Maria Grinberg

Maria Israilevna Grinberg (1908–1978) was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue. She was born in Odesa into an интеллигент Jewish family: her father, Srul Avramovich (Abramovich) Grinberg, taught Biblical Hebrew and also published literary criticism, while her mother, Feiga (Fanya) Danilovna Noskin, gave private piano lessons. The family lived in modest circumstances, and a grand piano for the young Maria was purchased with the help of Odesa patrons.

Until the age of 18 Grinberg studied piano with the well-known Odesa teacher David Aizberg, and she studied harmony with the conservatory professor and composer Nikolai Vilinsky; she also took lessons with Professor Berta Reingbald. She later entered the Moscow Conservatory, initially studying with Felix Blumenfeld, and was noticed at the entrance examinations by Heinrich Neuhaus. After Blumenfeld’s death she continued with Blumenfeld’s assistant Vladimir Belov and with Konstantin Igumnov.

In 1933 Grinberg participated in the First All-Union Competition of Pianists, receiving special attention from critic Grigory Kogan. In 1935 she won second prize at the Second All-Union Competition. For a time she was married to the singer Petr Kirichek and performed as his accompanist.

Her career was severely disrupted by Stalin-era repression: in 1937 her second husband, Stanislav Stande, was arrested and executed, and at the end of the same year her father was arrested in Odesa on accusations connected with a “Zionist counterrevolutionary underground” and was executed in 1938. Grinberg, previously considered one of the most promising Soviet pianists, was dismissed from state institutions and could find work only as an accompanist for an amateur dance group; she also sometimes performed unofficially, even playing timpani to survive. Later she was again permitted to appear as a soloist, and her performances achieved major success in concert halls across the Soviet Union.

After Stalin’s death, when she was about 50, the authorities no longer objected to her touring abroad. In total she made 14 tours: 12 in Eastern European countries and two in the Netherlands, where she became a public favorite. Critics compared her artistry to Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, and Clara Haskil. Despite her reputation, official recognition came late: she received the title Honored Artist of the RSFSR at 55 and became a professor at the Gnessin Institute at 62.

One of her most significant achievements was recording Beethoven’s complete cycle of 32 piano sonatas for the Soviet label Melodiya. The 13-LP set was released in 1968, recorded in 1964–1967 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on a Steinway, with sound engineer Valentin Skoblo; a stereo edition appeared in 1975. Grinberg thereby became the first Soviet woman pianist to present the complete Beethoven sonata cycle, and Dmitri Shostakovich praised the recording highly, while the Soviet musical press initially remained largely silent. A review in the Soviet journal “Muzyka” appeared in 1978, calling the recording “a true feat of art.”

Grinberg also produced numerous piano arrangements that were largely ignored and unpublished; especially valued are her arrangements for two pianos and her solo version of Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor. For many years she also performed as a piano duo with her daughter, Nika Zabavnikova. Although her performing level was widely regarded as outstanding, for various reasons she often remained in the shadows within the USSR, while gaining stronger professional and amateur appreciation abroad (including in the Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the GDR). In later years there was a revival of interest in her legacy in Russia, Ukraine, and internationally.

Teaching was central to Grinberg’s life from her youth in Odesa and remained one of her most stable sources of income almost until her death. Her relationships with private students often grew into long-term friendships; she mentored Naum Shtarkman for decades after Igumnov’s death, giving lessons without payment. In 1960 Elena Gnesina invited her to teach at the institute she founded (the Gnessin Institute). Among Grinberg’s students were Michael Bischoffberger, Sergei Dorensky, Rudolf Kerer, Anna Klaas, Bruno Lucca, Dmitri Paperno, Alexei Skavronsky, Rimma Skorokhodova, Vissarion Slonim, Mikhail Martin, Zelma Tamarkina, Grigory Fain, Naum Shtarkman, and Regina Shamvili.

Known for her humor, during the 1967 Arab–Israeli conflict she jokingly introduced herself as “Maria Aggressorovna,” echoing Soviet official rhetoric about “Israeli aggressors.” She articulated a disciplined ideal of performance, saying that Beethoven taught her courage and concentration and that a performer “can do anything” in music if it is logical and done with taste. Many of her recordings were later licensed and issued in Japan (Denon, Triton), and in Russia Melodiya released the Beethoven sonatas on CD; the label Vista Vera undertook extensive publication of surviving recordings, including her methodological work, while many of her arrangements remain unpublished.

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