come, as well as of other famous composers, such as Prokofiev, Schubert, Bach, and Brahms. Critics particularly enjoyed Sandor's interpretations of Bartok, however, for the pianist eschewed the often heavy-handed chordings used by other pianists in favor of a more sensitive treatment. For one of his recordings of Bartok's works, Sandor won the 1965 Grand Prix du Disque, and in 2003 he was named to the French Order of Arts and Letters. Sharing his knowledge of the piano with others was also a major part of the musician's life. He taught at Southern Methodist University from 1956 to 1961 and was then director of piano studies at the University of Michigan until 1981. After leaving the Ann Arbor campus, Sandor moved to the Juilliard School. Sandor was the author of On Piano: Playing: Motion, Sound, and Expression (1981), and just before his death had completed a book about Bartok.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2005, p. B11.

New York Times, December 14, 2005, p. C17.

Times (London, England), December 17, 2005, p. 65.

Washington Post, December 15, 2005, p. B6.