Bernard Ringeissen
Bernard Marc Louis Édouard Ringeissen was a French classical pianist.
Biography
Ringeissen was born in Paris on 15 May 1934. His first teacher, at age seven, was Georges de Lausnay. He entered its Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1947, aged twelve, and won the Premier Prix when he was sixteen. He had further study with Marguerite Long and Jacques Février. In 1953, he temporarily retired from public performance, to focus on music competition.
In 1954, he won equal 2nd Prize with Sergio Scopelliti at the Alfredo Casella Competition in Naples. He also won the International Music Performance Competition in Geneva that year. In 1955, he won fourth prize at the V International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw; then equal second Prize with Dimitri Bashkirov at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition. In 1962, he won first prize at the Rio de Janeiro International Competition and the Villa-Lobos Special Prize for his interpretation of Brazilian music.
He performed widely and served on competition juries in many countries. He taught in Rueil-Malmaison, and gave master-classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the International Summer Seminar in Weimar.
Ringeissen died in Gisors on 4 April 2025, at the age of 90.
Discography
His recordings include the complete piano works by Francis Poulenc, Camille Saint-Saëns and Igor Stravinsky, by Charles-Valentin Alkan Sonatina / Zorcico / Scherzo / Nocturne / Gigue / Marche / Barcarolle / Saltarelle, Symphonie / Ouverture / Etudes, Op.39 and 12 Études, Op. 35 / Le Festin d'Esope / Scherzo Diabolico, by Frédéric Chopin Etude Op.25/11 / Mazurka Op.30/2, Etudes Op.10 / Etudes Op.25 / Ballade No.1 Op.23 / Scherzo No.3 Op.39, Berceuse Op.57 / Fantaisie-Impromptu Op.66, Ballade No.4 Op.52 / Etude Op.10/4 / Nocturne Op.62/2 / Scherzo No.3 Op.39, 24 Preludes Op.28, Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Op.22 / Barcarolle Op.60 / Écossaises Op.72 / Fantaisie Op.49 / Scherzo No.4 Op.54 / Berceuse Op.57, selected piano works by Józef Wieniawski, selected piano works by Aminollah Hossein, a collection of 'Famous Studies for Piano' by Carl Czerny, Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Moszkowski, Karol Szymanowski, Franz Liszt, Gabriel Pierné, Frédéric Chopin, Camille Saint-Saëns, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, by Louis Abbiate Piano Sonatas Nos. 4, 5, 6 and the 2 Cello Sonatas with Dimitry Markevitch, cello, Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, the music for Two Pianos and Piano 4 hands by Claude Debussy with Noël Lee, a box with Russian music by the "Groupe des cinq" -Modest Mussorgsky, Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, César Cui and Alexander Borodin- ; together with Baritone Jean-Christophe Benoit 4 Song Cycles by Maurice Ravel, 5 Piano Pieces and 19 Mélodies by Reynaldo Hahn, and 16 Chansons by Joseph Kosma. Among others, his chamber music recordings include a 1957 Cello Sonatas disc with Leslie Parnas, cello, by Franz Joseph Haydn 12 Trios for piano and 8 Sonatas for violin and piano with Jacques-Francis Manzone, violin and Frédéric Lodéon, cello, by Ernest Chausson 'Concert' for Violin Piano and String Quartet with Jean-Pierre Wallez, violin. He also recorded Poulenc's Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra, with Gabriel Tacchino and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra under Georges Prêtre.