Natan Brand (1944–1990) was an Israeli classical pianist.
Brand was the son of a doctor, Aron Brand, and his wife, Mala, who immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1939. The family settled in Jerusalem. Brand began his studies as a child prodigy at the age of seven, with Haim Alexander at the Rubin Academy, where he later received an Artist's and Teacher's diploma. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 11, playing with the Israel Broadcasting Authority Symphony Orchestra.
Brand married Lori Hillman, with whom he had two sons, Jesse and Ari. He died in 1990 at the age of 46.
Geoffrey Dorfman: "... Brand ... was one of the few keyboard artists — perhaps the last — in the true tradition of Anton Rubinstein: a pianist who played in the Grand Style, fully free to interpret the masterworks as the spirit moved him, with a magnificent technique at his command. His premature death at the age of 46 robbed the music world of a man who was considered by many connoisseurs to be potentially one of the world’s greatest pianists. That he was not so recognized was due to his mercurial temperament (which did him little good in the world of concerts and bookings) and his early death."
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Brand performs Schumann's Kreisleriana, op. 16.
Brand has a real feel for the inner voices in Schumann, which many pianists -- many fine pianists -- obscure.
NY TIMES Obit:
Natan Brand, an Israeli pianist who specialized in the music of Schumann and Chopin, died on Monday at New York Hospital. He was 46 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Alix B. Williamson, his former press representative, said that he died of lymphoma.
Mr. Brand was born in Jerusalem and made his performing debut as a soloist with the Israel Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra when he was 11 years old. He came to New York City in the mid-1960's for postgraduate studies at the Mannes College of Music, won the Concert Artists Guild competition in 1969, and made his New York recital debut that year.
Mr. Brand was an energetic, demonstrative player who tended to program his concerts around central themes. In 1983, for example, he played three concerts at Alice Tully Hall, devoting them separately to sonatas, fantasies and etudes. He also played a series devoted fully to the music of Schumann, and in 1984 he made his Carnegie Hall debut playing concertos by Schumann and Chopin.
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In addition to performing, Mr. Brand served on the faculty of the Hebrew Arts School in Manhattan, and taught at the University of Tulsa and at the Taubman Institute at Amherst College.
He is survived by his wife, Lori Hillman Brand; two sons, Jesse and Ari, of Manhattan; his mother, Mala Brand, and two brothers, Avram and Chaim Brand of Jerusalem.
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