PUBLSHED 2020 LEO SIROTA The Pianist Who Loved Japan by Takashi Yamamoto Translation supervised by Gavin Bantock with Takao Inukai Published by First Servant Books July, 2020 The story of Leo Sirota (1885-1965), at one time hailed as ‘the finest pianist in Europe’, is uniquely dramatic, moving and inspiring. Born in Russia, he survived two World Wars, yet remained active as an admired performer and much loved teacher for almost all of his life. Of gentle disposition, he gave up his brilliant career in Europe and emigrated to Japan, where he taught piano privately and at the Tokyo Music School for seventeen years, basing his instruction on the idea of students’ self-expression, spontaneous feeling and creativity. A virtuoso pianist with the dazzling playing style of his famous teacher Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), Sirota built up a strong reputation in Japan, where there was no anti-Semitism until the outbreak of the Pacific War, when Nazi influence caused difficulties for the Jews living there. Disheartened by this and by dubious developments in piano teaching based on the so-called New Objectivity, Sirota, with his wife and daughter, emigrated to the United States in 1946. He made one landmark return to Japan in 1963 and gave an outstandingly successful farewell recital to a capacity audience in the Hibiya Public Hall of Tokyo. This account of his life by Takashi Yamamoto provides a vivid picture of the musical worlds of Europe and the Far East during the first half of the twentieth century and glimpses of the anti-Semitism of the period. It portrays Sirota as a man of endearing personality, surrounded by a fascinating group of musical friends such as Arthur Rubinstein, Feodor Chaliapin and Erich Korngold and also the famous Japanese woodblock artist Shiko Munakata. His daughter Beate Sirota Gordon was later to play an important role in Japan-U.S. relations as the only woman involved in the writing of the post-war Japanese constitution and as an active member of the Japan Society promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries. Yamamoto’s book is a scholarly tour de force bringing into clear focus the life and work of Leo Sirota, who deserves to be better known to lovers of music in the world. AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON WORLD WIDE

PUBLSHED 2020

LEO SIROTA

The Pianist Who Loved Japan

by Takashi Yamamoto

Translation supervised by

Gavin Bantock

with Takao Inukai

Published by First Servant Books

July, 2020

The story of Leo Sirota (1885-1965), at one time hailed as ‘the finest pianist in Europe’, is uniquely dramatic, moving and inspiring.

Born in Russia, he survived two World Wars, yet remained active as an admired performer and much loved teacher for almost all of his life.

Of gentle disposition, he gave up his brilliant career in Europe and emigrated to Japan, where he taught piano privately and at the Tokyo Music School for

seventeen years, basing his instruction on the idea of students’ self-expression, spontaneous feeling and creativity.

A virtuoso pianist with the dazzling playing style of his famous teacher Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), Sirota built up a strong reputation in Japan, where there was no anti-Semitism until the outbreak of the Pacific War, when Nazi influence caused difficulties for the Jews living there.

Disheartened by this and by dubious developments in piano teaching based on the so-called New Objectivity, Sirota, with his wife and daughter, emigrated to the United States in 1946.

He made one landmark return to Japan in 1963 and gave an outstandingly successful farewell recital to a capacity audience in the Hibiya Public Hall of Tokyo.

This account of his life by Takashi Yamamoto provides a vivid picture of the musical worlds of Europe and the Far East during the first half of the twentieth century and glimpses of the anti-Semitism of the period. It portrays Sirota as a man of endearing personality, surrounded by a fascinating group of musical friends such as Arthur Rubinstein, Feodor Chaliapin and Erich Korngold and also the famous Japanese woodblock artist Shiko Munakata.

His daughter Beate Sirota Gordon was later to play an important role in Japan-U.S.

relations as the only woman involved in the writing of the post-war Japanese constitution and as an active member of the Japan Society promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Yamamoto’s book is a scholarly tour de force bringing into clear focus the life and work of Leo Sirota, who deserves to be better known to lovers of music in the world.

AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON WORLD WIDE