Nikita Magaloff; Pianist Played With World’s Major Orchestras

Nikita Magaloff, a Russian-born pianist known for his intricate interpretations of Mozart and Chopin and who played with most of the major orchestras throughout the world, died Saturday. He was 80.

Magaloff was hospitalized near his home in Vevey, Switzerland, on Dec. 13 and died after a long illness, according to a hospital spokesman in that Geneva lakeside village. He did not elaborate.

Born in St. Petersburg, Magaloff fled Russia with his family during the Bolshevik uprising and settled in France. He went to the Paris Conservatory, studied under Isidor Philipp and won his first prize at the Paris Conservatory at age 17.

Although best known for interpretations of Chopin, he also had a deep knowledge of other composers, Nicole Klopfenstein-Hirsch, secretary of the Montreux-Vevey Music Festival and a friend of Magaloff, told the Associated Press.

“He had an immense repertoire,” she said. “He knew all the music of the piano. Until the end of his life he continued to learn new things and new composers.”

Magaloff moved to Switzerland in 1939 to escape World War II. The same year, he married Irene Szigeti, the daughter of his friend and mentor, Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti. The couple became Swiss citizens, and Magaloff was active in music festivals in Switzerland.

He made his U.S. debut as a soloist in San Francisco in January, 1947. His last performances in the United States were in September, 1985, with the New York Philharmonic, and the following month at UCLA’s Royce Hall, where he offered a program of Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky and Scarlatti.

Times critic Donna Perlmutter wrote at the time that “at 73 he still has utter command of the keyboard . . . his tastes are sophisticated, his stylistic range and finger technique unassailable.”

He gave his last performance a month ago in Milan.