David Garvey

Pianist
Academic

Organization

University of Texas at Austin

David William Garvey (March 13, 1922 – February 14, 1995)^[2] was an American pianist and academic. He is known as the regular accompanist of Leontyne Price and other performers, including violinists Itzhak Perlman, Michael Rabin and Wanda Wiłkomirska.

Career

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he studied at the Juilliard School with Beveridge Webster, graduating in 1948.^[3] He met Leontyne Price there, and began in 1953 to perform with her regularly on tours abroad and in the White House.^[4] In concerts with her, he was announced as pianist, not as accompanist.^[5]

He also collaborated with singers William Blankenship,^[6] Elizabeth Mannion, Mary O'Hara,^[7] Lucia Popp, Hermann Prey,^[8] and Jennie Tourel, and with violinists Joseph Fuchs, Itzhak Perlman, Michael Rabin,^[3] Charles Treger,^[9] and Wanda Wiłkomirska,^[10] among others.^[3]

Garvey taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1976. He died in New York City.^[3]^[11]

Recordings

Garvey recorded the three Violin Sonatas by Frederick Delius with Wanda Wiłkomirska in 1987. A review in Gramophone noted that their rendition was the best of this music until then, saying: "Both ... have the secret of preserving the music's heartbeat and keeping it moving forward, no matter how slow the tempo might be, and however flexibly they may phrase within a basic pulse."^[10]

A recording of the first recital that Leontyne Price gave at Carnegie Hall on 28 February 1965 was issued first in 2002, and reviewed as exceptional.^[12] The program included a variety of styles, mostly unfamiliar repertory: arias from operas by Handel, Giordano, Puccini and Cilea, songs by Johannes Brahms, Francis Poulenc, Samuel Barber and Lee Hoiby, spirituals and Gershwin's "Summertime". While a reviewer described the singer's part in detail, he summarily acknowledged that "Miss Price is sensitively accompanied throughout by David Garvey – a true musical partnership, this".^[12]

References

^ Social Security Death Index: David W Garvey
^ Pasles, Chris (20 February 1995). "Music Review : Price Carries On Despite Grief at Pianist's Death". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Oestrich, James R. (18 February 1995). "David Garvey, 72, Accompanist Who Was Almost a Partner, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
^ The Alcalde. Emmis Communications. March–April 1983. p. 9. Retrieved 15 June 2018. Pianist David Garvey ... takes bows with opera star Leontyne Price. A graduate of Juilliard School in New York, professor David Garvey has been piano accompanist for opera star Leontyne Price since 1953.
^ Oakes, Loisann (9 October 1987). "Soprano, Pianist Touch The Same Chord". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
^ Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications. March 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. 29 April 1968. p. 19. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ "SFP – 1982–83 Season". San Francisco Performances. 1982. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ Organization of American States (1964). Americas (English Ed.). Organization of American States. p. 39. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Delius Violin Sonatas". Gramophone. July 1987. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
^ "Wanda Wilkomirska for children", pigasus-shop.de, retrieved 13 May 2018
^ ^a ^b Quinn, John (November 2002). "Leontyne Price Rediscovered". musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 2 June 2018.