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CARL HARTMAN
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (Fri October 10, 2003) (AP) _ Eugene Istomin, one of the first great classical pianists born in America, died Friday at 77.

Istomin, who suffered from liver cancer, died in his Washington home .

Born in New York City to parents from Russia, both of them singers, Istomin began his career at the age 6 by accompanying his mother in a recital. At 12 he was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied under Rudolf Serkin.

Gary Graffman, current president and director at Curtis, predicted that Istomin _ pronounced Iss-TOE-min _ would be remembered for his work over 20 years in a trio with violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Leonard Rose.

``These (recordings) will stand out forever because they are incredible performances by three great artists of everything of Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, all the great trios,'' Graffman said in a telephone interview from Burlington. Vt.

``This will be the standard by which all others will be judged.''

At 17, Istomin won both the prestigious Leventritt and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra awards. In 1943, he made sensational debuts in the same week with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski, playing Johannes Brahms' Second Piano Concerto.

Despite his early achievements, Istomin did not capture the acclaim of some other pianists such as Arthur Rubinstein or Glenn Gould.

In a 1971 interview with The New York Times, Istomin said, ``I think you have to want to be wildly loved and wildly applauded. ... You have to do things to make this happen. I've always been repelled by that from the very start because my tendency was always to get to the substance rather than to the appearance of music.

``The point is I was too much of a snob. I was too much involved in my own esoteric intelligence and gifts.''

Istomin performed his first concert with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra in 1945 in a program of works by Frederic Chopin. It was especially appreciated because of a film on Chopin's life, ``A Song to Remember,'' that was popular at the time.

At 25, he began a long association with cellist Pablo Casals. A year and a half after Casals' death in 1973, Istomin married his widow, Marta, now president of the Manhattan School of Music. In Washington she served for 10 years as artistic director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They had no children.

In a career that carried him throughout the world, Istomin gave more than 4,000 concerts with leading conductors _ including Bruno Walter, Fritz Reiner, George Szell, Leopold Stokowski and Leonard Bernstein.

In 1988, he made a recital tour of 30 American cities, with his own tuner and two pianos. He repeated the tours for eight years in a row.

``This helps bring the standard of a New York or Paris concert to large cities as well as the most modest venue,'' he said.

In an essay on Istomin, British historian Arnold Toynbee marveled at his range of interests.

``He is a dedicated artist, but he is a human being first,'' Toynbee wrote. ``His capacity for friendship is one of his notable characteristics; the breadth of his interests is another, a perpetual interest in the general course of human affairs, outside of his own field.''

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