Allan Evans died last week at age 64. I don't know what the cause was, but I've seen a reference on line to "a serious illness in recent years."
Allan was the founder of Arbiter Records, a label that had two remits:
- Publish rare and unknown historical recordings of music from all over the world
- Publish rare and unknown historical recordings of important pianists and other performers of Western classical music
Allan WAS Arbiter, though. He was vastly knowledgable about the history of pianism and piano style, and wrote biographies of Ignaz Friedman and Moriz Rosenthal, two pianists who lived well into the 20th c. but were very much products of 19th c. pianism.
Allan was amazing, just incredible, at chasing down recordings, befriending pianists and their families, and getting unique recordings published. One example of this: he became acquainted with Iren Marik, a Hungarian pianist who moved to the US and spent many years living in comparative isolation. She'd made few commercial recordings, but had about 100 hours of private recordings.. ..and she left them to him when she died. He published a couple of CD sets from these.
I did not know him well. I met Allan at the Reactions to the Record Symposium at Stanford, where he held people completely spellbound telling stories about how he found and published all of these rare recordings. He seems to have known EVERYONE. He was charming and fascinating, just a lovely person; we exchanged email a few times over the years. I'm terribly saddened by his death, as is everyone who knew him or who cares about historical recordings. He is survived by his wife and their son.
I was a student in Allan’s “Mysteries of the Blues” class a few years ago. He was a soulful and serious student of the blues, and many musical art forms that didn’t start as part of the western classical canon. I am surprised not to have heard from Mannes, or seen any notice....which I will look forward now. Thank you for posting this. If you have access to contacts for his wife and son, whom he spoke snout so fondly, please share them at frederickdoner@gmail.com. May he Rest In Peace, but surrounded by 100 speakers playing his arbiter recordings that he researched, assembled, produced and published with such reverence and devotion. Frederick Doner NYC
ReplyDeleteI found the memorial on the Arbiter Site and will following up with the family there. Best, Frederick
ReplyDeletePlease delete the word snout which was not intentionally included in the email. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this. I think someone I know will have contact information for Allan's family. You could also try Arbiter's email address,
ReplyDeleteinfo@arbiterrecords.com.