About
The meteoric career of Ossy Renardy and its tragic denouement could stand as a paradigm of gilded youth, silenced. Born Oskar Reiss in Vienna in 1920 a peripatetic, essentially untutored, boyhood career saw him starring in variety shows alongside showmen and strongmen until, like the Czech virtuoso Příhoda, he was discovered in Italy and a career was launched. He made a New York debut at the age of eighteen and in anticipation of the centenary of Paganini’s death he played the 24 Caprices at Carnegie Hall. The impact must have been substantial because the following year he was asked to record them, the first integral set ever committed to disc, albeit in David’s anachronistic piano accompanied version. From then his career was American based and after war service he resumed touring in 1947. He died in a car crash in 1953 having shortly before re-recorded the Caprices. His pianist in the earlier recording and steadfast accompanist Walter Robert survived the crash. |
